On December 26, 2023, comments will be closing on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed strategy to better screen pesticides and agricultural chemicals for harm to the human endocrine system. During this comment period, the manufacturers of select high-priority agricultural chemicals are also being asked to submit additional endocrine data for review. Some stakeholders—such as Bayer, the producer of controversial herbicide RoundUp—are asking for an extension to the data submission deadline.
The proposed EPA strategy is intended to ensure that its assessments of pesticides more closely, quickly, and effectively evaluate the potential for endocrine effects in humans, thereby enhancing EPA’s protection of public health by enabling the agency to make better informed decisions under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).