Feb 27 (Reuters) – The United States will invest an additional $200 million in research into new and sustainable farm practices, bringing the total to more than $1 billion, the government said on Friday.
The administration is pushing efforts to reduce the use of pesticides by finding alternatives.
The Department of Health and Human Services will give researchers $100 million to probe the exposure, diagnosis, and treatment of cumulative chemical exposures on individual health. It will give another $100 million to identify new ways of reducing reliance on chemical crop protection tools.
HHS made the announcement in a joint release with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture.
President Donald Trump last week moved to ensure the domestic supply of phosphorus and glyphosate, a widely used weed-killer at the center of tens of thousands of lawsuits by plaintiffs claiming it causes cancer.
The move dismayed activists from the politically influential pro-Trump Make America Healthy Again movement, which opposes the widespread use of glyphosate due to health concerns.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Costas Pitas and David Ljunggren;Editing by Daphne Psaledakis, Rod Nickel)
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