Court Documents Reveal EPA Official May Have Suppressed Evidence that Roundup Causes Cancer
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2017

Contact: Katherine Paul, 207-653-3090, katherine@organicconsumers.org

FINLAND, Minn. – The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) today called on members of Congress to launch a full investigation into whether or not some EPA officials conspired with Monsanto (NYSE:MON) to suppress legitimate scientific evidence of Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller’s potential to cause cancer.

The OCA, whose US network includes more than two million consumers, also called on Congress to immediately suspend all sales of Roundup until the investigation has been completed.

“Consumers are told to rely on the EPA to determine the safety of chemicals like glyphosate, and products like Roundup,” said Ronnie Cummins, international director of the Organic Consumers Association. “When credible sources indicate that EPA officials have deliberately compromised the safety of the public, consumers have a right to know. Monsanto should not be allowed to continue to profit from sales of a product that some EPA scientists, and scientists at World Health Organization, have determined is likely to cause cancer.

“Congress should immediately launch a full investigation into this new evidence of collusion. And until the truth is known, sales of Roundup products should be banned.”

The New York Times and other news outlets reported this week on recently unsealed documents, part of an ongoing lawsuit against Monsanto, that contain evidence that a former high-level EPA official (Jess Rowland) may have colluded with Monsanto to hide the health risks associated with Roundup.

The documents include a previously disclosed letter to Rowland from another former EPA official, Marion Copley, who in 2013 accused Rowland of “playing political games” and said that glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, “most certainly” causes cancer.

In March 2015, an international panel of 17 scientists on the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer unanimously concluded that Roundup is a “probable” human carcinogen. Since then, Monsanto has continued to defend its flagship product.

OCA has called on its networks to demand that their Congress members conduct a full investigation.

About the Organic Consumers Association
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots non-profit 501(c)3 public interest organization advocating on behalf of more than two million consumers for health, justice, and sustainability. For more information, please visit organicconsumers.org.