EPA, Justice Dept Join Bayer’s Appeal of Glyphosate Judgments

Two US government agencies have jumped into a California court case against Saint Louis-based Bayer CropScience that found glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, causes cancer. In a friend of the court briefing filed last week, the Environmental Protection Agency said it reviewed and approved the label on the weed-killing product and that a jury finding based on California law should be reversed. The agency reiterated their findings with a statement in May, reading that they continued to find no risks associated with glyphosate if used following the current label, and that glyphosate is not a carcinogen. The Department of Justice joined the EPA in weighing in on the ruling in the long-running court battle over Roundup. Last summer, the judge in the case cut the jury award to 25 million dollars in the case of a man who claimed his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was caused by years of Roundup use. However, the judge didn’t reverse the jury finding in the case, saying in his opinion that Roundup was defective because the label didn’t include a cancer warning. Bayer, which assumed defense of the case after acquiring Monsanto last year, said it was optimistic after EPA’s intervention in the case on their behalf.