Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effect on human health of glyphosate.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recently reassessed glyphosate to take into account scientific developments since it was approved. EFSA’s scientific assessment has concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to be carcinogenic, and that it does not pose a risk to human health.

The Government believes that pesticides should be authorised where scientific evidence shows that they do not pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment. UK experts agree that glyphosate meets these standards, and we therefore consider that glyphosate should be approved.