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  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permagriculture] Fwd: [SANET-MG] FW: Glyphosate is Carcinogenic
  • Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2015 10:02:15 -0400

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sal schettino <salspro2@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 9, 2015 at 9:19 AM
Subject: [SANET-MG] FW: Glyphosate is Carcinogenic
To: SANET-MG@lists.ifas.ufl.edu


Ops here it is !!!!!
No label ,no audit trail, sent all over the world designing itself as food
for man and beast, no control of gene spread, and that's just the GMO'S IN
EVERY CELL OF THE PLANts they engineer THEN THE STUFF THEY ARE SPREADING on
the foodstuff will give people, and other life cancer. I don't think this
is sustainable . What is the definition of bio- terrorism? My dad and mom
lived in Iowa, died of cancer. DO U THINK THE farmers KILLED THEM. THE
water they drink was from the des Moines and raccoon river and the Des
Moines Water department can not clean the farm chemicals out of the
drinking water and what they do take out they put back in the river
downstream . Are our farmers killing us and themselves because the FDA
knowingly is letting folks poison our earth for a profit. And if true it
causes cancer how they going to clean it up.

From: press-release@i-sis.org.uk
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2015 3:59 AM
To: sals3@cox.net
Subject: Glyphosate is Carcinogenic

The intended recipient for this message is sals3@cox.net
The Institute of Science in Society
Science Society Sustainability
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http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Glyphosate_is_Carcinogenic.php
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ISIS Report 09/09/15
Glyphosate is Carcinogenic
The WHO expert panel reclassified glyphosate as ‘probably carcinogenic’
more than 40 years after it was brought to market, but the range of
available evidence is sufficient to classify it definitely carcinogenic.
Glyphosate’s carcinogenic potential has been known to Monsanto and the US
EPA from long term animal experiments since the early 1980s but repeatedly
dismissed. This has resulted in two decades of people and planet being
poisoned by glyphosate herbicides on a misclassification of
‘noncarcinogenic’ that has allowed the manufacturer to claim it is ‘safe’
and perpetrating many other falsehoods to promote its ubiquitous and
liberal use Dr Mae-Wan Ho and Prof Peter T. Saunders
A fully referenced version will be available in an updated version of
Banishing Glyphosate
Sign the Independent Scientists Manifesto on Glyphosate here:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Independent_Scientists_Manifesto_on_Glyphosate.php

Introduction
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of
the World Health Organization (WHO), has released the results of its
year-long assessment of five organophosphate insecticides and herbicides.
In this, the 112th study into potentially carcinogenic agents, it has
reclassified glyphosate in Group 2A ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’ [1,
2]. This category is used [1] “when there is limited evidence of
carcinogenicity in humans and sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in
experimental animals.” Previously, the US Environment Protection Agency
(EPA), which last reviewed glyphosate in 1993, classified glyphosate in
Group E ‘noncarcinogenic’ [3]. Similarly, a 2013 review by the German
Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) conducted on behalf of the European
Union did not recommend a carcinogen classification of either 2A or 2B
(‘possibly carcinogenic’); though that review is mired in controversy,
having been largely conducted by a consortium of chemical companies
including Monsanto [4] (Scandal of Glyphosate Re-assessment in Europe, SiS
63). Monsanto has called on IARC to retract its assessment [5]. But Aaron
Blair, scientist emeritus at the National Cancer Institute who chaired the
17 member Working Group of the IARC that carried out the assessment,
robustly defended the decision, saying it is “appropriately based on
current science” [6]. The IARC experts in the Working Group were selected
for their expertise and most importantly, the absence of real or apparent
conflicts of interest. Following the protocol required by the IARC, the
Working Group considered only “reports that have been published or accepted
for publication in the openly available scientific literature” as well as
“data from governmental reports that are publicly available”.
Notably, Blair told a journalist there were good grounds to declare that
glyphosate definitely causes cancer [7]. But “the epidemiologic data was a
little noisy.” While several studies suggested a link, another study in the
US of farmers in Iowa and North Carolina did not. There had been a similar
inconsistency in epidemiological studies of benzene now universally
acknowledged as a carcinogen, Blair added.
