Cancer label for Roundup in Calif. could turn the tables on Monsanto

Could California cancer warning turn the tide for GMO labeling?

Has Monsanto just been beaten at its own game?

For years the biotech giant has used every dirty trick in the book to defeat labeling of GMOs. Including foods that have been covered with Monsanto’s toxic Roundup weedkiller that can cause cancer and kill you.

But now California health officials are getting ready to slap a cancer warning on any GMO that may have traces of Roundup and its main ingredient glyphosate.

That means we may be just a year from having GMO labeling that people all across the country can use to protect their health. The same labeling that Monsanto and its biotech pals spent a fortune trying to prevent.

Known to cause cancerYou’ve probably seen the warning a million times on everything from cleaners to bug killers — and maybe you didn’t give it much thought.

“This product contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.”

It’s all because of a state law passed 29 years ago called the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act — but most Californians know it as Proposition 65.

Under Prop 65, nearly all companies have to publish a warning on their products any time they contain chemicals that California believes could cause cancer or birth defects.

And now, it looks like companies selling GMO crops like corn and soy — or products that contain them — will have to start carrying that warning.

I told you a couple months ago that the World Health Organization declared that glyphosate sprayed on GMOs likely causes cancer. And that was enough for California’s Department of Environmental Protection to decide that glyphosate should be added to the Prop 65 list.

“As far as I’m aware, this is the first regulatory agency in the U.S. to determine that glyphosate is a carcinogen,” said Dr. Nathan Donley, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity.

After a public comments period ends next month, within a year glyphosate could be listed as a dangerous Prop 65 chemical alongside lead and cyanide.

Here’s how it would work. The state would determine how much glyphosate has to be present to cause a single case of cancer in 100,000 people (it won’t take much) — and when a product exceeds that amount, it would have to be labeled.

And as you know, these labels stay on products even when they’re sold outside of California.

Just imagine — Monsanto has spent millions trying to defeat labeling laws in states like Oregon and Vermont. And it’s buying up members of Congress left and right to pass the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act that would kill federal GMO labeling.

But thanks to this one little state law, you’d be able to check the labels on anything you buy in the supermarket. And if a product contains the California warning, you’d know there’s a good chance it’s GMO.

And here’s the best part — we don’t have to sit around and wait for a bunch of government bureaucrats to enforce the law.

If any California citizen thinks a product may have unsafe levels of glyphosate and hasn’t been properly labeled, he can take the complaint to the state Department of Environmental Protection — or even to court.

For the first time in a while, it looks like we may actually have a foot in the door where GMO labeling is concerned. You can bet Monsanto will be fighting this tooth and nail, so it’s important that we show our support and make sure Roundup is added to the Prop 65 list.

Even if you’re not a resident of California, you can send your comments to state officials until October 5 at this address: P65Public.Comments@oehha.ca.gov.

They’re asking that you include “NOIL” and the chemical name (glyphosate) in the subject line.

Sources:

“Ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup causes cancer: California is first state expected to label the herbicide as a carcinogen” Joanna Fantozzi, September 14, 2015, The Daily Meal, thedailymeal.com