EPA Regulator Set To Release Key Herbicide Report, Lauds Biopesticides

"The Environmental Protection Agency has wrapped up its review of the world's most widely used herbicide and plans to release a much-anticipated preliminary risk assessment no later than July, the regulator's chief pesticide regulator told Reuters.

The EPA review of the health and environmental impacts of glyphosate comes at a time of intense debate over the safety of the chemical, and after the World Health Organization's cancer research unit declared in March that glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic to humans."

Jim Jones, assistant administrator for the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, told Reuters in an interview that the EPA's review of the health and environmental impacts of glyphosate was concluded months ago, but its report was delayed to allow the agency to learn more about the WHO findings."

Carey Gillam reports for Reuters May 5, 2015.