The state of California has now added glyphosate, the central ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup® herbicide, to its list of carcinogenic chemicals. The CA Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) first announced its intention to list glyphosate as cancer-causing in September 2015. The move was then delayed, due to Monsanto’s efforts to block the listing in the case Monsanto v OEHHA.
The California Supreme Court rejected Monsanto’s request for a stay of the listing in June. “That led us to move forward,” said Sam Delson, deputy director of OEHHA, according to CNN (cnn.com). Glyphosate is being listed by the state under the law known as Proposition 65, which “requires businesses to provide warnings to Californians about significant exposures to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm” (oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/about-proposition-65).
The OEHHA decision to list glyphosate in this manner is based on an International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) 2015 classification of glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen.” 
This designation was derived from an extensive study of peer-reviewed research by this revered branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), wherein glyphosate was found to cause cancer in laboratory animals. Evidence was also present of this widely-used chemical cultivating cancer in humans, especially after prolonged agricultural exposure.
Delson explained to CNN that the OEHHA is still working on establishing the milligrams per day exposure rate at which glyphosate poses a significant risk. Monsanto may have to place a warning on each container or near their products in California stores, in which case they will be given one year to comply. “That year gives them time to either change their labeling or … hopefully modify their products to make them safer,” said Delson.
Glyphosate-based Roundup® is one of the most widely-used herbicides in the world and has a multibillion dollar valuation. Recently unsealed internal Monsanto emails reveal previous collusion between an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee and Monsanto to spin glyphosate research and bury relevant scientific findings. Monsanto plans to continue to its efforts to publically deny and hide this profitable chemical’s toxicity and to challenge the Proposition 65 listing.
More than 800 non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma patients and Roundup® users are now suing Monsanto over glyphosate’s carcinogenic properties. The Miller Firm is co-lead counsel in the consolidated litigation against Monsanto on behalf of these victims. We are accepting clients who developed non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma after exposure to Roundup®. If this has happened to you, please visit our Roundup Lawsuit page to request a free consultation. Or, please call the Miller Firm at 1-800-882-2525.