Is Glyphosate Safe? The Food Industry Sounds Off
On January 10, 2022, the American Soybean Association (ASA) reaffirmed its stance that glyphosate is non-carcinogenic and can be used safely. Groups representing agricultural growers, retailers, landscaping, and golf course professionals responded with strong support for continued access to glyphosate following oral arguments in litigation regarding the registration of glyphosate. The 10 groups are all parties in the case supporting glyphosate’s continued registration. ASA says that glyphosate remains one of the safest, most effective tools that growers, landscapers, and other users have to manage economically damaging weeds and maintain important conservation practices.
The groups reminded the Court that nearly every pesticide regulatory body in the world that has studied glyphosate—including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—has found that the herbicide is non-carcinogenic and can be used safely. As one of the most widely-studied chemistries in the world, the body of scientific literature on glyphosate is robust and in strong consensus regarding its safety, says ASA. The groups strongly agree with EPA’s finding that, when used according to the label, glyphosate does not pose a risk of concern to human health.
In the opposite corner, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) challenged the EPA's approval of glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in Monsanto-Bayer's Roundup weed killer. CFS and farm worker organizations filed the initial lawsuit in 2020, accusing EPA of ignoring evidence about glyphosate's health risks to farmers and farm workers exposed during spraying. According to CFS, these include the risk of cancer.
In 2020, the EPA ruled that glyphosate posed no health risks, despite a number of studies that have found a connection between the use of glyphosate and the rise in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cases. CFS represents farmers and farm workers in the case. CFS asserts that EPA failed to assess occupational exposure to real-world products like glyphosate.
The groups supporting glyphosate told the Court that nearly every world pesticide regulatory body that has studied glyphosate has found the herbicide to be safe if used correctly. Conversely, in 2015 the World Health Organization publicly said that glyphosate is "probably" carcinogenic to humans.
Alongside the ASA, other groups in support of glyphosate include the Agricultural Retailers Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, the National Association of Landscape Professionals, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Cotton Council, and the National Sorghum Producers group.
In July 2021, Bayer said that it will stop selling its glyphosate-based herbicides, including Roundup, in the U.S. garden market in 2023 to "manage litigation risk,” and not because of safety concerns.
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