"The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is failing to put warnings on pesticides linked to cancer — even when the agency itself determined a product’s ingredients are carcinogenic, according to two new analyses of federal data.
The EPA has put cancer warnings on 1.4% — 69 of 4,919 — of pesticide labels for products that contain an active ingredient that the agency itself has designated “probable” or “likely” to cause cancer, the analyses found. In addition, just 1.1% — 242 of 22,147 — of pesticide labels that contain ingredients with “possible” or “suggestive” links to cancer have cancer warnings from the EPA.
The analyses, by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety, come as one of the world’s top pesticide manufacturers, Bayer, seeks to rid itself of costly litigation over whether its glyphosate-based herbicides cause cancer. The company is pushing the US Supreme Court to rule the EPA should have sole authority over pesticide cancer labels — a ruling that would have far-reaching implications for pesticide labeling.
The Trump administration is siding with Bayer on the issue and encouraged the Supreme Court to hear the case, which is set to begin in late April. Bayer, which maintains that its glyphosate herbicides do not cause cancer, has also for years led lobbying efforts to bar states from having stricter pesticide labels than the EPA. The new analyses show, however, that state laws, specifically California’s Proposition 65, are the only reason some cancer-causing pesticides have warnings at all."
