To fully understand the controversy surrounding Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer and its cozy relationship with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), it’s important for consumers to have a working knowledge of what the EPA actually does, how it’s intended to function, and that it’s intended to interact as a neutral third party balancing the interests of American citizens against those of corporate entities and environmental activist groups.
Most industrialized countries have an agency charged with overseeing, approving, and regulating the production, sale, and dissemination of pesticides. In the U.S., this agency is the EPA, which is responsible for the regulation of pesticides in the U.S. under two federal acts: the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). The primary objective of the the agency is to evaluate the potential health and environmental risk factors of active chemicals in pesticidal products and to and regulate these products. All pesticides which were produced prior to November, 1984 are reassessed at regular intervals to make sure that they meet current scientific and regulatory standards, with all registered pesticides being subject to review every 15 years to verify they continue to meet modern regulatory standards.
OPP is a specific branch that regulates the manufacture and use of all pesticidals, including sanitizers, disinfectants, rodenticides, insecticides, and herbicides, such as Roundup weed killer. OPP is also the branch that establishes the ”safe use” guidelines, which are the maximum allowable levels of chemical residue in the foods we eat—quite literally, the safety of our national food supply is in their hands. It is through this office that the EPA has expanded the public’s access to information, risk assessment and management. The end goal is to aid in both governmental and manufacturer transparency, as well as to assist consumers in making educated choices. In addition to its regulatory function, OPP also coordinates with partners and stakeholders on hot button issues, which have ranged from the mishandling of these products to worker protections.
We know what you’re thinking. These are all great goals—so what’s the problem?The problem is how a government agency is intended to function is not always the reality of how it actually functions. Nowhere does this ring more true than in the current controversy over how the EPA and Monsanto have allegedly colluded to suppress scientific findings which point to Roundup weed killer as a potential cause of a very specific form of cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
