An EU committee has again challenged assertions that glyphosate is carcinogenic.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) which scrutinises the technical and administrative aspects of European rules said it was 'not justified to conclude that the herbicide glyphosate causes cancer'.

The statement comes as part of the EU’s current risk assessment process on glyphosate, which is among the most widely used herbicides in the EU but is also very controversial.

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This assessment process is set to inform the EU’s decision on whether to renew the contentious herbicide’s approval after the current approval expires at the end of 2022.

The World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has previously evaluated the herbicide as 'probably carcinogenic', while the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has concluded it is 'unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk' to humans when consumed through their diet.

ECHA’s Risk Assessment Committee doesn’t believe glyphosate is carcinogenic, but does believe it can cause 'serious eye damage' and is also 'toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects'.

With the ECHA committee opinion concluded, it is now up to the EU Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to give its risk assessment.

However, even though the current approval of glyphosate expires at the end of this year, this is only expected to come in summer 2023 after the agency recently announced a delay in the assessment process due to an avalanche of stakeholder feedback.