The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have agreed to pool scientific work on glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, ahead of an updated EPA risk assessment expected early next year, DTN reports.

Under a memorandum of understanding announced on 22 September, the agencies will exchange scientific information, identify research gaps and expand research into possible human health effects. EPA says it retains sole authority over registration decisions under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and the agreement creates no new powers for either agency.

A joint technical working group will bring EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs together with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Toxicology Program, the National Cancer Institute, NIOSH, the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health and the Food and Drug Administration. It will focus on the toxicology of glyphosate formulations and surfactants, occupational epidemiology, human exposure and biomonitoring, and dietary exposure.

EPA's human health assessment will cover exposure to glyphosate-based formulations, dietary exposure including from preharvest use, and occupational exposure, and will evaluate cancer, genotoxicity, reproductive and developmental evidence. "FIFRA requires us to reexamine registered pesticides on a recurring cycle against the best available science and that is exactly what we are doing with glyphosate," said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.

The deal comes about a year after the first Make America Healthy Again Commission report said glyphosate and other pesticides may harm children; a second report recommended no change to pesticide regulation. HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy said the agencies would "follow the evidence wherever it leads". An EPA public comment period on glyphosate closes on 24 September. The report was written by Todd Neeley.

Photo: Pl77 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Source: DTN / Progressive Farmer