What Blair did not mention, for example, was that crucial evidence of
carcinogenicity in animal experiments had existed at least since 1981 but
successively dismissed as documented in EPA’s own archives (see below). In
the meantime, US government data show steep rise in dozens of chronic
diseases including cancers closely tracking the rapid increase in
glyphosate use and the adoption of genetically modified (GM) crops, of
which USA is the top producer by far [8]. In Argentina, the third producer
of GM crops, where the use of pesticides including glyphosate has increased
more than 8.5-fold since the introduction of GM crops 20 years ago,
non-government organizations and doctors have been documenting rising
incidences of cancers and birth defects among farmers and their families
and others exposed to glyphosate spraying (see Chapter 3 of [9] Banishing
Glyphosate, ISIS special report). Taking these and other additional
findings into proper account would surely have been sufficient to classify
glyphosate as a carcinogen.
Asked to comment on the IARC’s reclassification, Fernando Manas, a member
of the Genetics and Environmental Mutagenesis (GEMA) Group at the National
University of Río Cuarto in Córdoba, Argentina, who has investigated the
effect of agrochemicals for the past 9 years, confirmed the link between
glyphosate and genetic damage, which leads to cancer and a higher risk of
spontaneous abortions and birth defects in the new born, and said that the
classification by IARC-WHO is a consequence of the growing scientific
evidence generated by independent investigators. Furthermore, he pointed
out that [10] this evidence, which has been deliberately ignored until now,
means that “millions of gallons of herbicide with carcinogenic potential
have been used according to regulations designed for a virtually harmless
substance.” For two decades, entire populations were “subjected” to chronic
pesticide exposures “based on criteria developed by the same companies that
produce and market” agrochemicals.
The IARC Monograph on glyphosate
The IARC Monograph Volume 112 detailing the deliberations on all five
organophosphate pesticides is yet to be published in full, but the part
dealing with glyphosate is available, running to 92 pages [11]. It
concluded that there is
1. Limited evidence in humans for carcinogenicity of glyphosate in a
positive association with non-Hodgkin lymphoma
2. Sufficient evidence in experimental animals for carcinogenicity of
glyphosate.
The overall evaluation places glyphosate in Group 2A, probably carcinogenic
to humans. In addition, the IARC Working Group noted other relevant data
supporting the classification.
• There is strong evidence that exposure to glyphosate or glyphosate-based
formulations is genotoxic based on studies in humans in vitro and studies
in experimental animals.
• There is strong evidence that glyphosate, glyphosate-based formulations,
and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA, a metabolite of glyphosate) can
induce oxidative stress based on studies in experimental animals including
aquatic species, and studies in human cells in vitro.
Genotoxicity and oxidative stress are both recognized as key
characteristics of known human carcinogens.
The IARC report on glyphosate is comprehensive, dealing with many other
aspects of its toxicity. In this review, we shall limit ourselves to the
key aspects of the evidence relating to its carcinogenic potential, as
outlined above, and to include relevant findings not covered by the IARC
report.
Human carcinogenicity
The Working Group identified 7 reports from the Agricultural Health Study
(AHS), a large prospective cohort study of farmers and pesticide
applicators in North Carolina and Iowa - people most likely to be exposed
to pesticides [12]. (For explanations of terms see Box 1). The AHS cohort,
a pooled analysis of the case-control studies in the Midwest USA, and the
cross-Canada study were considered key investigations on account of their
relatively large size. Reports from two or more independent studies were
available for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), multiple myeloma, Hodgkin
lymphoma, glioma, and prostate cancer. For other cancer sites, only one
study was available for evaluation.
