HHS and EPA Announce New Scientific Partnership to Strengthen Glyphosate Review

WASHINGTON-SEPTEMBER 22, 2026-The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a new interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen scientific coordination and expand the evidence available to EPA's ongoing registration review of glyphosate under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

Under the MOU, the agencies will exchange scientific information, identify research gaps, and expand research into potential human health effects. EPA retains sole authority for registration decisions under FIFRA, and the MOU creates no new authority for either agency.

"Americans have a right to know what the best science tells us about the chemicals they encounter in their food, workplaces, and environment," said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "We are bringing the scientific resources of HHS to the table to answer unresolved questions, strengthen the evidence, and give EPA the data it needs to conduct a rigorous review. We will ask the hard questions, demand sound science, and follow the evidence wherever it leads. This partnership advances President Trump's Make America Healthy Again agenda by putting the health of the American people first."

Under the MOU, HHS and EPA will establish a joint technical working group that brings together experts from EPA, including the Office of Pesticide Programs, and HHS components, including the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Toxicology Program, National Cancer Institute, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Environmental Health, and Food and Drug Administration. The working group will identify priority scientific questions, coordinate research and information-sharing, and align its work with EPA's registration-review schedule.

"FIFRA requires us to reexamine registered pesticides on a recurring cycle against the best available science, and that is exactly what we are doing with glyphosate," said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. "This agreement with Secretary Kennedy and HHS gives our scientists access to research capacity at HHS that addresses potential gaps in the record. EPA will weigh what that work produces the way we weigh any other scientific evidence. We will evaluate the relevant evidence, address important scientific questions, and show our work, providing insight into how the science informs our decisions, as we always do, to conduct the most transparent and thorough review possible."

The partnership will focus on key areas where additional research and scientific coordination can strengthen the evidence base available to EPA, including the toxicology of glyphosate formulations and surfactants, occupational epidemiology, human exposure and biomonitoring, and dietary exposure.

As part of its registration review, EPA will systematically evaluate relevant peer-reviewed research published since its previous assessment and explain how the evidence informs its updated conclusions. EPA will screen the studies against the same criteria it applies to any other published literature and will address in the registration review record those it determines to be relevant and of sufficient quality.

EPA's human health risk assessment will address exposure to glyphosate-based formulations, dietary exposure including from preharvest applications, and occupational exposure, and will evaluate the available cancer, genotoxicity, reproductive, and developmental evidence. FIFRA and the Food Quality Protection Act require EPA to determine that there is a reasonable certainty of no harm from aggregate dietary exposure, with particular attention to infants and children. The working group will help EPA identify consequential data gaps that may warrant additional research, testing, or monitoring, including emerging areas such as the microbiome.

The MOU also strengthens transparency around the agencies' scientific collaboration. HHS and EPA intend, consistent with applicable law, to make appropriate working-group materials available on a rolling basis in Docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361 as they are finalized, while protecting confidential business information and other protected information.

HHS will designate a senior NIEHS official to coordinate HHS participation, and EPA will designate senior officials from its Office of Pesticide Programs to coordinate EPA's participation.

EPA retains responsibility for registration decisions under FIFRA and final decision-making authority consistent with its statutory responsibilities. The MOU does not predetermine or direct the outcome of EPA's glyphosate registration review or constrain EPA's discretion under federal law.

Background

EPA is currently reevaluating glyphosate through its pesticide registration-review process. EPA is updating its human health risk assessment and its evaluation of glyphosate's carcinogenic potential, with completion anticipated in early 2027. EPA recently released for public comment a comprehensive open-literature search protocol that will help inform the updated human health risk assessment.

The HHS-EPA MOU establishes a formal framework for the agencies to exchange scientific information, identify outstanding research questions, coordinate additional research, and bring HHS expertise and data to EPA's review. The MOU creates no new authorities, and each agency will conduct its work under its existing statutory authorities.

For additional information about EPA's glyphosate registration review, visit Docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361.