Glyphosate Report Replay

Emails Show McCarthy Exasperated

Todd Neeley
By  Todd Neeley , DTN Staff Reporter
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Gina McCarthy expressed frustration in a May 2016 email, when she learned about the inadvertent posting of a glyphosate cancer risk assessment to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website. (DTN photo by Chris Clayton)

OMAHA (DTN) -- When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inadvertently posted to its website a yet-to-be-published cancer risk assessment on glyphosate on May 2, 2016, internal emails show then EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy was exasperated when she learned about the release.

The document was described as the final report of a cancer assessment review committee (CARC) on the health effects of pesticides.

Emails obtained by DTN in a Freedom of Information Act request show Jim Jones, then assistant administrator in the office of chemical safety and pollution prevention at EPA, was the first to break the news to McCarthy. His lengthy message detailing the release, was met by McCarthy with a terse response.

"Administrator, on Friday, the pesticide program inadvertently posted on their web page the atrazine eco-risk assessment and a glyphosate cancer assessment from last year," Jones wrote.

"The atrazine assessment was posted prematurely as we committed to briefing USDA before releasing, and that won't happen for a couple of weeks. We're trying to understand how the glyphosate assessment was even in que for posting as we decided last fall that the assessment was not consistent with the agency's guidelines, and we would convene a new group to re-evaluate.

"The released assessment categorized glyphosate as not likely to be carcinogenic. NGOs saw it and started to post critical reactions. Monsanto saw it and put out a release saying EPA had confirmed glyphosate is not carcinogenic. We pulled down the glyphosate paper as soon as we learned about it.

"We're working with OPA on a statement, which says we are in the middle of our cancer review, and we will peer review it this fall before finalizing. The atrazine assessment will come down shortly as internal government deliberations are not complete.

"I think we can expect this to 'vibrate' for some time."

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McCarthy's responded, "Good grief. It would be good to figure out how this happened so you can close that loop. In the meantime, a very straightforward statement is best and out ASAP."

The agency inadvertently released an October 2015 EPA study that concluded the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup was not carcinogenic to humans.

Following the inadvertent posting, Monsanto was quick to take advantage of the EPA error, issuing a press statement lauding the report, which was completed in October 2015.

At the time, an EPA spokesperson told DTN they were unsure why the report was posted -- calling it a "mistake."

The CARC report had yet to be reviewed by a scientific advisory board. The advisory board completed its review by year's end, when an EPA assessment was finalized.

"The CARC concluded that the epidemiological studies in humans showed no association between glyphosate exposure and cancer of the following: oral cavity, esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, colorectum, lung, pancreas, kidney, bladder, prostate, brain (gliomas), soft-tissue sarcoma, leukemia, or multiple myelomas," the October 2015 report said.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, in Lyon, France, assessed the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate in March 2015. The IARC concluded glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic to humans."

That conclusion prompted EPA to re-evaluate the herbicide's carcinogenic potential.

Though the assessment report was made public, EPA said it would have more to say about glyphosate later that year.

"Preliminary glyphosate documents were inadvertently posted to the agency's docket," according to the EPA statement. "These documents have now been taken down because our assessment is not final.

"EPA has not completed our cancer review. We will look at the work of other governments as well as work by HHS's (Health and Human Services) Agricultural Health Study as we move to make a decision on glyphosate. Our assessment will be peer reviewed and completed by end of 2016."

EPA said it continues to work through "some important science issues" on glyphosate.

That included a residues study of the chemical in human breast milk, in-depth human incidents and epidemiology evaluation, the IARC's cancer re-evaluation released in August 2015, and a preliminary analysis of glyphosate toxicity to milkweed, which is a critical resource for the monarch butterfly.

Glyphosate is off-patent and sold by many agriculture companies. Monsanto developed glyphosate as the active ingredient in the company's herbicide Roundup.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @toddneeleyDTN

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Todd Neeley

Todd Neeley
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