Measured exposures to glyphosate in applicators and the general population: an updated review of the scientific literature since 2020

Abstract

Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world and its continued use in agriculture and other scenarios is the focus of intense public and scientific interest. Glyphosate is also controversial in that it was declared 'probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A)' by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015. However, since that time, regulatory agencies in many countries have reviewed the public literature and guideline studies submitted for regulatory purposes and have concluded that it is not a carcinogen. The acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) and the reference dose (RfD) have been revised and restrictions on use have been lifted in many locations. Risk assessment for any pesticide requires information on exposure in humans and the environment and this was reviewed in 2016 and in 2020. Since 2020 many studies have been published in the literature and by government departments. Most of these studies have focused on exposures of the general population, which is the subject of this paper. Based on the studies published since 2020, the overall conclusion is that exposure of applicators and the general population to glyphosate represents a de minimis risk. In addition, a general observation from the larger population-based studies that conduct routine sampling is that exposures have declined somewhat since 2020. © 2025 The Author(s). Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Keywords: applicators; dietary; exposure; population; systemic dose.

Figure 1

Graphical illustration of the range of exposures in applicators (greatest mean or median and 95th centile or maximum). The date in the legend is the last year of sampling and the source of the data and other relevant comments on the study are listed in Table 1. The horizontal green arrow shows the margin of exposure for the most highly exposed group of applicators. The ADIs shown with the pink stars are those of the agencies that are listed in Section 2.1. The blue stars are the ADIs converted to systemic ADIs as described in Section 2.1.

Figure 2

Graphical illustration of the range of exposures in public (greatest mean or median and 95th centile or maximum). The date in the legend is the last year of sampling and the source of the data and other relevant comments on the study are listed in Table 2. The horizontal green arrow shows the margin of exposure relative to the smallest systemic ADI.

Figure 3

Graphical illustration of the range of exposures in applicators (greatest mean or median and 95th centile or maximum). The date in the legend is the last year of sampling and the source of the data and other relevant comments on the study are listed in Table 2. The horizontal green arrow shows the margin of exposure relative to the smallest systemic ADI.

Figure 4

Graphical illustration of the range of exposures in public (greatest mean or median and 95th centile or maximum). The date in the legend is the last year of sampling and the source of the data and other relevant comments on the study are listed in Table 2. The horizontal green arrow shows the margin of exposure relative to the smallest systemic ADI.

Figure 5

Graphical illustration of the range of exposures in applicators (greatest mean or median and 95th centile or maximum). The date in the legend is the last year of sampling and the source of the data and other relevant comments on the study are listed in Table 2. The horizontal green arrow shows the margin of exposure relative to the smallest systemic ADI.

Figure 6

Cumulative frequency distribution of margins of exposures for glyphosate in 10 study groups of applicators and 70 study groups from the general population (data from Tables 1 and 2).