American Soybean Association among intervenors in complaint against US EPA glyphosate registration

The American Soybean Association (ASA) and other interested parties have joined together as intervenors to block a challenge that would toss out the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plans to reregister glyphosate. The group filed a joint motion to intervene April 20 in Rural Coalition et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency et al and Natural Resources Defense Council et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support EPA’s decision.

Caleb Ragland, chair of ASA’s Regulatory Committee and Kentucky soy grower said, “Glyphosate is an important tool in helping farmers produce more food in a sustainable manner. ASA support EPA’s interim registration decision, which clearly defends the safety of glyphosate when used according to the label.”

Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides worldwide. Growers and others depend on it for effective weed control and to minimize tillage farming practices, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and preserve more land for native habitats. ASA believes in a science and evidence-based regulatory system for crop protection tools and relies on EPA and other federal regulators to use the best available data and sound science to make decisions regarding the safety of available products in the marketplace.

EPA on Jan. 22 published its interim decision for the 15-year registration review of glyphosate, as required by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). It included a variety of determinations about glyphosate, including revision of requirements for drift management, off-target effects, herbicide resistance management practices, and a human health risk assessment in which EPA found glyphosate posed no significant cancer or non-cancer human health risks.

The motion to intervene made by ASA and other groups is in response to a coalition’s complaints requesting the EPA decision be vacated. Joining ASA in the motion to intervene in the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenge are the National Association of Wheat Growers, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council of America, American Sugarbeet Growers Association, National Sorghum Producers, American Farm Bureau Federation, National Association of Landscape Professionals, Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, Agricultural Retailers Association and Monsanto.