Box 1
Explanations of terms used in epidemiology studies
Cohort study A cohort is a group of people who share a common attribute or
experience. A cohort study follows over a period of time such a group of
people who do not have the disease and uses correlations to determine the
absolute risk of contracting the disease (modified from [13])
Case-control study A study that compares patients who have a disease
(cases) with patients who do not have the disease from the same population
(controls), and looks back retrospectively to compare how frequently the
exposure to a risk factor is present in each group to determine the
relationship between the risk factor and the disease (modified from [14])
Relative risk (RR) Ratio of the probability of disease occurring in exposed
group to the probability of disease occurring in a non-exposed control
group, where probability in each group is defined as number of
diseased/total number in group (modified from [15])
Odds ratio (OR) The odds of disease occurring in exposed group to the odds
of disease occurring in the non-exposed group, where the odds in each group
is calculated as number of diseased/number of healthy (modified from [15])
95 % confidence interval (CI) A confidence interval is the range within
which the data indicate a parameter - such as the population mean - is to
fall (see for example, [16]); most studies use 95 %, which correspond to
significance at the 5 % level.
Glyphosate exposure and NHL
Two large case-control studies of NHL from Canada and the USA, and two
case-control studies from Sweden reported statistically significant
increased risks of NHL with glyphosate exposure.
The Canadian multicentre population-based case-control study on specific
pesticide exposure and NHL published in 2001 involved 517 cases and 1 506
controls among men of 6 Canadian provinces [17]. Odds ratios (ORs) of 1.26
(95 % CI 0.87-1.80; 51 exposed cases adjusted for age and province) and
1.20 (95 % CI 0.83-1.74, adjusted for age, province and high-risk
exposures) were found for exposure to glyphosate. Participants with >2 days
of exposure per year had an OR of 2.12 (95 % CI 1.20-3.73, 23 exposed
cases) compared with those with < 2 days of exposure.
The population-based case-control study among men in 6 Canadian provinces
between 1991 and 1994 also investigated association between lifetime use of
pesticides and multiple myeloma (a subtype of NHL) [18]. Data from 342
cases of multiple myeloma and 1 357 controls were obtained for ever-use of
pesticides, number of pesticides used, and days per year of pesticide use.
The OR for ever use of glyphosate was 1.19 (95 % CI 0.76-1.87; 32 cases).
When the analysis was done for level of exposure, no association was found
for light users <2days per year of exposure; while the OR in heavier users
(> 2 days of exposure per year) was 2.04 (95 % CI 0.98-4.23, 12 exposed
cases).
The US study published in 2003 [19] used pooled data from three
case-control studies of NHL conducted in the 1980s in Nebraska, Kansas, and
in Iowa and Minnesota. The study population included 870 cases and 2 569
controls; another 650 cases and 1933 controls were included for the
analysis of 47 pesticides to control for potential confounding by other
pesticides. Based on 36 cases exposed, the OR for association between
glyphosate exposure and NHL were 2.1 (95 % CI 1.1-1.4) in the logistic
regression analysis and 1.6 (95 % CI 0.9-2.8) in the hierarchical
regression analysis, where adjusted estimates were based on prior
distributions for the pesticide effects, which provides more conservative
estimates than logistic regression.
The incidence of 12 cancers – lung, melanoma, multiple myeloma, NHL, oral
cavity, colon, rectum, pancreas, kidney, bladder, prostate and leukaemia -
was investigated among the 57 311 glyphosate-exposed pesticide applicators
in the AHS study [20]. Glyphosate exposure was not associated with all
cancers combined, or with most of the cancer subtypes studied. There was a
suggested association with multiple myeloma (a subtype of NHL). The RR was
1.1 when adjusted for age (95 % CI 0.9-1.2, 32 cases), and 2.6 (95 CI
0.7-9.4) when adjusted for multiple confounders: age, smoking, other
pesticides, alcohol consumption, family history of cancer and education).
In the analysis of cumulative exposure days and intensity weighted exposure
days, the RRs were around 2.0 in the highest third of the exposed subjects.
The association between multiple myeloma and exposure to glyphosate only
appear within the subgroup for which complete data were available on all
the covariates, even without any adjustment. A re-analysis of these data
[21] confirmed that the excess risk of multiple myeloma was present only in
the subset with no missing information (22 cases in the restricted data
set). The AHS sought information on the use of 50 pesticides [12] and it
has been demonstrated that misclassification of pesticide exposure would
bias relative risk estimates in the AHS towards the null and diminish the
power of the study [22].
