Update: The EPA announced on June 26 it had extended the public comment deadline to September 3 on the agency’s Proposed Interim Registration Review Decision for glyphosate. The original comment deadline was July 5. GCSAA Government Affairs will be spending the next few weeks working on its draft comments and working with its members to submit comments to the federal docket as well.

The EPA is currently accepting comments on its recently announced Proposed Interim Registration Review Decision for glyphosate.

This public comment period will be open until July 5, 2019.

Any person or organization can tsubmit a commen for the EPA's consideration. GCSAA plans to submit comment on behalf of the membership. The EPA will review all public comments before issuing its Final Registration Review Decision for glyphosate.

Please consider making your voice heard during this important step of the registration process. The EPA provides tips for effective comments.

For additional information and resources on glyphosate, review GCSAA's Government Affairs blog post.

Background

On April 30, the EPA released their Proposed Interim Registration Review Decision for glyphosate, an important step in the registration review process. The EPA responses contains several key comments including:

"The EPA conducted an independent evaluation of the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate and has determined that glyphosate is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” The agency's cancer classification is based on a thorough weight-of-evidence review of all relevant data and is in accordance with the agency’s 2005 Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment."

"EPA's cancer evaluation is more robust than IARC’s evaluation. IARC’s evaluation only considers data that have been published or accepted for publication in the openly available scientific literature. As a result, IARC only considered a subset of the studies included in the EPA’s evaluation."

"The agency's cancer evaluation for glyphosate is also more transparent. EPA’s draft cancer evaluation was presented to a FIFRA SAP for external peer review. EPA solicited public comment on the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate as part of the SAP process, which is well-documented with an agenda, transcript, meeting notes, and final SAP report. EPA responded to the SAP report, addressed panel recommendations, and made revisions to its cancer assessment that were transparent and provided to the public. EPA also solicited public comment on its full human health and ecological risk assessment for glyphosate in February 2018. In contrast, IARC meetings are not accessible to the public. Its deliberations are closed, its process does not allow for public comments to be submitted for consideration, there are no materials provided in advance of the meeting, and IARC’s reports are final without an external peer review."

"The EPA has not identified any new information received during the public comment period which ended on April 30, 2018, that would result in changes to the conclusion of its cancer assessment. The agency's cancer conclusion is consistent with other regulatory authorities and international organizations, including the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency, the Australian Pesticide and Veterinary medicines Authority, the European Food Safety Authority, the European Chemicals Agency, the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticides Residues, the New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority, and the Food Safety Commission of Japan."