A common weed killer active ingredient has been tagged as a carcinogenic by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment or OEHHA. The decision meant adding glyphosate California’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer effective July 7.
Monsanto’s Herbicide to Be Labeled as Cancer-Causing in California
According to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s popular Roundup weed killer, will be added to California’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer effective July 7.
Monsanto vowed to continue its legal fight against the designation, calling the decision “unwarranted on the basis of science and the law.”
This listing is the latest legal setback for the seeds and chemicals company, which has faced increasing litigation over glyphosate since the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said that it probably is a carcinogenic in a ruling in 2015.
A weed killer, Dicamba, that is designated for use with Monsanto’s next generation of biotech crops, is now under scrutiny in Arkansas after the state’s plant board voted last week to ban the chemical.
Adding glyphosate to California’s Proposition 65 requires companies selling the compound in the state to add warning labels to packaging. The warnings are also required if the chemical is sprayed at unsafe levels.
Meanwhile, Masanto's Vice President Scott Partridge vowed to continue challenging what the company believes to be an "improper decision."
Image courtesy of: weparkway
