OEHHA Statement Regarding US EPA’s Press Release and Registrant Letter on Glyphosate

On August 8, 2019, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) issued a press release and letter concerning cancer warnings for glyphosate that mischaracterized California’s Proposition 65 right-to-know law.

OEHHA added glyphosate to the Proposition 65 list of carcinogens in July 2017, based on a finding by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that glyphosate is both an animal carcinogen and “probably carcinogenic to humans”. The listing was also supported by IARC’s finding that studies of humans exposed to different glyphosate formulations in different geographic regions at different times reported similar increases in the same type of cancer - non-Hodgkin lymphoma. OEHHA’s listing of glyphosate as a carcinogen was unanimously upheld by the California’s Fifth District Court of Appeal following legal challenges by Monsanto Company and others who opposed the listing (see Monsanto v. Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (2018) 22 Cal.App.5th 534).

OEHHA objects to US EPA’s characterization of any warning concerning glyphosate’s carcinogenicity as “a false claim”.  US EPA’s assertion is based on its view that glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer in humans.  That position conflicts with the determination made by IARC and its scientific panel, which included experts from the US National Cancer Institute, US EPA and the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health, who carefully evaluated the extensive scientific evidence on glyphosate’s carcinogenicity.  It is disrespectful of the scientific process for US EPA to categorically dismiss any warnings based on IARC’s determinations as false.

Contrary to US EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s claim, California law does not “dictate federal policy.”  Proposition 65 does not require US EPA to take any action on glyphosate or any other listed chemical. Proposition 65 is a right-to-know statute approved overwhelmingly by California voters in 1986 that ensures consumers receive accurate, science-based information about the chemicals to which they are exposed.

Through Proposition 65, California has reduced or eliminated exposures to toxic chemicals such as lead from faucets, children’s jewelry, candy, artificial turf, tableware, and a host of other products.  Further, warnings coupled with advice on how to reduce exposures, including information posted on OEHHA’s warnings website (www.p65warnings.ca.gov), contribute to lower risks of chemical exposures and greater public health protections for Californians.