BfR | Annual Report 2013
64
Risk assessment of the pesticide glyphosate
The BfR is responsible for the health risk assessment of
plant protection products and their active substances.
The objective of the institute is to protect the health of
operators and uninvolved third parties during the ap-
propriate application of plant protection products and to
avoid a health risk to consumers resulting from subse-
quent residues in food products. The products assessed
by the BfR also include products containing glyphosate.
Glyphosate is one of the most widely used active sub-
stances in plant protection products worldwide. In ag-
riculture, glyphosate is mainly used as a weed control
substance in the garden area, in stubble fields on crop-
land, as a pre-harvest treatment (desiccation) and for
grassland regeneration. The widespread and frequent
use of plant protection products containing glyphosate,
also in genetically modified crops outside Germany, is the
subject of critical public debate.
The field of chemicals safety touches on many areas of consumer health protection. In Germany, the BfR is
the central institution for the health-related assessment of substances. Several departments at the BfR, such
as the Departments for Exposure, Chemicals and Product Safety, and Safety of Pesticides, are concerned
with this issue.
Chemicals Safety
In agriculture, glyphosate is used as, among other things,
a weed control substance in the horticultural sector, in
stubble fields on cropland, as a pre-harvest treatment
agent and for grassland regeneration.
>>
With regard to potential health risks, glyphosate is to be
viewed less critically than is generally assumed, but certain
co-formulants are worthy of closer investigation.
