The federal Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said glyphosate, the primary ingredient in the weed killer Roundup and one of the most widely used herbicides in agriculture, likely does not cause cancer.

The assessment contradicts the conclusion of a European scientific panel as well as California regulators, who have included the chemical on the Proposition 65 list of probable carcinogens.

Environmentalists worldwide have fought to encourage governments to ban the pesticide.

The European Union in November voted to extend the license of the chemical for five years. EPA will be considering a similar extension of the product’s registration for use in 2019, and Monday’s draft assessment is a foundational document in that process.

The controversy over the chemical is tied to opposition to genetically modified crops. Monsanto, which is merging with Bayer, has patented versions of several major commodity crops that have been altered to resist its patented Roundup weed killer.

The Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups fighting for a glyphosate ban, said EPA had been unduly swayed by the chemical’s manufacturer.

Housing starts leap in November

Construction of new homes increased 3.3 percent in November — with the gain largely coming from single-family houses being built at the strongest pace in more than a decade.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders broke ground on homes last month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3 million units. The increase marks a key moment in the recovery from the Great Recession: Builders started work on single-family houses at the fastest pace since September 2007, which was just a few months before the start of that economic downturn.

Driving the rebound in home construction has been a shortage of existing properties being listed for sale.

2016 was a deadly year for workers

Last year was the deadliest for U.S. workers in nearly a decade. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 5,190 people were killed on the job in 2016, the most since 2008.

The rate of fatal injuries for full-time workers rose to 3.6 per 100,000, the highest since 2010.

Categories with significant increases included homicides, suicides and overdoses. Higher death rates spanned most age groups as well as many races and ethnic groups, with the exception of Hispanic or Latino people.

Tuesday’s report also said that suicides at work rose to a record 291, and the 500 homicides were the most since 2010.