EPA's past 2018 dicamba registration decision was tainted by political interference and ignored important science on the herbicide's risks, according to an internal EPA email DTN has obtained and verified with the agency.
 
"Over the past few years, I am aware that political interference sometimes compromised the integrity of our science," Michal Freedhoff, the new acting assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said in an email sent to all OCSPP employees on March 10, 2021.
 
The email highlights the agency's 2018 dicamba registrations of Bayer's XtendiMax herbicide, BASF's Engenia herbicide and Corteva's FeXapan herbicide as an example of that political interference.
 
"In 2018, OCSPP senior leadership directed career staff to: (1) rely on a limited data set of plant effects endpoints; (2) discount specific studies (some with more robust data) used in assessing potential risks and benefits; and (3) discount scientific information on negative impacts," Freedhoff wrote.
 
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