Food Politics
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Does glyphosate (Roundup) cause cancer?
Posted: 24 May 2016 05:02 AM PDT Glyphosate is an herbicide made by Monsanto to be used on crops genetically modified by Monsanto to resist it. Growers can spray glyphosate
on their crops. When it works well, weeds die and the crops flourish. It is widely used in production of genetically modified crops (HT—herbicide tolerant—in the figure). Monsanto says it has
many benefits and is risk free. But in March 2015, The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said that glyphosate/Roundup is “probably
carcinogenic to humans” (see
my post on this). Now
a joint WHO/FAO meeting on pesticide residues concludes
How to reconcile these divergent conclusions? The
Guardian says one possible explanation lies with who participated in the WHO/FAO meeting. It notes that the meeting’s chair is vice-president of the International Life Science Institute (ILSI) Europe. ILSI positions itself as an independent
research group, but
SourceWatch considers it a lobbying group and
some critics view it as a front group for the food industry. Says The Guardian:
Even if questions about the carcinogenicity of glyphosate/Roundup are in dispute, one issue is not; weeds are increasingly developing resistance
to the herbicide. Farmers are
forced to use other, perhaps more toxic, herbicides to get rid of resistant weeds. The molecular basis of glyphosate/Roundup resistance
is well understood, and
more and more weeds are developing resistance. If enough of them do, farmers will stop using glyphosate/Roundup and the carcinogenicity issue will become moot.. Let’s hope IARC and independent WHO/FAO committees are taking a close look at the potential carcinogenicity of all those replacement herbicides. |
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