Successive studies in Sweden since 1998 reported association of NHL with
glyphosate use, but the numbers were small (reviewed in [11, pp. 26-27]).
A pooled analysis of two case-control studies one on NHL and another on
hairy cell leukaemia (a subtype of NHL) based on 515 cases and 1141
controls published in 2002 [23] reported increased risk for exposure to
glyphosate. The OR was 3.04 (95 % CI 1.08-8.52, 8 exposed cases) in the
univariate and 1.85 (95 % CI 0.55-6.02) in a multivariate analysis that
considered study, study area, and vital status. A population-based
case-control study of exposure to pesticides as a risk factor for NHL
published in 2008 included men and women aged 18-74 years living in Sweden
from 1 December 1999 to 30 April 2002, giving a total of 910 cases and 1
016 controls matched for age and sex [24]. The OR for exposure to
glyphosate was 2.02 (95 % CI 1.10-3.71) in a univariate analysis and 1.51
(95 % CI 0.77-2.94) in a multivariable analysis. When exposure for more
than 10 days per year was considered, the OR was 2.36 (95 % CI 1.10-3.71).
The association of glyphosate exposure with lymphoma subtypes was also
found; for B-cell lymphoma, OR 1.87 (95 % CI 0.998-3.51) and subcategory of
small lymphocytic lymphoma/ chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, OR 3.35 (95 % CI
1.42-7.89, not adjusted for other pesticides). (NHLs are a heterogeneous
group of more than 20 B- and T-cell lymphomas affecting the immune
system/lymphatic system and arising primarily in the lymph nodes [25].)
A hospital-based case-control study was conducted at 6 centres in France
between 2000 and 2004 of cases with a diagnosis of lymphoid neoplasm aged
20-75 and controls recruited in the same hospital [26]. The analysis
included 491 cases (244 cases of NHL, 87 cases of Hodgkin lymphoma, 104
lymphoproliferative syndrome, and 6 cases of multiple myeloma) and 456 age-
and sex-matched controls. ORs associated with any exposure to glyphosate
were 1.2 (95 % CI 0.6-2.1; 27 cases) for all lymphoid neoplasmas combined,
2.4 (95 % CI 0.8-7.3) for multiple myeloma, and 1.7 (95 % 0.6-5.0; 6 cases)
for Hodgkin lymphoma, after adjusting for age, centre, and socioeconomic
category.
A pooled analysis of case-control studies conducted in 6 European countries
in 1998-2004 – Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Spain -
involved 2 348 cases of lymphoma and 2 462 controls [27]. Lymphoma overall
and B-cell lymphoma were not associated with any class of the investigated
pesticides, while the risk of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia was elevated
among those ever exposed to inorganic and organic pesticides. The ORs for
glyphosate exposure and B-cell lymphoma was 3.1 (95 % CI 0.6-17.1, 4
exposed cases and 2 exposed controls).
A systematic review and meta-analysis of NHL and occupational exposure to
agricultural pesticides [28] for which 6 previous studies were included
[17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 26] yielded a meta risk ratio of 1.5 (95 % CI
1.1-2.0). The Working Group noted that the most fully adjusted risk
estimates from [23, 24] were not used. After considering the adjusted
estimates of these two Swedish studies, the Working Group estimated a meta
risk-ratio of 1.2 (95 % CI 1.03-1.65) (see [11, p.30]).
Glyphosate exposure and other cancer sites
A case-control analysis nested in the AHS examined associations between
pesticide use and cancer of the pancreas included 93 incident cases (64
applicators, 29 spouses) and 82 503 cancer-free controls The OR for ever
versus never exposure to glyphosate was 1.1 (95 % CI 0.6-7.55; 55 exposed
cases), while the OR for the highest category of level of
intensity-weighted lifetime days was 1.2 (95 % CI 0.6-2.6, 19 exposed
cases) [29].
