(Radio Iowa) – The attorneys general from Iowa, Nebraska and nine other states are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to make it clear there’s a national standard for labeling of Roundup and other weed killers that contain glyphosate. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says a new E-P-A rule is needed because California has proposed cancer warnings on Roundup and other products that contain the world’s most commonly used herbicide. “If we don’t stop it now…the glyphosate situation — that is just the tip of the iceberg. There will be other things that states like California try to do to tell our farmers how to farm and that future will make it very hard for farmers to be able to grow their crops, which is what it’s all about,” Bird says. “Food does not come from a grocery store. It comes from a farm.”

The E-P-A has said glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer in humans and in November, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Monsanto — the maker of Roundup — and said California did not have authority to require a cancer warning on Roundup’s label. Bird says it’s time for the E-P-A to set things straight.”Farmers have a lot to deal with…sometimes low crop prices, high input prices, natural disasters,” Bird says. “They shouldn’t have to worry about the types of things that are happening in other states on the coasts to figure out how they’re going to make their family farm work.”

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers says it’s about protecting the freedom to farm. “What we’re trying to do with our action today is to ensure access to this critical input,” Hilgers says, “…to give our farmers the option that they’ve had for decades to be able to use this technology to be able to manage their own crops and be able to help produce the that come out of Iowa and Nebraska.”

Kevin Ross, a farmer from Underwood who’s a former president of the National Corn Growers Association, joined the attorneys general at a news conference this (Wednesday) morning in Omaha. Ross told reporters there is no real substitute for glyphosate. “It’s been one of the most tested chemicals ever on the marketplace and it’s known to be safe and very effective,” Ross said, “so EPA — set the regulations, do your job in DC and let us farmers do our job on the ground here in the U.S.”

Monsanto’s attorneys have argued that a warning label on Roundup violates the company’s First Amendment right to be free from compelled speech that it disagrees with. This spring, the Iowa Senate passed a bill to block lawsuits against farm chemical companies based on how the products are labeled, but it stalled in the House. Similar bills were introduced in other states. Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, has settled about 100-thousand lawsuits and the company estimates there are more than 50-thousand pending.