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. (See update below.)
Update and Further Notes
Spring 2026 – In August 2025, the PMRA reported that, following the court order, it had reviewed the studies listed by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Apparently, none of the 61 studies offered evidence that the PMRA regarded as requiring any change in the approval status of glyphosate. In the words of the Agency, “the existing reference values for glyphosate do not need to be revised, and the current risk assessment on file for the active ingredient glyphosate is valid.”
Some observers wonder if there is any level of scientific evidence that would prompt Canadian regulators to impose further restrictions on the use of glyphosate-containing pesticides.
Meanwhile in the United States, Bayer, the manufacturer of Roundup, which is much used in agriculture and whose principal active ingredient is glyphosate, is continuing to face legal pressure. The Lawsuit Information Center created by a US legal firm notes that more that 160,000 lawsuits have been brought by Americans claiming that their cancers (including non-Hodgkin lymphoma) were caused by exposure to Roundup. The site reports that Bayer has paid out nearly $11-billion to date to settle some 100,000 of these suits. And in February 2026, Bayer offered a further $7.25-billion to settle the 60-65,000 lawsuits that remain unresolved. A US judge is to rule on the proposed arrangement in July 2026.
Back in Canada, under current regulation, glyphosate is scheduled for formal re-evaluation in 2032.
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