Regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that Roundup weed killer is safe to use.
“EPA continues to find that there are no risks to public health when glyphosate is used in accordance with its current label and that glyphosate is not a carcinogen,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “The agency’s scientific findings on human health risk are consistent with the conclusions of science reviews by many other countries and other federal agencies.”
The EPA’s ruling is a win for Bayer, who gained the rights to Roundup when they purchased agribusiness giant Monsanto last year.
Bayer was defeated twice in court recently as it continues to fight the more than 10,000 different lawsuits contending its product is linked to cancer.
Environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, were quick to fire back at the decision claiming the chemical was linked to cancer.
“The EPA’s pesticide office is out on a limb here — with Monsanto and Bayer and virtually nobody else,” Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at the council, said in a statement.
Roundup is big business for Bayer, which sells it to both the general public for home landscaping and farmers to spray on crops genetically modified to be resistant to the herbicide, which have been developed and sold by Monsanto.
