Glyphosate residues and imports
23.11.2017
Question for written answer P-007195-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Marco Affronte (Verts/ALE) , Maria Heubuch (Verts/ALE) , Jean Lambert (Verts/ALE) , Keith Taylor (Verts/ALE) , Margrete Auken (Verts/ALE) , Linnéa Engström (Verts/ALE) , Michèle Rivasi (Verts/ALE) , Martin Häusling (Verts/ALE) , Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) , Davor Škrlec (Verts/ALE) , Molly Scott Cato (Verts/ALE) , Benedek Jávor (Verts/ALE) , Igor Šoltes (Verts/ALE) , Sven Giegold (Verts/ALE) , Florent Marcellesi (Verts/ALE)
Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide worldwide. Both the WHO and the American Cancer Society have warned that it is a probable human carcinogen. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has stated that it has found trace amounts of glyphosate in roughly 30% of food products tested, and residue levels above the recommended limits in 4% of all grain products. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), European imports contain glyphosate residues in a range of foods, with studies showing concentrations in pasta (from 0.01 to 0.16 mg/kg), beer (up to 0.03 mg/l), corn flakes and cookies (up to 0.14 mg/kg). Therefore, on a normal dietary day, a European citizen may ingest glyphosate from various sources (even more if the diet is based on wheat derivatives), triggering a cumulative effect. Assuming that the Acceptable Daily Intake is 0.5 mg/kg of body weight, and given that Parliament’s resolution of 24 October 2017[1] called for the phasing out of glyphosate:
Is the Commission aware of the risks related to the cumulative effects on the human body?
What steps does the Commission plan to take to address consumer concerns on the pesticide’s presence in the European diet and to ensure sufficient testing and monitoring of glyphosate residues in feed, food and drinks produced in, as well as imported into, the Union, in order to address the current data gap pointed out by EFSA?
- [1] European Parliament resolution of 24 October 2017 on the draft Commission implementing regulation renewing the approval of the active substance glyphosate in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, and amending the annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011, Texts adopted, P8_TA(2017)0395.