Glyphosate, a broad-spectrum herbicide, which is main ingredient of Monsanto's weed killer RoundUp, will be listed as cancer-causing in California as of July 7 under a state law known as Proposition 65, the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) said on Monday. This results in a requirement to label glyphosate products with a cancer warning in California. Glyphosate producers like Monsanto have now roughly one year from the listing date to re-label products.
OEHHA said the designation of glyphosate will proceed following an unsuccessful attempt by Monsanto to block the listing in trial court and after requests for stay were denied by a state appellate court and the California 's Supreme Court.
"This is not the final step in the process, and it has no bearing on the merits of the case. We will continue to aggressively challenge this improper decision," Scott S. Partridge, Monsanto's vice president of global strategy, said. “Glyphosate is not carcinogenic, and the listing of glyphosate under Prop 65 is unwarranted.”
The decision adds another facet to the widespread discussion about the harmfulness to health of the chemical product, which is also used on feed grade and malting barley,
In March, European Chemical Agency (ECHA) declared the product for safe, saying that it sees no cancer risk in glyphosate (inside.beer, 15.3.2017). Also Australia last year permitted the use of glyphosate on barley but only for feed and not for malting purposes (inside.beer, 5.11.2016).
