California’s Environmental Protection Agency to Put Four Pesticides on Cancer List

Carcinogenicity of tetrachlorvinphos, parathion, malathion, diazinon, and glyphosate

Glyphosate-spraying image
Monsanto developed the herbicide glyphosate in the 1970s and currently sells the weed killer under the trade name Roundup. However, the company’s patent on the chemical has long since expired, and it is now widely used in numerous products produced by dozens of pesticide companies, including Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience and many others.

California’s impending decision to place on its list of carcinogenic chemicals four widely used pesticides — TETRACHLORVINPHOS, PARATHION, MALATHION and GLYPHOSATE, the most widely used pesticide in the country – has uncertain ramifications for the state’s agriculture industry.

If California’s Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) places the four pesticides on its list, any knowing discharges of the chemicals into drinking water would become illegal.
Also, farmers, pest control companies and any other businesses that want to use the pesticides would first have to provide “clear and reasonable warnings” to the public, according to state law.

Continue reading California to Put Four Pesticides on Cancer List on Bloomberg,
The Bureau of National Affair, Sept. 8 2015.

More Information
  • NOTICE OF INTENT TO LIST CHEMICALS BY THE LABOR CODE MECHANISM: TETRACHLORVINPHOS, PARATHION, MALATHION, GLYPHOSATE, oehha, Proposition 65, Sept. 4 2015.
  • Carcinogenicity of tetrachlorvinphos, parathion, malathion, diazinon, and glyphosate, thelancet, Volume 16, No. 5, p490–491, May 2015.

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