Proposition 65 - Adoption of No Significant Risk Level for Roundup/glyphosate

This just in from OEHHA on Roundup:

Proposition 65 - Adoption of No Significant Risk Level for Glyphosate

"The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has adopted a No Significant Risk Level of 1100 micrograms per day for glyphosate. This means that exposures to glyphosate below 1100 micrograms per day are not considered a significant risk of cancer for purposes of Proposition 65 and would not require a warning. Safe-harbor levels help businesses determine when a warning is required for exposures to listed chemicals. Once the warning requirement takes effect on July 7, 2018, businesses with 10 or more employees who cause exposures above the safe harbor level may need to provide warnings. Enforcement of the warning requirement is currently the subject of pending federal litigation that may affect the duty to warn for glyphosate exposures.  See National Association of Wheat Growers et al., v Lauren Zeise, et al. (Eastern District of California, Case # 2:17-cv-02401-WBS-EFB).  A preliminary injunction has been issued in that case prohibiting enforcement of the warning requirement by the California Attorney General and OEHHA.  The case is still pending in the Federal District Court."

Glyphosphate the Main Ingredient in Roundup will be Listed on Prop 65 July 7

The State announced that starting July 7 the Roundup's  main ingredient, glyphosate, will be listed on Prop 65.  A year later,  warning labels could be required on the product. Monsanto, the chemical’s maker, has however filed an appeal after losing in court to block the labeling, arguing that Roundup does not the requirements under Prop 65 as a carcinogen.

Monsanto Alleges that the Roundup Lawsuit is Preempted by Federal Law

Two nonprofit groups in April, 2017 alleged that Monsanto intentionally mislabeled its weed killer Round Up as "target[ing] an enzyme found in plants but not in people or pets." The lawsuit charges that Monsanto's statement is "false, deceptive and misleading" because the enzyme targeted by glyphosate "in fact, is found in people and pets."

Beyond Pesticides and the Organic Consumers Association, through their attorneys filed the lawsuit in Washington, DC, court under the District of Columbia's Consumer Protection Procedures Act. The case is Beyond Pesticides et al v Monsanto Co. et al.  The company's lawyers in turn, allege that since the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) makes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency responsible for the accuracy of pesticide labeling the case is preempted  based on existing case law in which courts have already held that the law precludes any state labeling requirements different from FIFRA.

In addition  to  this suit there are a number of suits and class actions against Monsanto alleging  that  glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, is carcinogenic and tied to cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma — an association Monsanto strongly disputes and that is also the topic of competing findings of scientific groups assessing cancer risk.

Adding complications to these cases is the recent Fresno Superior Court case in which the court held that the Prop 65 listing by the state of California, as a carcinogen was proper.  Judge Kapetan  in her ruling against Monsanto,  allows California to proceed with the process of listing glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, as a chemical "known to the state to cause cancer" in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 under Prop 65. This listing will result in the requirement that all such products, if sold in California, carry a label warning against its alleged carcinogenic effect.

AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL CAMPAIGN AGAINST IARC

By. Lee N. Smith

       The American Chemistry Council has launched a public campaign  to change how the International Agency for Research on Cancer-IARC makes decisions about the carcinogenicity of chemicals.This issignificant in California for among other reasons it impacts Prop 65 listings.

        ACC launched the campaign Jan. 25, 2107 said IARC’s decision-making on the cancer-causing potential of chemicals “suffers from persistent scientific and process deficiencies that result in public confusion and misinformed policy-making.” “Public policy must be based on a transparent, thorough assessment of the best available science,” said Cal Dooley, president and CEO of Washington-based ACC, in a statement. “Currently, IARC’s monographs do not meet this standard though U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for over two-thirds of the international program’s budget.”

ACC,  said IARC’s decisions do not use realistic exposure scenarios when informing the public. ACC website that was launched can be found here http://campaignforaccuracyinpublichealthresearch.com/

Recent issues regarding IARC concern coffee and roundup which is the subject of other suits, 

At one point  (IARC) warned coffee drinkers that coffee might cause cancer. However, IARC revisited its decision and downgrading it from “possibly carcinogenic” to “not classifiable.” 

 The latest dispute  concerns glyphosate, an ingredient in a widely-used weed killers, Roundup, made by Monsanto.In March 2015, an IARC monograph concluded that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic.” Yet seven months later the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), an independent agency funded by the EU, published a different assessment, saying glyphosate is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans.”