Cropping

US farmers take California to court over glyphosate listing

Grain Central, February 20, 2018

UNITED States farmers and agricultural associations have mounted a challenge to a move by the state of California to add the herbicide, glyphosate, to its Prop 65 list of substances “known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity”.

A national agriculture coalition is going to court today in a bid to “halt California’s extreme action until the judge can consider all of the facts. At issue is California’s unjustified and false Prop 65 listing of glyphosate, one of modern agriculture’s most valuable tools and an industry standard across the world”.

In a statement, the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG)* said despite scientific findings from hundreds of studies and conclusions by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and regulatory agencies around the world that glyphosate was safe for use, California ignored facts, data and science, when it added glyphosate to the state’s Prop 65 list.

“While farmers are readying our fields and making plans to put seeds in the ground, California is engaging in aggressive legal wrangling, placing us at risk to crippling liability for using a product that hundreds of studies and the US EPA say is safe for use,” NAWG president, Gordon Stoner, said.

“We intend to make clear in this hearing that agriculture is under attack and implementation of this erroneous Prop 65 listing for glyphosate should be halted until there is a final ruling from the judge.”

The agriculture coalition will make the case for a preliminary injunction in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California, which would halt the implementation of the Prop 65 listing until a final ruling is decided by the court.

The NAWG is the lead plaintiff in the case against California. The plaintiffs include the Agribusiness Association of Iowa, the Agricultural Retailers Association, Associated Industries of Missouri, Iowa Soybean Association, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, CropLife America, Missouri Farm Bureau, National Corn Growers Association, North Dakota Grain Growers Association, South Dakota Agri-Business Association and United States Durum Growers Association.

In December, the group filed a temporary injunction asking the court to halt the regulation.

  • The National Association of Wheat Growers describes itself as the primary representative in Washington DC for wheat growers, working to ensure a better future for America’s growers, the industry and the general public. NAWG says it works with a team of 20 state wheat grower organizations to benefit the wheat industry at state and national levels. From their offices in the Wheat Growers Building on Capitol Hill, NAWG’s staff members are in constant contact with state association representatives, NAWG grower leaders, Members of Congress, Congressional staff members and the public.

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