Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 11/8/17

The International Agency for Research on Cancer will not comply with a House science committee's request related to the agency's conclusions on glyphosate. Earlier this month, Chairman Lamar Smith called on IARC to testify about allegations that the agency had manipulated its assessment that found glyphosate "probably" causes cancer in humans. The committee asked IARC to submit names by today of officials who could attend a hearing. But officials at IARC in Lyon, France, decided the request did not go through the proper channels.

"We will respond when we receive an official request through the proper channel. There is no decision yet on whether to send or not someone," Véronique Terrasse, communications officer for IARC, told POLITICO Europe. She added that the information would be relayed to Smith later today, and that a request to summon IARC officials should instead come from the U.S. State Department and be addressed to American representatives sitting on IARC's governing council.

- Glyphosate debate crosses Atlantic: Smith, a Republican from Texas, is a noted climate-change skeptic and is no stranger to clashes with scientists. But the move comes at a fraught moment as EU policymakers will vote on Thursday on whether to renew glyphosate's license for five years. (IARC, a World Health Organization body, calls glyphosate a carcinogen, while two EU agencies say it's safe.)

- The broader context: Political deliberations in Europe have been complicated by allegations made against the agrichemical giant Monsanto, whose blockbuster Roundup weedkiller uses glyphosate. In a California court, complainants have presented claims that Monsanto attempted to ghostwrite research papers that called glyphosate safe. On the other side of the debate, IARC has also been heavily criticized. In August, POLITICO reported that IARC disregarded two important pieces of research from Germany that suggested the herbicide was safe.