The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to require farmers to spray the cancer-linked herbicide glyphosate directly onto the surface of oats before harvest, endangering public health, according to a new lawsuit. Because of this practice, pesticide residue is common in common foods made with oats.
The lawsuit, filed April 20 by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to compel the EPA to respond to a 2018 petition asking the agency to ban the use of glyphosate to dry crops before harvest and reduce glyphosate residue levels in oats from 30 ppm to just 0.1 ppm. EPA has never responded to the petition filed by EWG and a group of food companies and grocers.
The lawsuit focuses on the EPA’s current “maximum residue limits” (MRLs) for glyphosate in oats, which are widely eaten by children in cereals, cookies, and other products, and alleges that the limits do not adequately protect children’s health.
Tests conducted by EWG and others have found glyphosate residues in a variety of common foods, including oat-based cereals and snacks, and concluded that oats are the leading source of glyphosate exposure for infants and young children.
“EPA has a clear legal obligation to act on this petition, and it simply refused to do so,” EWG General Counsel Caroline Leary said in a statement.
“These types of delays have real implications for families who rely on government agencies to protect their children from exposure to harmful agricultural residue chemicals like glyphosate,” Leary said.
“These types of delays have significant implications for families who rely on government agencies to protect their children from exposure to harmful farm residue chemicals like glyphosate.” —Caroline Leary, EWG
The agency’s MRLs (also called tolerance levels) for glyphosate in food crops have long been controversial. The MRL for oats was 0.1 ppm in 1993, raised to 20 ppm in 1997, and again to 30 ppm in 2008. EPA’s MRLs allow more glyphosate residues on food in the United States than in many other countries, including countries in the European Union.
In 2013, the EPA issued new regulations increasing glyphosate levels from 20 ppm to 40 ppm in oilseed crops such as flax, sesame, and soybeans, as well as dramatically increasing allowable levels in sweet potatoes and carrots. The EPA increased the tolerance level in response to a request from Monsanto.
EPA is reevaluating glyphosate’s registration under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) after rescinding its provisional registration decision in September 2022. EPA is expected to issue a final registration review decision this year.
In a 2019 petition, EWG said the EPA has “unjustifiably rejected” many scientific studies linking glyphosate to cancer, and that this action has “enabled the approval of ever-increasing levels of permissible glyphosate residues in common foods.”
EWG’s lawsuit comes as Monsanto, the maker of the popular glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, prepares for an April 27 battle in the Supreme Court, which will be tasked with determining whether federal law preempts state labeling requirements for products that may harm consumers.
A legal brief supporting Monsanto, owned by German conglomerate Bayer, suggests that the U.S. could face agricultural “devastation” and other hardships if the courts rule against the company, while a brief opposing it warns that siding with Monsanto could absolve the company and deprive consumers of the right to sue if they become seriously ill after being exposed to dangerous chemicals.
Glyphosate has been used in the United States since the 1970s and is currently the most widely used herbicide in the world. Last month’s Glyphosate Symposium in Seattle brought together scientists from around the world to urge regulators in the United States and Europe to tighten regulations on glyphosate. The researchers reviewed studies conducted over the past decade and concluded that the evidence that glyphosate herbicides can harm human health is “now too strong to justify further delays in regulating glyphosate.”
More than a decade ago, the International Group for Research on Cancer determined the chemical was “probably” carcinogenic to humans.
In December, a paper published in 2000 that had been used as a key defense of Monsanto’s claim that glyphosate does not cause cancer was retracted, citing “serious ethical concerns” by the journal’s editors.
Featured image: Providence Doucet/Unsplash
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Shannon Kelleher is a staff reporter at The New Lede. Shannon earned her master’s degree in science journalism from Boston University in 2015, and her research has appeared in The Guardian, Environmental Health News, Mongabay, The Atlantic, and more. She has been a guest on the radio show Living on Earth and is a member of the Environmental Journalists Association and the DC Science Writers Association. Prior to joining TNL in 2022, Shannon wrote news articles and press releases for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She lives in Washington, DC.