An investigation on the relationship between agricultural pesticide
exposure and incidence of cancer of the colorectum in the AHS included 56
813 pesticide applicators with no prior history of cancer of the
colorectum, and 305 incidents of cancer of the colorectum (colon 212,
rectum, 93) diagnosed during the study period 1993-2002 [30]. Most of the
50 pesticides studied were not associated with risk of colorectal cancer.
The relative risks with exposure to glyphosate were 1.2 (95 % CI 0.9-1.6),
1.0 (95 % CI 0.7-1.5) and 1.6 (95 % CI0.9-2.9) for cancers of the
colorectum, colon, and rectum respectively.
A case-control study of 1 516 patients with prostate cancer in British
Columbia, Canada, from 1983 to 1990 and 4 994 age-matched controls with
cancers at all other cancer sites excluding lung and unknown primary site
reported OR for glyphosate exposure 1.36 (95 % CI 0.83-2.25, 60 cases) [31].
No association with glyphosate exposure was found in the AHS for childhood
cancer, breast cancer among farmers’ wives, prostate cancer, cutaneous
melanoma (each represented by a single study, reviewed in [11]). No
association was found for in case-control studies for glyphosate exposure
and adenocarcinomas of the oesophagus and stomach (one study), glioma
(three studies), or soft tissue sarcoma (one study) as reviewed in [11].
In summary, there is evidence that glyphosate exposure is associated with
increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from several large studies as well
as smaller studies. In addition, single studies have found
non-significantly increased RRs or ORs for glyphosate exposure and several
cancer sites.
Increase in pesticide burden on health due to glyphosate use with
glyphosate tolerant GM crops
Glyphosate contamination ubiquitous in the environment
Glyphosate herbicides have been marketed since the 1970s, but the steep
rise in their use began with the commercial release of GM
glyphosate-tolerant crops 30 years ago, and they rapidly become the world’s
top selling herbicides. Currently, 85 % of GM crops planted globally are
herbicide-tolerant, with glyphosate-tolerant crops making up the vast
majority of those planted [32]. In the USA, the largest producer of GM
crops, 93 % of soybean, 85 % of cotton, and 85 % of maize crops are
glyphosate-tolerant [33]. In recent years, the use of glyphosate herbicides
has expanded to include weed control in residential and commercial areas
and as desiccant to aid in harvesting a wide range of conventional non-GM
crops [34]. The global glyphosate market demand in 2012 was 718 600 tonnes
[35], with GM crops accounting for 45.2 % of the total demand, and
glyphosate ~25 % of the global pesticide market [36]. In the USA alone,
overall pesticide use increased by an estimated 183 million kilograms (404
million pounds) in the first 16 years of GM crops between 1996 and 2011
[37]; and glyphosate is estimated to account for ~40 % of all pesticide use
(by weight of active ingredient) from figures provided by the US EPA in
2007 [38]. Glyphosate and glyphosate residues have contaminated the entire
environment, air, soil, water, urban, suburban, and rural, representing an
enormous increase in the pesticide burden on global health.
A compilation representing the largest and most comprehensive assessment of
the environmental occurrence of glyphosate and AMPA in the US conducted
to-date summarises the results of 3 732 water and sediment and 1 018
quality assurance samples collected between 2001 and 2010 from 38 states
and the District of Columbia [39]. The results indicate that glyphosate and
AMPA are detected frequently together, that they are mobile and occur
widely in the environment. Overall, glyphosate was detected in 39.4 % of
samples (median < 0.2, maximum 476 μg/L or kg in soil and sediment), and
AMPA in 55.0 % (median 0.05, maximum 397 μg/L or kg in ditches and drains).
Glyphosate and AMPA were detected frequently in soils and sediment (91.1 %
and 93.3 % respectively), ditches and drains (70.9 % and 80.7 %
respectively), precipitation (70.6 % and 71.8 % respectively), rivers (53.1
% and 89,3 % respectively) and streams (52.5 % and 55.0 % respectively, and
less frequently in lakes, ponds, and wetlands (33.7 % and 29.8 %
respectively), soil water (34.5 % and 65.5 % respectively, and groundwater
(5.8 % and 14.3 % respectively).
