Health Canada failed to consider recent evidence on harmful impacts of glyphosate, federal court rules
June 23, 2025 – Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has been ordered to conduct a new review of the pesticide, glyphosate, to take account of recent studies that raise concerns about adverse health and environmental effects associated with exposure to the popular weed killer.
The ruling from Federal Court on February 18, 2025 follows a lawsuit by the environmental law group, Ecojustice, on behalf of four non-governmental organizations – Friends of the Earth Canada, David Suzuki Foundation, Safe Food Matters, and Environmental Defence.
Products containing glyphosate received a Canadian regulatory stamp of approval back in 2017. The PMRA subsequently approved another glyphosate product in December 2022 on the basis of their 2017 review.
Ecojustice objected to the new rubber-stamp approval and appealed for an updated review of glyphosate-based herbicides, listing 61 new studies published since 2017 that identify specific health and environmental concerns around exposure to glyphosate.
In a statement, Ecojustice noted that “since the re-evaluation of glyphosate in 2017, scientific evidence has evolved. There are many emerging potential risks associated with glyphosate, including impacts on the microbiome, neurodegenerative and reproductive toxicity, adverse impacts to monarch butterflies, carcinogenicity, and ecological harm to freshwater ecosystems that Health Canada had not previously considered.”
The ruling by Justice Russel W. Zinn of Federal Court in British Columbia specifically says that the PMRA attitude of “trust us, we got it right” without actually examining current evidence is “unreasonable” and not sufficient as a rationale for new pesticide product approvals.
The judge gave the PMRA six months to conduct a detailed further review, including evidence on health and environmental risks identified in the 61 studies tabled by Ecojustice. Results are expected by the fall of 2025.
Cosmetic Pesticide Ban Manitoba 