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This story was originally published by The New Lede.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is failing to put warnings on pesticides linked to cancer — even when the agency itself determined a product’s ingredients are carcinogenic, according to two new analyses of federal data.

The EPA has put cancer warnings on 1.4% — 69 of 4,919 — of pesticide labels for products that contain an active ingredient that the agency itself has designated “probable” or “likely” to cause cancer, the analyses found. In addition, just 1.1% — 242 of 22,147 — of pesticide labels that contain ingredients with “possible” or “suggestive” links to cancer have cancer warnings from the EPA.

The analyses, by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety, come as one of the world’s top pesticide manufacturers, Bayer, seeks to rid itself of costly litigation over whether its glyphosate-based herbicides cause cancer. The company is pushing the U.S. Supreme Court to rule the EPA should have sole authority over pesticide cancer labels — a ruling that would have far-reaching implications for pesticide labeling.

The Trump administration is siding with Bayer on the issue and encouraged the Supreme Court to hear the case, which is set to begin in late April. Bayer, which maintains that its glyphosate herbicides do not cause cancer, has also for years led lobbying efforts to bar states from having stricter pesticide labels than the EPA. The new analyses show, however, that state laws, specifically California’s Proposition 65, are the only reason some cancer-causing pesticides have warnings at all.

The EPA “violated its duty” to protect Americans from harmful products and a Bayer victory at the Supreme Court would only further the “deadly” consequences of inconsistent and inadequate warnings, said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director for the Center for Biological Diversity.

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“The EPA is signaling to the court that it is capable of doing this but we have shown here that the agency is not capable at all,” he said. “The EPA is not requiring cancer warnings on labels that absolutely need them and that the public deserves.”

No Cancer Warnings On Pesticides “Likely” to Cause Cancer

Donley and colleagues at the Center for Biological Diversity examined over 93,000 historic and currently approved pesticide labels and found that just 311 of the labels contained a cancer warning. Of the 125 active pesticide ingredients currently used that are linked to cancer, products that contain 119 of those ingredients have no cancer warnings, the analyses found.

For example, the EPA considers the insecticide carbaryl “likely” carcinogenic, however, the agency approved language and labeling........

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