Glyphosate chemical review

In September 1995, the APVMA began the review of glyphosate on advice from the Commonwealth Environmental Protection Agency (now the Department of the Environment) and the Western Australian Department of Environmental Protection because of concerns that some glyphosate products might pose a risk to aquatic environments.

The review was restricted to assessing the use of glyphosate formulations (agricultural, not home garden products) approved for use in and around waterways, with a particular focus on assessing the potential toxicity of surfactants to aquatic organisms.

In June 1996, the APVMA released the Glyphosate review final report. The APVMA found that, while glyphosate was a low-risk active constituent, the aquatic toxicity of some glyphosate formulations was undesirably high, due to the added surfactants. To reduce the potential for aquatic toxicity, the APVMA strengthened the environmental safety margin for glyphosate products by amending product use patterns and labels.

In the final review report, the APVMA recommended:

• changing use patterns for glyphosate by restricting the use of glyphosate products around waterways and water bodies to dry drains and channels and dry margins of dams, lakes and streams to reduce the risk of significant aquatic contamination
• allowing the use of glyphosate to control weeds growing in or over water only where it could be demonstrated that the glyphosate product formulation did not pose a significant risk to the aquatic environment
• strengthening warnings on labels to protect wildlife, fish, crustaceans and the environment.

In May 1997, following the review, the APVMA introduced additional restrictions on the use of glyphosate in or around waterways to limit the potential risks to the aquatic environment.

Those restrictions required registrants to change the formulation of glyphosate products registered for aquatic uses, including surfactants that were safe to use in and around water bodies.