A Fresno County Superior Court Judge Kristi Kapetan has ruled that the state of California will require Monsanto to place a cancer warning label on the company’s Roundup weed killer. The ruling is the first of its kind in the U.S. and comes after a branch of the World Health Organization labeled the product’s primary ingredient, glyphosate, as a “probable human carcinogen.”

Glyphosate, an odorless and tasteless toxin, has been manufactured by Monsanto for more than 40 years and sold in more than 160 countries. Monsanto will have one year to affix the warning label to all relevant products.

This article appears in the June 2017 issue of Natural Awakenings.