All FDA-registered pesticides must undergo a registration review at least once every 15 years, according to U.S. News and World Report, which said that the agency plans to release its decision on glyphosate late this year. Glyphosate has been registered with the FDA since 1974, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The very next day, Germany announced its total phaseout of glyphosate by 2023. Germany is the home of global agrochemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG, which purchased St. Louis-based Monsanto in June 2018 for $66 billion.

Germany is the 18th country to ban glyphosate, joining Austria, France, Denmark, Bermuda, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Malawi and ten others.

In April, the FDA reaffirmed its earlier findings that glyphosate poses no risks to human health and said that its findings are in line with the scientific conclusions of other countries and federal agencies.

Despite the FDA assertion, however, in 2015 the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

Beginning last year with the groundbreaking Dewayne “Lee” Johnson case and continuing in 2019 with the Hardeman and Pillod cases, trial juries have awarded more than $2.2 billion in damages to plaintiffs who alleged that glyphosate exposure contributed to their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

More than 18,000 glyphosate-related lawsuits are pending against Monsanto as of August. More info on the registration process and comment period can be found on Regulations.gov.

Excerpts from Public Comments on Glyphosate Sent to the Food and Drug Administration