Glyphosate is one of the best-selling plant protection products in Finland.
Glyphosate products are used to control weeds on agricultural land and in gardens, fields, forest cultivation and uncultivated areas. Glyphosate is effective on almost all plant species.
Glyphosate products entered the Finnish market in the 1970s and have long been the most sold agricultural plant protection products. Some glyphosate products are approved for consumer use and some for professional use depending on their properties.
The purchase and use of plant protection products for professional use requires proof of completion of a plant protection product certification.
The plant protection products register maintained by Tukes can be used to find up-to-date information on approved glyphosate products as well as to check the information on the instructions for use and restrictions of the products.
See Plant protection products - KemiDigi.
Plant protection products are chemicals subject to an authorisation, which means that they require a thorough risk assessment and authorisation procedure before they can be placed on marked or used.
In the first step, the risks and acceptability of the active substance (e.g. glyphosate) are assessed at EU level. One of the Member States prepares a risk assessment of the active substance, which is based on the information requirements specified in EU legislation and complies with the EU assessment guidelines. The risk assessment is subject to an in-depth peer assessment coordinated by the European Food Safety Authority, where other Member States have the opportunity to comment on the assessment.
Only a product containing an active substance approved in the EU can be authorised. The authorisation is applied for nationally, and Tukes is responsible for the risk assessment and authorisation of the product in Finland.
The risk assessment of plant protection products assesses the hazardous properties of the plant protection product and the exposure of humans and the environment, as well as examines the magnitude of the risk. On the basis of these, the measures needed to manage the risk are weighed.
The authorisation can be accepted if the use of the product does not cause unreasonable harm to health or the environment.
In connection with the authorisation, restrictions on use and instructions for personal protective equipment are imposed on the products, as necessary, to ensure their safe use. The user must always follow the instructions for use and restrictions carefully.
You can find more information about the glyphosate assessment process in the What’s new about glyphosate section at the bottom of this page.
Restrictions and recommendations on the use of glyphosate products ensure the proper and sustainable use of plant protection products and reduce the risks to health and the environment arising from their use. To ensure safe use, the user must always follow the instructions for use and restrictions of the product.
The use of glyphosate products is prohibited in children’s play areas and playgrounds, as well as in the yards of daycare centres and schools.
When spraying in public areas, special attention must be paid to the safety of the handling for humans and animals.
The product should not be used in coated or paved areas.
Berry picking and mushroom picking is prohibited in the foliage spray area from the application of the product until the end of the year.
Glyphosate ends up in the soil either directly in connection with spraying or by being released from decomposing parts of the plant.
The persistence and carrying of chemicals in the environment varies considerably depending on environmental conditions. Persistence is often determined by the half-life, i.e. the time at which 50% of the substance is degraded. The half-life can be used as a measure of the persistence of glyphosate.
The half-life of glyphosate in soil averages 20 days (at 20°C), but ranges from 4 to 161 days.
The carrying of glyphosate, like other active substances, is modelled. When modelling the carrying of glyphosate, the half-life is proportional to temperature, for example, in which case local environmental conditions can be taken into account. The half-life of glyphosate is longer than average in colder months in Finland, for example. This is taken into account when looking at carrying.
The strong binding of glyphosate to soil solids limits its carrying through surface and drain runoff to water bodies. Glyphosate is not very likely to enter groundwater based on groundwater monitoring by the Finnish Environment Institute. In the Finnish Environment Institute's groundwater monitoring (2004-2020), glyphosate has exceeded the limit of quantification in only 2/229 samples and glyphosate degradation product (AMPA) in 5/229 samples (Groundwater areas in MaaMet monitoring), respectively. The limit of quantification is the smallest amount of substance that can be measured.
The Finnish Food Authority takes samples of domestic foodstuffs and their raw materials, and Customs takes samples from corresponding foreign items. Many importers and marketers also commission residue studies as part of their self-monitoring.
Based on the analysis results, it can be said that glyphosate residues are usually very low or below the limit of quantification, that is, the concentrations are so low that they cannot be measured reliably. A recall of products already on the market is initiated if the product is suspected to pose a risk to the health of the consumer. More information can be found on the website of the Finnish Food Authority.
The re-evaluation of glyphosate for a possible extension of the authorisation of the substance in the EU is ongoing and the conclusions are expected to be published in 2024. The Risk Assessment Committee of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) gave its opinion on the classification of glyphosate as a health hazard in May 2022.
