Glyphosate Renewal Group
GRG
The GRG is a group of companies that was formed to seek the renewal of the EU approval of the active substance glyphosate, which was re-approved on 28 November 2023.
ID: 720197936300-30
Lobbying Activity
Response to Revision of lists of pollutants affecting surface and groundwaters
27 Feb 2023
The Glyphosate Renewal Group (GRG) is a collection of companies seeking the renewal of the EU authorisation of the active substance glyphosate in 2023. To this end, the GRGs member companies join resources and efforts to prepare a single dossier with the scientific studies and information on the safety of glyphosate. Visit www.glyphosate.eu Comments of the GRG: In the EU COM proposal, environmental quality standards (EQS) have been proposed for glyphosate (GLY), including specifically the acute maximum allowable concentration (MAC) and the chronic annual average (AA) as endpoints for freshwater and marine waterbodies. In addition, a quality standard (QS) for surface water (SW) used for the abstraction and preparation of drinking water (QSdw,hh) has been suggested for the first time. The following information should be considered in the discussion of the setting of EQS/QS values: The setting of a QSdw,hh for GLY sets an unnecessary precedent for priority substances, which will lead to ambiguity and additional costs for water management in Member States (MS). Where MS do not abstract drinking water from surface water, a QSdw,hh for glyphosate will not be required at all. Where abstraction of surface water for the production of drinking water takes place, a water treatment factor should be applied to the derivation of any QSdw,hh. For glyphosate, this can be set at 10.0 µg/L, given the very high efficiency of treatment methods in place, and as it is allowable for MS to reduce the treatment factor as appropriate to their local water treatment plant conditions. The very high compliance of real-world drinking water monitoring data strongly suggests that it is unnecessary to set a QSdw,hh for glyphosate for the abstraction of surface water for the generation of drinking water. There is a strong risk that this new requirement would unnecessarily increase workload and costs for water management in MS. SCHEER have expressed uncertainty relating to the acute and chronic aquatic endpoints proposed for establishing the EQS for surface and marine water bodies. Both regulatory studies and public literature are considered in the proposal using endpoints that are not supported by appropriate chemical analysis to confirm exposure in the corresponding studies. In this document, the GRG highlight robust and scientifically valid studies from which alternate endpoints could be selected for establishing appropriate EQS for freshwater and marine water bodies.
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