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NCGA expects ruling soon on glyphosate label challenge

The CEO of the National Corn Growers Association says a decision could be made soon by a California court on whether that state’s labeling regulation on products treated with the weed-killer glyphosate moves forward.

“To force us to apply that label is a violation of the Constitution’s free speech provisions,” says Chris Novak with NCGA – which is part of a coalition of ag groups seeking an injunction, trying to stop the regulation from going into place next summer.

Novak says California’s decision is based on a flawed opinion by the U.N.’s International Agency on Cancer Research (I-ARC) that glyphosate is a “probable” carcinogen. He tells Brownfield Ag News, “We do think that their decision to move forward based upon I-ARC’s decision alone is flawed and that’s the reason that we filed suit.”

Novak says glyphosate has been studied in the US and around the world showing it is safe and effective for use in agriculture – and California’s Office of Environmental Health & Hazard Assessment is ignoring that.