The state’s environment agency plans to add glyphosate to list based on recent UN report, but Monsanto says it’s illegal
CHICAGO, Ill. (Reuters) — Monsanto has stepped up its defence of glyphosate by filing a lawsuit in California seeking to prevent the state from adding the herbicide to its list of known carcinogens.
The company filed the suit against the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and the agency’s acting director, Lauren Zeise.
California law requires the state to keep a list of cancer-causing chemicals to inform residents of their risks.
The state environmental agency said in September that it planned to add glyphosate to the list after the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified it as a probable human carcinogen in March.
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Monsanto has disputed the assessment, citing decades of studies deeming glyphosate safe when used properly, including a 2007 study by OEHHA that concluded the chemical was unlikely to cause cancer.
Glyphosate is the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.
Monsanto’s lawsuit argues that listing glyphosate under Proposition 65, as the state’s law is known, based on IARC’s classification cedes regulatory authority to an unelected body not subject to oversight.
Monsanto argues that the lack of oversight violates the company’s right to procedural due process under California and U.S. law.
