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  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Monsanto weed killer can 'probably' cause cancer: World Health Organization | Reuters
  • Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2015 15:12:05 -0400

[forward widely but if you post it to the permies com webforums it will
probably get deleted and you might get banned]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/20/us-monsanto-roundup-cancer-idUSKBN0MG2NY20150320
Monsanto weed killer can 'probably' cause cancer: World Health Organization
By Tom Polansek
<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=thomas.polansek&;>

(Reuters) - The world's most widely-used weed killer can "probably" cause
cancer, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

The WHO's cancer arm, the International Agency for Research on Cancer
(IARC), said glyphosate, the active ingredient in the Monsanto Co herbicide
Roundup, was "classified as probably carcinogenic to humans".

It also said there was "limited evidence" that glyphosate was carcinogenic
in humans for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, said scientific data do not
support the conclusions and called on the WHO to hold an urgent meeting to
explain the findings.

"We don't know how IARC could reach a conclusion that is such a dramatic
departure from the conclusion reached by all regulatory agencies around the
globe," Philip Miller, Monsanto's vice-president of global regulatory
affairs, said in a statement.

Concerns about glyphosate on food have been a hot topic of debate in the
United States recently, and contributed to the passage in Vermont last year
of the country's first mandatory labeling law for foods that are
genetically modified.

The U.S. government says the herbicide is considered safe. In 2013,
Monsanto requested and received approval from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency for increased tolerance levels for glyphosate.

Glyphosate is mainly used on crops such as corn and soybeans that are
genetically modified to survive it.

The weed killer has been detected in food, water and in the air after it
has been sprayed, according to the report from the WHO agency. However,
glyphosate use is generally low in and near homes where the general public
would face the greatest risk of exposure, the report said.

The evidence for the WHO's conclusion was from studies of exposure, mostly
agricultural, in the United States, Canada, and Sweden that were published
since 2001.

Carcinogens are substances that can lead to cancer under certain levels of
exposure.

Monsanto's stock price rose 0.3 percent on Friday to $115.75 after setting
a four-month low on Thursday.



  • [permaculture] Monsanto weed killer can 'probably' cause cancer: World Health Organization | Reuters, Lawrence London, 03/21/2015

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