WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a finding by the Trump administration that the active ingredient in Roundup weed killer does not pose a serious health risk and is “unlikely” to cause cancer in humans.
The California-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to review its 2020 finding that glyphosate poses no health risk to people exposed to it in any way — on farms, yards, or roadsides, or as residues on food plants.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the world’s most widely used herbicide. Pharmaceutical giant Bayer, which acquired the herbicide’s original maker Monsanto, in 2018, is facing thousands of lawsuits from people who say Roundup exposure caused their cancer.
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Roundup will continue to be available for sale. According to an agency spokesman, EPA officials are reviewing the 54-page ruling “and will decide on next steps.”
Judge Michelle Friedland, writing for a unanimous panel of three judges, said the EPA’s finding of no risk to human health “was not supported by valid evidence.” It also ruled that EPA had failed in its obligations under the Endangered Species Act by inadequately researching glyphosate’s effects on animal species and vegetation.
Legal critics said the EPA “evaded its obligations under the Endangered Species Act. We agree and refer to the agency for further investigation,” wrote Friedland, a candidate for former President Barack Obama.
The Center for Food Safety, one of the groups challenging the decision, called Friday’s ruling “a historic victory for farm workers and the environment.”
The decision “gives a voice to those suffering from glyphosate cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” said Amy van Saun, lead counsel for the center.
“The EPA’s ‘no cancer’ conclusion did not stand up to scrutiny,” she said. “The court agreed that the EPA must ensure the safety of endangered species before giving the green light to glyphosate.”
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While the EPA said it found no evidence of a cancer risk from glyphosate, California and other states have listed it as a cancer risk, and local governments across the country have restricted its use. In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the chemical as “probably carcinogenic.”
Bayer announced last year that it would phase out glyphosate from the U.S. lawn and garden market by 2023.
Bayer said in a statement Friday night that the EPA’s 2020 conclusion “is based on a rigorous assessment of more than 40 years of extensive science.” The company believes the EPA “will continue to conclude, as it and other regulatory agencies have consistently concluded for more than four decades, that glyphosate-based herbicides are safe to use and non-carcinogenic,” the statement said .
Last year, Bayer committed $4.5 billion to deal with claims that glyphosate causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer. The company had previously accepted nearly $10 billion in fees for previous lawsuits.
“EPA’s failure to act on the basis of the science described in the lawsuit has real adverse health consequences for farmworkers, the public and ecosystems,” said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides, a plaintiff in the case . “Due to this lawsuit, the obstruction of the regulatory procedure by the authority must not continue.”