EPA Glyphosate Assessment Makes U.S. an Outlier on a Growing Global Consensus of Chemical’s Cancer Danger
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is going on the record with an assessment that the pesticide glyphosate is not linked to cancer in humans, a finding at odds with the World Health Organization. That body determined glyphosate was “probably” carcinogenic to humans last year.
Today’s finding, strongly advocated for by Monsanto, comes after an earlier version of the assessment finding glyphosate had no link to cancer was quickly pulled after being accidentally leaked on the EPA’s website in May.
Following is a reaction to the EPA’s glyphosate assessment by Jennifer Sass, Senior Scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council:
“The EPA is abandoning farmers and farm families by greenlighting glyphosate. They are on the front line of pesticide health risks and regulators have kept them in the path of a chemical that has been linked to cancer.
“The EPA is sweeping many studies under the rug – some even by Monsanto – that show elevated cancer risks. Now it’s up to the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Panel to reject this unscientific finding and prod the agency to set standards on glyphosate that keep people and the environment safe.”
Glyphosate is the active chemical in Roundup, the Monsanto product that has become ubiquitous on farmlands across the country; every year, 300 million pounds of glyphosate is used on farms every year, mainly on corn and soybean crops.
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