A federal judge kept in place his injunction that prevents
California regulators from requiring warning labels stating that glyphosate,
the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, may be linked to cancer.
U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb for the Eastern
District of California concludes that research the attorney general provided by
the International Agency for Research on Cancer did not provide enough proof
that glyphosate causes cancer. "The overwhelming majority of agencies that
have examined glyphosate have determined it is not a cancer risk," the
judge wrote.
This is a significant labeling victory, since California
seems to want to label everything a “possible carcinogen”, including coffee.
This is because under the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement
Act of 1986, also known as Prop 65, businesses must give customers a
"clear and reasonable warning" about the presence of substances that are
considered toxic or carcinogenic and can possibly impact a consumer’s health.
California added glyphosate to Prop 65 after the World
Health Organization declared glyphosate to be “probably carcinogenic.” However,
an investigation by Reuters later found key information had been omitted from
the report that supported the conclusion the pesticide does not cause cancer in
animals. In 2016, the EPA affirmed glyphosate does not cause cancer, and in
2017 a long-term study by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) following 50,000
people over 20 years also showed no link between glyphosate and cancer.