The U.S. Forest Service is moving forward with glyphosate spraying across thousands of acres devastated by the Caldor Fire, including areas in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Public opposition has grown among local residents, wellness and organic food advocates, and environmentalists after reporting indicated the federal government sprayed glyphosate at record levels across California forests. Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, is an EPA-approved weed killer widely used since Monsanto began selling it in 1974. The World Health Organization’s cancer research division in 2015 classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” contributing to more than 100,000 lawsuits against Monsanto, including claims involving non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Data analysis found the Forest Service sprayed 266,000 pounds of glyphosate in California forests in 2023, about five times the amount used two decades earlier. A 2011 Forest Service report stated mammalian toxicity is low while assessing human health and ecological risk.
"The Mother Jones investigation analyzed millions of spraying reports and discovered that the Forest Service sprayed 266,000 pounds of glyphosate in California forests in 2023, the most recent year that the data was available, which is about five times the amount used two decades ago."
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