CEA presented 16 posters at SETAC Dublin in April/May 2023. We will be showcasing each of these presentations in a series of ‘SETAC Spotlight’ articles. This week it is:

SETAC Spotlight: On the use of Science-Based Thresholds for the Interpretation of Public Environmental Monitoring Data: Demonstrating that Measured Glyphosate Residues in European Surface, Ground and Drinking Water pose no risk to Biota, Ecosystems or Human Health

Authors: Simon Mayer 1, Gregory Hughes 2, Adrian Terry 3, Liz Whitworth 3, Phil Manson 1, David Saltmiras 1

1Bayer AG;  2GeoSpatial Analytics; 3Cambridge Environmental Assessments associate

Pesticide authorization in Europe today requires an overview and assessment of environmental monitoring data, typically compiled from publicly accessible online data repositories and reports. Such information provides valuable insight into the state of the environment, emerging issues, and possible impacts. However, caution is required in the collation and interpretation of such data. In order to determine whether remedial actions are necessary to ensure protection of human and environmental health, the underpinning basis for threshold limits should be considered in light of whether arbitrarily established, or science-based and data-derived. Environmental and human health endpoints to establish such levels for glyphosate (GLY) will be discussed and compared with current regulatory values in Europe and the United States.

A GLY Annex I renewal dossier was recently submitted in Europe. Public monitoring data collection/analysis for all Member States (MS) across environmental compartments included:

  • Surface Water (SW): comprehensive dataset (>300K samples from >15K sites) versus the regulatory acceptable concentration (RAC) of 400 µg/L, shows very high regulatory compliance (>99.99%). No official environmental quality standard (EQS) threshold has been set at the European level so far.
  • Groundwater: comprehensive dataset (>251K samples from >40K sites) versus the EU arbitrary regulatory threshold (0.1 µg/L) shows very high regulatory compliance rates (>99.4%). Excluding a small number of high outlier concentrations indicated maximum concentrations well below the SW RAC (for groundwater fed ecosystems) and the lifetime health-based Acceptable Daily Intake (LTHBADI) concentration (1500 µg/L).
  • Drinking Water: smaller dataset (>9.5K samples from >3.7K sites) versus the EU regulatory arbitrary threshold (0.1 µg/L) shows very high regulatory compliance (>99.9%) and is in good agreement with a large number of aggregated data summaries in published reports. Where threshold exceedances occur, the maximum concentrations are low and well below the LTHBADI concentration. This is unsurprising as GLY is readily removed by conventional water treatment processes already in place to ensure microbiological safety.

Analysis of a comprehensive database of GLY residue analyses within the public monitoring of national and regional environment agencies in Europe with robust science-based thresholds suggest no issues for the state of the environment, nor to human health via drinking water.

If you would like to discuss any of the topics raised in this article, feel free to contact us.

The poster is available for free download.

You can find all of the other posters that CEA presented at SETAC Dublin here. You can also find all of our publications from previous conferences and links to journal articles we have authored on our library page.

Enjoyed this article? Avoid missing out on our future news articles by signing up – you can select which topics you are interested in and can unsubscribe at any time.