Glyphosate, the herbicide with the largest volume of sales, will have
guaranteed supply in the Brazilian market until 2019. The National Health
Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) gave the date as a deadline to complete the
toxicological analysis of the product, which has been going on since 2008
and is worrying the agricultural sector.



Anvisa recently posted material on the site to clarify the delay in making
decisions about glyphosate . According to the agency, there is divergence of
opinion among technical authorities in the world (which requires careful
attention in dealing with the issue) and cites the cases of Europe and the
United States, which also maintains caution and constant analysis of the
product.



The studies presented until now have not proved to be harmful to human
health, but the indefiniteness has continued. Since 2008, Anvisa assigned
several studies to investigate the toxicological aspects of glyphosate . In
2013, Osvaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) concluded that the application of
the product is not capable of causing cancer in human beings.



In 2015, the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) stated
the contrary, that the product would be harmful, but the European Food
Safety Authority (EFSA) reviewed the analysis and maintained that there is
insufficient evidence to classify glyphosate a carcinogen.



Anvisa also held a technical panel in 2015 and subsequently hired a
specialist to study the subject again. The technical opinion was forwarded
to Anvisa in July 2016, which also designated glyphosate as
non-carcinogenic. Besides this, there are three other technical opinions of
the agency about this ingredient; the most recent was in June this year.
None of them suggested a prohibition.



"Even if it concludes that it is not carcinogenic and does not have any
registration restriction, according to the Brazilian legislation, it is
important to evaluate the necessity of the measures to restrict its use
based on other toxicological actions besides carcinogenicity. It is
important to register that not only in Brazil, but all over the world; the
re-evaluation of the active ingredients is complex and, therefore, demand a
lot of time," the report of the president of the agency, Jarbas Barbosa,
noted.



[news.agropages.com]