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CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Tuesday that glyphosate, a
chemical in many popular weed killers, is not a carcinogen, contradicting
decisions by U.S. juries that found it caused cancer in people.
The EPA’s announcement
reaffirms its earlier findings about the safety of glyphosate, the key
ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup. The company faces thousands of lawsuits from
Roundup users who allege it caused their cancer.
“EPA continues to find that
there are no risks to public health when glyphosate is used in accordance with
its current label and that glyphosate is not a carcinogen,” the agency said in
a statement.
Farmers spray glyphosate, the
most widely used herbicide in U.S. agriculture, on fields of soybeans and other
crops. Roundup is also used on lawns, golf courses and elsewhere.
The EPA did previously find
ecological risks from the chemical and has proposed new measures to protect the
environment from glyphosate use by farmers and to reduce the problem of weeds
becoming resistant to it.
Bayer said it was pleased the
EPA and other regulators who have assessed the science on glyphosate for more
than 40 years continue to conclude it is not carcinogenic. “Bayer firmly believes
that the science supports the safety of glyphosate-based herbicides,” it said
in a statement. The company has repeatedly denied allegations that glyphosate
and Roundup cause cancer.
But critics of the chemical
disputed the EPA’s assurances.
“Unfortunately American
consumers cannot trust the EPA assessment of glyphosate’s safety,” said Nathan
Donley, a senior scientist at the environmental group Center for Biological
Diversity.
Monsanto developed Roundup as
the first glyphosate-based weed killer, but it is no longer patent-protected
and many other versions are available. Bayer bought Monsanto last year for $63
billion.
The debate over glyphosate’s
safety has put a spotlight on regulatory agencies around the world in recent
years and, more recently, on U.S. courtrooms.
In 2015, the World Health
Organization’s cancer arm classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to
humans.” But the EPA in 2017 said a decades-long assessment of glyphosate risks
found the chemical was not likely carcinogenic to humans.
In February, analysts at
Brazilian health agency Anvisa also determined the weed killer does not cause
cancer while recommending limits on exposure.
In the first U.S. Roundup
trial, a California man was awarded $289 million in August 2018 after a state
court jury found the weed killer caused his cancer. That award was later
reduced to $78 million and is being appealed by Bayer.
A U.S. jury in March awarded
$80 million to another California man who claimed his use of Roundup caused his
cancer.
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