World Health Organization Experts: Glyphosate Not Carcinogenic

Following a joint meeting of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) experts on pesticide residues from the two organizations ruled glyphosate, a broad-spectrum herbicide, is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans through exposure to glyphosate-treated crops. Experts also say there is no convincing evidence of a carcinogenic risk from malathion and diazinon when crops treated with the insecticides are consumed.

“JMPR’s risk assessment found that based on the weight-of-evidence approach these compounds are unlikely to cause cancer in people via dietary exposure,” says the WHO’s Core Assessment Group on Pesticide Residues released in a statement. “This means it is possible to establish safe exposure levels – acceptable daily intakes (ADI) – for consumers. In order to ensure people are not exposed to levels above acceptable daily intakes of these residues, maximum residue limits are set by governments for the combination of pesticides and relevant food commodities.”

This follows an assessment in 2015 by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, which ruled glyphosate, malathion, and diazinon were classified as probably carcinogenic to humans.