Friday, September 04, 2015

California EPA plans to list Roundup as carcinogen

The California Environmental Protection Agency wants to list glyphosate, brand name Roundup, "one of the most widely-used herbicides in agriculture, and three other chemicals to a list of carcinogens under the state's Proposition 65 law," Spencer Chase reports for Agri-Pulse.

"Under the law, substances identified as carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer are to be added to the list. There is no separate evaluation of the evidence considered by the agency," Chase writes. "In March, the IARC, an arm of the World Health Organization, said glyphosate was 'probably carcinogenic to humans,' a move widely unpopular with many in agriculture."

Sam Delson, a spokesman for the agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, told Agri-Pulse that listing doesn't ban use or sale of products, "but businesses with 10 or more employees that use chemicals on this list must provide a 'clear and reasonable warning' of the product's potential dangers." The agency is developing a "no signifcant risk" level at which a warning would not be required.

A spokeswoman for Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, told Agri-Pulse that "The IARC classification overlooked decades of thorough and robust analysis by regulatory agencies, including a multi-year assessment just completed on behalf of the regulatory authority in the European Union. Another registration review is currently underway by the U.S. EPA.  No regulatory agency in the world considers glyphosate to be a carcinogen." (Read more)

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