The Environmental Protection Agency reaffirmed its 2017 findings and confirmed that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s weed-killer Roundup, does not cause cancer. The announcement made by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Tuesday comes at the same time there are currently 13,400 lawsuits against the controversial weedkiller.
While the World Health Organization (WHO) ruled glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans,” the EPA has “disregarded independent, peer-reviewed research that showed a link between glyphosate and cancer in favor of Monsanto-funded studies saying it was safe,” EcoWatch reported.
“EPA has found no risks to public health from the current registered uses of glyphosate,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said.
A California jury ruled in favor of one of the plaintiffs in 2018 awarding a Bay Area groundskeeper who repeatedly used Roundup, which he claimed caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma, awarding him $78 million in restitution. Another California man was awarded $80 million in a similar lawsuit in March.
And many environmental groups are weary of the EPA’s findings, saying “the EPA’s pesticide office is out on a limb here.”
“Today’s decision by Administrator Wheeler, like virtually every one he and the Trump administration make, completely ignores science in favor of polluters like Bayer,” Ken Cook, Environmental Working Group president, said. “This move by EPA should not come as a surprise. Under the control of Trump and Wheeler, the agency is virtually incapable of taking steps to protect people from dangerous chemicals like glyphosate.”
Aside from the WHO, EcoWatch reported that “the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry released a toxicology report for glyphosate that acknowledged its health risks, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
But the EPA has not changed its position on glyphosate.
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