Monsanto's Weedkiller a Concern for WHO

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The Monsanto Company's popular weed killer, 'Roundup' contains glyphosate an ingredient that 'probably' causes cancer according to the World Health Organization.

According to The Market Business, the probability of the chemical glyphosate found in Roundup causing cancer to humans was made in a study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a cancer agency linked to the World Health Organization. The agency revealed that the conclusion was based on the assessment and studies made by 17 experts.

"All three lines of evidence sort of said the same thing, which is we ought to be concerned about this," states Aaron Blair, chairman of the group of reviewers who were working with the IARC.

Philip Miller, Monsanto's Vice President for Global Regulatory Affairs released a statement on Thursday to respond to the concerns, "The conclusion is starkly at odds with every credible scientific body that has examined glyphosate safety." According to the Benchmark Reporter, the company accused the agency that they were "cherry picking" the data to support their agenda against the product. Some health experts commented that the difference between Monsanto's data and that of the WHO's can be partly faulted to the varying methods they used to analyze the data.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer countered in another statement that they have no underlying motive against the company. Their only agenda was to inform the World Health Organization about their findings.

Thirty years ago, the glyphosate found in Roundup was found to be carcinogenic by the Environmental Protection Agency but eventually revised their statement in 1991. The use of glyphosate in the US in the last several years significantly rose.  According to the IARC, glyphosate is a popular herbicide used in over 750 different products in agriculture, forestry and used in urban and home applications. It is also a leading herbicide in the UK and widely used by Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, and Romania according to the European Friends of the Earth, as reported in the Daily Journal.

Despite lacking evidence of the carcinogenicity of glyphosate in humans, a controlled study of occupational exposure in the USA, Canada, and Sweden has reported an increase in the risk for Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

In a mice study, the chemical induced an incidence of rare renal tumor and in the second study, an incidence of a highly invasive form of cancer called hemangiosarcoma.

Some agricultural workers have found to have glyphosate in their urine and blood. This indicated absorption and intestinal microbial metabolism in humans according to the IARC. The chemical was found to damage the DNA and chromosomes in humans and animal cells in vitro.