The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released an open literature search document on glyphosate and is inviting public comment on its findings.
The announcement, made on August 25, 2026, opens a formal comment period as part of the agency’s ongoing registration review of the widely used herbicide.
The open literature search is designed to inform an updated human health risk assessment for glyphosate, which the EPA expects to complete in late 2026.
The EPA is specifically soliciting public input on the completeness of its glyphosate open literature search, with all comments due by September 24, 2026.
Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the EPA is legally required to reevaluate pesticides like glyphosate every 15 years to ensure they continue to meet statutory standards for registration.
Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide registered for use on many crops and in non-crop sites including forests, rights-of-way, pasture and rangeland, recreational areas, and residential settings.
The herbicide remains one of the most debated agricultural chemicals globally, with disagreements persisting over its potential cancer-causing effects among scientific and regulatory bodies.
Virtually all global authoritative bodies have determined glyphosate causes no cancer risk, while the International Agency for Research on Cancer and other detractors have claimed otherwise.
In its 2017 human health risk assessment, the EPA did not identify risks of concern with glyphosate uses, including for cancer, from dietary, drinking-water, or residential exposure.
The agency is now updating that assessment to incorporate more recent published literature, including epidemiological data, which will inform its regulatory decisions going forward.
The EPA also previously convened an independent scientific review panel in 2016 and solicited stakeholder input on scientific issues related to the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate.
Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the EPA establishes pesticide tolerances on food when it determines there is “a reasonable certainty that no harm will result from aggregate” exposure.
The agency anticipates completing its evaluation of glyphosate’s carcinogenic potential and its updated human health risk assessment before the end of 2026.
Following completion of the assessment, the EPA intends to hold a public webinar in early 2027 to provide an overview of the updated human health risk assessment findings.
Members of the public wishing to submit comments must do so through regulations.gov no later than September 24, 2026.