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Group Seeks Pesticide Cancer Labels

Todd Neeley 7/09 12:36 PM

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- An environmental group is asking for warning labels on all pesticide products that contain active ingredients found to have any potential link to cancer, in an emergency petition filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week.

The petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity comes on the heels of the Supreme Court's Roundup ruling in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell, which held the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, or FIFRA, preempts state tort claims for failure to warn if the EPA did not require cancer warnings.

"Therefore users of pesticide products can no longer claim that a product label failed to warn them of cancer if the EPA did not require a cancer warning on the label," the group said in the petition. "The court has removed the backstop of state law, making it imperative that the EPA grant this petition."

The petition, directed to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and other agency officials, said there continues to be many active ingredients in pesticides that have some evidence of carcinogenicity.

The center said that as of 2024, the EPA concluded that 199 pesticide active ingredients have at least some evidence of carcinogenicity and 124 of the active ingredients are still registered for use in more than 4,000 end-use products.

"Of the 124 currently registered active ingredients, the EPA has designated 38 as 'probable' or 'likely' human carcinogens and EPA has designated 87 as having 'possible' or 'suggestive' evidence of human carcinogenic potential," the petition said.

The center said it examined more than 93,000 pesticide labels that EPA approved and found just six labels with cancer warnings. In addition, the petition said the agency has been inconsistent in how it approaches warning labels.

"There are no cancer warnings on any of the product labels containing 119 other active ingredients with evidence of carcinogenicity," the petition said.

"Some products with carcinogenic active ingredients have cancer warnings while other products containing the same active ingredient do not have any cancer warning. For instance, the EPA added a cancer warning to a product containing triphenyltin hydroxide called Sipcam. However, another product called Minerva Duo, which also contains triphenyltin hydroxide, carries no cancer warning."

The center also invokes the Trump administration's "Make America Healthy Again" initiative.

"Adding cancer warnings to pesticide product labels would be an important step in demonstrating that the EPA is willing to take actual action to make America healthy again," the petition said.

The petition asks the EPA to make three changes through rulemaking. That includes an amendment to federal labeling laws to add: "A cancer warning for any active ingredient that EPA has determined is a known, probable or possible cause of human cancer or for which there is suggestive evidence it causes human cancer."

The center asked the EPA to require cancer warnings on the front panel of labels and to add a new subsection to the law governing the content and placement of warning statements.

Existing EPA label regulations only require warnings for acute hazards, the petition said, creating what the center said is a gap in the law.

"If the EPA is aware of evidence of carcinogenicity of a pesticide active ingredient but fails to add a precautionary statement," the petition said, "EPA is at risk that a federal court could find that the EPA did not abide by their own regulations and duties under FIFRA."