Glyphosate is poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract; in humans, it is estimated that only 1-6% of dietary residues are absorbed. Glyphosate is rapidly excreted from the body (about 90% during the day). The acute toxicity and long-term toxicity of glyphosate is low. ECHA’s Risk Assessment Committee classifies glyphosate as a serious eye damaging substance. The eye hazard classification of products containing glyphosate depends on the content of glyphosate in the product, i.e. not all products cause eye damage. Glyphosate is not carcinogenic and is not toxic to reproduction or genetic material.
A home gardener should consider whether weed removal is necessary. Many plants considered weeds are beautiful and contribute to environmental diversity by providing places to visit for pollinators, for example.
Tukes encourages the use of alternative methods for chemical control, such as weeding, flaming and covering small areas with plastic. Consumer glyphosate products for weeds have been replaced by products containing other active substances. More information and ideas on the use of different alternative methods and substances can be found in Finnish and Swedish on the Luulot pois kemikaaleista website maintained by Tukes.
There is no comparable alternative to glyphosate in professional cultivation. Without glyphosate, couch grass and many other perennial weeds are difficult to combat, especially in direct sowing and light tillage. Methods that replace glyphosate include methods based on crop rotation, tillage methods and alternative plant protection products.
In the USA, in particular, the use of glyphosate products (e.g. Roundup) has been associated with an increased risk of cancer, and there the company manufacturing the plant protection product has been ordered by court decision to pay compensation to people with lymph node cancer.
The user is always exposed to the product and the product also contains other substances other than the active substance. The Roundup product that was in use contains an adjuvant known as POEA (polyethoxylated tallow alkylamine), which reduces the product’s surface tension. The POEA compound has a higher toxicity than glyphosate, and the increase in cancer cases has been thought to be specifically related to this substance.
The use of POEA compounds in products is prohibited in the EU in order to improve the safety of glyphosate products. In Finland, the placing on the market and use of products containing POEA was prohibited on 31 March 2018.
A peer review carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that glyphosate is not carcinogenic, based on the results of animal studies and epidemiological studies. This was also stated by the Risk Assessment Committee of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
Glyphosate has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Group 2A (Probably carcinogenic to humans). The IARC has largely based its classification on epidemiological studies of people exposed to glyphosate-containing products.
In Europe, both EFSA and ECHA make a clear distinction between the active substance glyphosate and products, which has made it possible to conclude that the active substance glyphosate is not carcinogenic.
If glyphosate has been used in accordance with the instructions for use, there is no risk.
Yes. Once bound to soil particles, glyphosate is hardly washed away and is not available to plants through the root system.
If glyphosate has been used in forest cultivation, berry and mushroom picking is prohibited until the end of the year. The instructions for use of the product require that the treated area is marked with signs.
If the glyphosate product is used in accordance with the instructions for use, it should be applied to a well-growing crop, so that it is absorbed by the crop and is not easily washed away from it. The product should not be used in or just before rain to ensure its absorption into the crop. In the soil, glyphosate binds to the soil particles and leaching outside the treatment area with surface runoff is not likely if the amounts specified in the instructions for use are not exceeded.
The user of the plant protection product must take care that the product does not spread to the neighbour’s area. It is the responsibility of the sprayer to ensure that no plant protection product enters the neighbour’s yard, garden or wells. The spreading of the plant protection product to the neighbour’s area can be prevented by using nozzles that reduce wind drift. Naturally, spraying should always take into account wind conditions and other local conditions. In addition, it is important to find out whether there are domestic water wells in or near the field.
Legislation does not set a metric safety distance to a neighbour or wells. An exception to this is products for which a groundwater limit has been set. They must not be used closer than 30–100 metres to domestic water wells.
The use of glyphosate products for the forced desiccation (drying) of crops is not allowed in Finland.
Control authorities may take residue samples from cereals if there is a strong suspicion of misuse of glyphosate in the crops. Buyers of cereals also perform residue analyses of the cereals to be purchased.
Any excess or unusable plant protection product should be taken to a hazardous waste collection point.
Residual plant protection products must not be spread into the environment or disposed of with household waste. Plant protection products that have become outdated, have been deleted from the plant protection products register or are contaminated must be taken to a hazardous waste collection point.
News about glyphosate on the European Food Safety Authority’s website: Glyphosate | EFSA (europa.eu)
