EPA ignored plea to tighten restrictions on a controversial weed killer, lawsuit claims
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is putting public health at risk by continuing to let farmers spray glyphosate, a weed killer linked to cancer, directly on top of oats before harvest, a practice that commonly results in residues of the pesticide remaining on popular foods made with oats, according to a new lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed April 20 by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), asks the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to require the EPA to respond to a 2018 petition that calls on the EPA to ban the use of glyphosate for drying out crops before harvest and to lower the level of glyphosate residue allowed to linger on oats from 30 parts per million (ppm) to just 0.1 ppm. The EPA has never responded to the petition, which was filed by EWG and a group of food companies and grocers.
The lawsuit focuses on the EPA’s current “maximum residue limit” (MRL) for glyphosate in oats, which are widely eaten by children in cereals, cookies and other products, and alleges the limits do not adequately protect children’s health.
Tests conducted by EWG and others have found glyphosate residues in a range of popular foods, including oat-based cereals and snacks, concluding that oats are a major source of glyphosate exposure for babies and young children.
“The EPA has a clear legal duty to act on this petition, and it has simply refused to do so,” Caroline Leary, EWG’s general counsel, said in a statement.
“This kind of delay has real consequences for families who rely on the agency to ensure children are not exposed to toxic farm chemical residues like glyphosate,” said Leary.
“This kind of delay has real consequences for families who rely on the agency to ensure children are not exposed to toxic farm chemical residues like glyphosate.” — Caroline Leary, EWG
The agency’s MRLs, also known as tolerance levels, for glyphosate in food crops have long courted controversy. While the MRL for oats was 0.1 ppm in 1993, it was bumped to 20 ppm in 1997 and raised again to 30 ppm in 2008. The EPA’s MRLs often allow for more glyphosate residue to remain on foods in the US than in many other countries, including those in the European Union.
In 2013, the EPA issued a new regulation that raised glyphosate levels in oilseed crops, including flax, sesame, and soybean, from 20 ppm to 40 ppm, as well as dramatically increasing the levels allowed in sweet potatoes and carrots. The EPA increased the tolerance levels in response to requests from Monsanto.
The EPA is in the process of re-evaluating glyphosate’s registration under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), after withdrawing an interim registration decision in September 2022. The agency is expected to issue a final registration review decision this year.
In its 2019 petition, EWG wrote that the EPA “incorrectly dismissed” many scientific studies that have linked glyphosate to cancer, a move that has “enabled the continued approval of increasingly high tolerance levels of glyphosate as a residue on common foods.”
EWG’s lawsuit comes as Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, a popular weed killer product with glyphosate as its active ingredient, gears up for an April 27 Supreme Court battle in which the court is tasked with determining if federal law preempts state labeling requirements for products that could harm consumers.
Legal briefs supporting Monsanto, which is owned by the German conglomerate Bayer, suggest the US could face agricultural “devastation” and other hardships if the court rules against the company, while opposing briefs warn that siding with Monsanto could let companies off the hook, stripping consumers of their rights to sue when they become seriously ill after exposure to dangerous chemicals.
Glyphosate has been used in the US since the 1970s and is currently the most widely used weed killer in the world. In a Seattle “glyphosate symposium” last month, scientists from around the world gathered to urge US and European regulators to strengthen glyphosate regulations. The researchers examined studies conducted over the last decade, concluding that evidence showing glyphosate herbicides can harm human health “is now so strong that no additional delays in regulation of glyphosate can be justified.”
An international cancer research group determined over a decade ago that the chemical is “probably” carcinogenic to humans.
In December, a paper published in the year 2000 that has been used as a key defense in Monsanto’s claim that glyphosate does not cause cancer was retracted, with the journal’s editor citing “serious ethical concerns.”
Featured image:Providence Doucet/Unsplash
