The EPA says its reconfigured scientific panel, with four new members, will meet Dec. 13-16 to consider whether glyphosate, the most widely used weedkiller in the world, poses a carcinogenic risk, said Agri-Pulse. The U.S. examination, which is being made under a law that require periodic assessments of pesticides, will be closely watched because of the 2015 conclusion by the WHO cancer agency that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
The EPA’s scientific advisory panel originally was scheduled to meet in October but the agency postponed the meeting and said it wanted to add more epidemiological expertise. Agri-Pulse said EPA added four scientists to the panel and removed Peter Infante, a former Labor Department official. The trade group for the pesticide industry Crop Life America questioned if Infante would be a fair-minded member of the panel because he has been an expert witness for people suing Monsanto over exposure to glyphosate.
The world’s largest seed company, Monsanto, developed genetically modified crops that withstand doses of glyphosate.
Meanwhile, two groups, Food Democracy Now and The Detox Project, said testing by a food safety laboratory “found extremely high levels of the pesticide glyphosate in some of America’s most popular food products.” The groups said EPA should set a lower tolerance level for glyphosate residues in food.