JEFFERSON CITY – Associated Industries of Missouri (AIM) President Ray McCarty believes the facts and data in any cases alleging harm from the use of herbicide ingredient glyphosate should be closely examined and given weight no matter where those cases are tried.
“We know glyphosate is extremely important to Missouri farmers, and to the rest of us that eat food,” McCarty said.
A trial against Monsanto, acquired by Bayer last year, is slated to begin Aug. 19 over the labeling of Roundup, which allegedly caused an Illinois plaintiff's cancer, in St. Louis County Circuit Court. Plaintiff Sharlean Gordon alleges her use of Roundup caused her to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The upcoming trial is the fourth and first outside of California, where prior verdicts for plaintiffs have resulted in up to $2 billion in verdicts, which Bayer has appealed.
Bayer has previously stated in hearings and in documents filed in courts that the first three trials held in California courts were "unfairly influenced" by media coverage and perceptions over Monsanto's development of genetically modified seeds.
But as a major employer in St. Louis, Bayer may have a more sympathetic jury to hear its case.
McCarty said AIM is backing a suit against California’s labeling requirements regarding cancer-causing chemicals.
“It turns out Associated Industries of Missouri is supporting a lawsuit against California Proposition 65, which would require makers of glyphosate to falsely label their products as potentially carcinogenic despite numerous studies, including those studied by the (Environmental Protection Agency), that have found glyphosate to be safe for use,” McCarty said.
McCarty said a warning label that is misleading at best, and incorrect according to numerous studies, would definitely have an impact on commerce in Missouri.
“It is also important to realize that despite numerous studies supporting the safe use of glyphosate, the California labeling requirement was triggered by one dubious study by (the International Agency for Research on Cancer),” he said.
McCarty said AIM is active in the Proposition 65 lawsuit because it would have a significant impact on businesses in Missouri that are selling products containing glyphosate or that were grown using glyphosate to customers in California.
“Manufacturers in Missouri should worry if that labeling requirement can be triggered by one study in the face of many other studies to the contrary,” he said. “If allowed to stand, the Prop 65 labeling requirement will result in higher food prices for all Missourians and will affect prices of other Missouri goods as labeling is expensive.”
McCarty said AIM hopes Bayer will get a fair shake in Missouri in the upcoming trial.