EPA glyphosate review status and cancer findings explained
EPA glyphosate review remains unfinished, with no nationwide EPA ban. The 2020 interim decision no longer stands, and EPA and IARC differ on cancer.
The EPA glyphosate registration review is still unfinished, and registered products can remain on the market and be used according to their labels even though the February 3, 2020 interim decision no longer stands. There is no nationwide EPA ban. EPA's withdrawal notice says products containing glyphosate stay available for labeled use.
EPA still reports its 2017 conclusion that glyphosate is "not likely to be carcinogenic to humans." It is updating that evaluation, with an updated human-health assessment anticipated in late 2026. That date is not a final registration-review decision. EPA's glyphosate overview lists those planned dates.
What happened to the EPA glyphosate decision?
The Ninth Circuit ruling and EPA's later withdrawal were separate steps. Neither step cancelled existing glyphosate registrations. EPA's withdrawal explanation gives this sequence:
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| February 3, 2020 | EPA published its interim registration-review decision. |
| June 17, 2022 | The Ninth Circuit vacated the human-health portion and remanded the ecological portion without vacating it. |
| September 23, 2022 | EPA withdrew the remaining ecological-risk, benefits and interim-mitigation portions. |
The court required a replacement ecological portion by October 1, 2022. On September 23, 2022, EPA withdrew the remaining portions because it could not finish that work in time.
What remains is the ecological work the court sent back, endangered-species consultation, an endocrine-screening determination and a response to an administrative petition. EPA says the final registration-review decision waits on that work.
What happens next, and when can you comment?
EPA anticipates the updated carcinogenicity evaluation and human-health risk assessment in late 2026, and a public webinar in early 2027. The overview also says EPA intends to release the Fish and Wildlife Service draft biological opinion for comment in fall 2026. And National Marine Fisheries Service consultation still has no set timeline. Before a final registration-review decision, EPA must prepare a proposed decision, publish it for 60 days of public comment and consider the comments. The withdrawal notice states that step.
For comments on the open literature search for the human-health assessment, the extended deadline is November 23, 2026. The notice posted September 28 extended the old September 24 deadline. EPA's overview still prints September 24, so that page will point you at a deadline that has already passed.
The August 25, 2026 literature-search notice is the call for comment on that search. It is not the new assessment. The docket check on October 27, 2026 identified the September 28 extension as the latest entry.
Does glyphosate cause cancer?
EPA and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, do not reach the same conclusion. EPA's current overview keeps the 2017 "not likely to be carcinogenic to humans" finding while the evaluation is updated. The update does not put the vacated 2020 human-health portion back in force.
EPA's overview also addresses a 2025 Panzacchi study and the November 2025 retraction of the Williams, Kroes and Munro 2000 review. EPA says it will evaluate the newer study's relevance and quality and may consider it. EPA also says it did not directly rely on the retracted review, and that its assessment is unaffected.
IARC classified glyphosate as Group 2A, "probably carcinogenic to humans," in March 2015. Its explanation cites limited evidence in humans, sufficient evidence in experimental animals, and strong evidence of genotoxicity.
That Group 2A label is a hazard classification: evidence the substance can cause cancer. It isn't one person's probability of cancer. Exposure and other factors change the probability. EPA also assesses exposure-related risk, a wider question than IARC's hazard call. But that doesn't close the gap in how the two bodies read the studies. IARC and EPA each set out their method.
Does this mean Roundup is safe?
Neither finding is a yes for every product sold as Roundup. Glyphosate is the active ingredient those conclusions address. A formulated product can contain other ingredients, so an ingredient finding doesn't settle every product. EPA and IARC separate the two.
Don't treat the Roundup name as the ingredient list. Read the current label, and check the restrictions that apply where the product is used. Federal registration is not a permit for every use in every locality.
RegAffairs AI's glyphosate answer thread covers EPA's position and the cancer-classification disagreement. EPA's withdrawal page, last updated August 31, 2026, still says registered glyphosate products remain on the market for labeled use.