Monsanto sues California to keep glyphosate off cancer list

Monsanto sued California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), demanding that the agency not add glyphosate to the state’s list of known carcinogens, reports Reuters. OEHHA announced in September that it would include the herbicide on the list after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared glyphosate a “probable human carcinogen” in March 2015.

Monsanto claims that numerous other studies have deemed the chemical safe, including one by OEHHA in 2007. If glyphosate goes on the list, Monsanto and all other companies that make products with glyphosate would have to add a warning label to their packaging, which Monsanto believes would injure its corporate reputation and violate its First Amendment rights. Arguing that OEHHA lacks proper oversight from state or federal law, Monsanto says the agency has failed to uphold due process. Glyphosate, also known as RoundUp, is the most widely used herbicide in the world. Monsanto earned $4.8 billion in glyphosate sales in 2015, according to Reuters.

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