Agri-Pulse reports:
The California Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday a notice of intent to list glyphosate, 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.
Under the law, substances identified as carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) are to be added to the list. There is no separate evaluation of the evidence considered by the agency.
According to Sam Delson, a spokesman the California Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), 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.
This listing would not ban the use or sale of any specified substance. The notice of intent to list triggers a 30-day comment period on whether or not the IARC did in fact declare the substances as carcinogens, but Delson said the comment period will not consider the quality or nature of evidence used by the IARC.
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.
Monsanto Spokesperson Charla Lord 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.
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Source: Agri-Marketing
