WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), senior member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee, today called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to finalize their registration review of the herbicide glyphosate following yesterday’s announcement from the European Chemicals Agency that glyphosate is not a carcinogen.

 “Yesterday, the European Chemicals Agency concluded that glyphosate is not a carcinogen,” Inhofe said. “This finding is consistent with many other government regulators, including the EPA’s own cancer assessment review committee. Even though the EPA’s science advisory panel has not released their review of glyphosate’s carcinogenicity, I believe EPA can safely move forward and complete their registration review soon.”

Tom Buchanan, president of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, also praised ECHA’s announcement:

“The announcement from Europe that glyphosate is a safe herbicide is confirmation of what the agriculture community and EPA’s own scientists have known for decades. Farmers have used glyphosate products with great success for over 40 years, and it is essential to today’s modern agricultural practices. We hope the EPA, under its new leadership, will finalize its long overdue review so farmers can continue using a critical tool we’ve safely for decades.”

Background

• In April 2016, EPA published and quickly removed a Final Report from the cancer assessment committee (CARC) that concluded glyphosate is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”
  • July 12, 2016, Senator Inhofe, as chairman of the EPW committee, sent a letter to Deputy Assistant Administrator and Science Advisor in EPA’s Office of Research and Development Dr. Thomas Burke to express his concern with the delay in EPA’s registration review of glyphosate despite its own scientists’ findings that it is safe.
  • On July 26, 2016, EPA published a notice in the Federal Register that it would be convening a science advisory panel (SAP) to review whether glyphosate causes cancer in humans.
  • On Sept. 12, 2016, EPA re-released the CARC report along with the Glyphosate Issue Paper: Evaluation of Carcinogenic Potential, which “proposed that glyphosate is not likely to be a carcinogenic to humans at doses relevant for human health risk assessment.”
  • Dec. 13–16, 2016, the SAP on glyphosate met to review the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate.
  • March 10, Senator Inhofe sent a letter to EPA Administrator Pruitt check on the status of glyphosate’s registration review.