Opinion: California made the right call in listing the key Roundup ingredient as a carcinogen

To the editor: The op-ed article by Julie Kelly and Henry I. Miller reads more like a promotional packet from Roundup maker Monsanto than an honest assessment of the growing body of research by leading scientists linking glyphosate — the main ingredient of the herbicide — to cancer. (“No, California, Roundup won’t give you cancer,” Opinion, April 27)

Kelly and Miller attempt to bash the credibility the researchers who compiled the World Health Organization’s finding that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen by claiming the researchers “cherry-picked” the studies they used. That is true, if cherry-picking means following the agency’s own guidelines and assessing only those studies that are publicly available and transparent while ignoring studies by Monsanto that are hidden from the public’s view.

In listing glyphosate as a carcinogen, the state of California has correctly relied on the work of independent researchers rather than those who receive money from agribusiness.

Jonathan Evans, Oakland

The writer is the environmental health legal director and a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

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