Pesticide databaseHerbicidesChecked 2026-10-01

Glyphosate グリホサート

Stop amino acid production (glyphosate and others)Registered in JapanWHO IIIApproved in the EUIARC 2A

Stop amino acid production (glyphosate and others): Stop a mechanism for making amino acids that only plants have. Glyphosate, glufosinate, sulfonylureas and others.

In Japan

Registration: Registered as a pesticide (first registered September 22, 1980). 119 formulated products contain it.
Main registered crops: trees and similar, paddy field crops, citrus, trees, paddy field crops, upland crops, onion and others (73 crop names in the registered uses)
Toxicity class: Active ingredient: Glyphosate ammonium salt: Ordinary / Glyphosate isopropylamine salt: Ordinary / Glyphosate potassium salt: Ordinary / Glyphosate sodium salt: Ordinary
Classes of the 119 formulated products (diluted products sold): ordinary substance 119
Classes under Japan's Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Act.
ADI (acceptable daily intake): 1 mg per kg of body weight per day
ARfD (acute reference dose): not necessary to set
Evaluation: Food Safety Commission of Japan, July 12, 2016

ADI: the amount considered to have no effect on health even if eaten every day for a lifetime. ARfD: the amount considered to have no effect on health when eaten at one time (within 24 hours). Both are set by the Food Safety Commission of Japan, mainly from animal studies.

In Japan's national residue testing (fiscal 2024)

Produce	Detected / tested	Detection rate	Over the limit
Imported	18 / 99	18.2%	0

Found in imported foods: soybean, wheat, tea (max. 1.0 ppm)

Tests are counted as pesticide × sample. Any detection counts as “detected” — it does not mean the limit was exceeded. For pesticides outside the top 20, figures are summed from the food-by-food tables of the full report.

In the Consumer Affairs Agency's market basket survey (fiscal 2024; the amount actually taken in from everyday meals), intake was 0.012–0.014% of the ADI.

Evaluations abroad

WHO acute toxicity class: III (Slightly hazardous), LD50 4230 mg/kg
Based on the toxicity of the undiluted active ingredient given once, mainly to rats by mouth (LD50 = the dose that kills half; the smaller, the stronger the acute toxicity). It is not an assessment of the safety of residues in food.
EU: Approved in the EU (approval expires December 2033)
EU ADI: 0.5 mg/kg bw/day; ARfD: 1.5 mg/kg bw
IARC (carcinogenicity): Group 2A (probably carcinogenic to humans)
Glyphosate: Vol. 112 (evaluated 2015)
IARC classifications rate the strength of evidence that something can cause cancer, not the size of the risk at the amounts eaten in food.

Good to know

IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) classified it in 2015 as “probably carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2A). On the other hand, EFSA (2015) concluded that it is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans,” and the Food Safety Commission also assessed that carcinogenicity is not observed. Even for the same active ingredient, assessments differ between agencies.
In North America and elsewhere, there is a use called pre-harvest application, in which it is sprayed on wheat and other crops before harvest to dry down the crop and even out the harvest. Japan raised its maximum residue limit for wheat from 5 ppm to 30 ppm in 2017.
A re-evaluation is under deliberation at the Food Safety Commission of Japan (received in January 2023).

Related explainers

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-01. Registrations and evaluations change over time. This page is a translation of our Japanese page; if they differ, the Japanese page is the reference.

Pesticides registered in Japan are approved by the government with set crops, amounts, numbers of applications and days before harvest. This page lists facts stated in laws and in evaluations by public bodies; it does not judge whether anything is good or bad.

Other Stop amino acid production (glyphosate and others)

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