GLYCPHOSATE AND CANCER RISK
GLYCPHOSATE AND CANCER RISK: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHY IS THERE CONCERN ABOUT GLYPHOSATE AND CANCER? The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) cancer authorities – the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – recently determined that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2A).
Glyphosate is the most heavily used pesticide in the world thanks to widespread planting of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crops, which are genetically engineered to survive spraying with it.
Use and exposure will increase still more if glyphosateresistant turfgrasses currently being developed for lawns, playing fields and golf courses are introduced.
WHERE DO EPA AND WHO’S IARC STAND ON GLYPHOSATE’S CARCINOGENICITY? In 1985, EPA classified glyphosate as a possible carcinogen based on experiments showing tumors in glyphosate-treated rodents.
Input from Monsanto led to a dubious reinterpretation of these studies by EPA, and reclassification of glyphosate as non-carcinogenic in 1991.
1 IARC has thus far published only a brief summary of its glyphosate assessment, which is based on multiple lines of evidence: kidney, pancreatic and other tumors in glyphosate-treated test animals; epidemiology studies showing higher rates of cancer in glyphosate-using farmers; and research showing that glyphosate damages DNA and chromosomes, one mechanism by which cancer is induced.
2 IARC’s full assessment is due out in 2016.
WHOSE ASSESSMENT IS MORE RELIABLE: IARC OR EPA? IARC is the world’s leading authority on cancer. Its glyphosate determination was made by unanimous decision of 17 qualified scientists led by Dr. Aaron Blair, a distinguished epidemiologist recently retired from the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
3 IARC’s assessment is up-to-date, analyzing all the relevant available research, while EPA’s last comprehensive assessment of glyphosate occurred in 1993. IARC considered a broad range of evidence, including human epidemiology and other peer-reviewed studies, while EPA did not assess epidemiology and relied almost entirely on unpublished industry studies.
4 IARC is an independent agency whose sole mission is human health.
While EPA is charged with protecting human health as well, it is also subject to considerable pressure from pesticide companies whose products it regulates.
EPA is currently re-assessing glyphosate, and has said it will consider IARC’s findings.
See also: WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including one or more listed chemicals which are known to the State of California to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov
Glyphosate And Cancer
Derek Lowe’s commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry. An editorially independent blog from the publishers of Science Translational Medicine.
Glyphosate (often known by its original brand name, Roundup in the us, Paraeforce in Nigeria etc) is the most widely used agricultural chemical in the world. What, if anything, is it doing to people?
I bring this up because of some recent (and seemingly contradictory) news items. A group of farmers is suing Monsanto, the compound’s original developers, because they claim that the company knew of (and deliberately minimized) risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from exposure to it.
At the same time, two branches of the UN, the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization) have come out with a statement that glyphosate is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk in humans”.
And this only a year after another UN agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, stated what looks like the exact opposite, that it could “probably” be a cause of cancer in humans. Later on last year, the European Food Safety Authority said that glyphosate is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard”. Go to page to read more.
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!