Glyphosate builds up and leaches from soil
Glyphosate is a polar amphoteric compound that binds strongly to soils but
is also very soluble in water. It has a soil half-life ranging from 2 to
215 days, and an aquatic half-life of 2 to 91 days. Glyphosate degrades in
the environment primarily by microbial action to AMPA, which is also very
water soluble, and degrades more slowly than glyphosate. AMPA has a soil
half-life of 60-240 days and an aquatic half-life comparable to that of
glyphosate. AMPA ultimately degrades to inorganic phosphate, ammonium and
CO2, adding phosphate pollution to aquatic systems (reviewed in [39]).
Recent samplings in Argentina showed glyphosate levels in rain water
averaging 6.5 μg/L and as high as 67 μg/L, more than 20 times the level in
the USA. In Spain all 11 groundwater sites sampled were positive for
glyphosate despite it being a region free from glyphosate-tolerant GM crop
cultivation (reviewed in Chapter 1 of Banishing Glyphosate [9]). Thus both
glyphosate and its main metabolite AMPA are long-lasting in the
environment, and leach easily into water; this is contrary to claims by the
manufacturer, which has been repeatedly prosecuted for false advertising
that Roundup is “biodegradable”, “won’t build up in the soil”, “no
leaching”, and “less toxic to rats than table salt”, “‘practically
non-toxic’” to mammals, birds and fish” [40, 41].
Glyphosate bioaccumulates
In the IARC report on glyphosate, it is stated that [11, p. 45]: “Overall,
systemically absorbed glyphosate is not metabolized efficiently, and is
mainly excreted unchanged in the urine.” This has been shown to be false,
as AMPA has been detected frequently in human urine, and glyphosate in
human mother’s milk and in animal tissues (reviewed in Chapter 1 of
Banishing Glyphosate [9]).
A study commissioned by Friends of the Earth Europe analysed 182 volunteers
across 18 EU countries found that 80 (43.9 %) have glyphosate, with a mean
of 0.21 μg/L and a maximum of 1.82 μg/L. AMPA was present in 65 (35.71 %),
with a mean of 0.18 μg/L and a maximum of 2.63 μg/L. In the US, urine
samples show concentrations 8 times those in Europe. The analysis,
commissioned by Moms Across America, also tested 10 mothers’ breast milk,
which came up positive for glyphosate with levels ranging from 76 to 166
µg/L, higher than those in urine, and 760 to 1600 times higher than the
European Drinking Water Directive allowed levels for individual pesticides,
falling within the range of concentrations at which developmental toxicity
has been observed in animal studies. A second study on breast milk
commissioned by the Green Party was performed in Germany, where far fewer
GM crops are consumed, and glyphosate levels ranged from 0.210-0.432 µg/L,
well above the EU drinking water limit of 0.1 µg/L.
In a peer-reviewed study published in 2014 [42], not included in the IARC
assessment, glyphosate was detected in human, cow, rabbit and hare urine as
well as in tissues of cows. Samples were collected from Germany (except for
urine from Danish cows) as follows: urine of cows from conventional farms
in (N=343), urine from cows kept in GM free areas (N=32); organs from
slaughtered cows from conventional husbandry: gut wall (N=32), liver (N=4),
kidney (N=26), lung (N=23) and muscle (N=6); urine from Danish cows (N =
242); urine from 192 hares and 77 fattening rabbits; human urine from 99 on
conventional diet and 41 on organic diet; and further human urine samples
from 102 healthy subjects and 199 chronically ill subject. A two-way
analysis of variance followed by unpaired Student’s t-tests was used to
identify significant differences between means. The results are presented
in Figure 1 (unfortunately, the authors chose not to tabulate the numerical
values). As can be seen, urine from German cows had on average
significantly less glyphosate than urine from cows in Denmark (p<0.0001);
cows kept in GM free regions had significantly lower concentration of
glyphosate in their urine than cows kept on conventional farms (p<0.001);
glyphosate was detected in all the organs of slaughtered cows with no
significant difference between the means; hares showed significantly lower
glyphosate residues in urine than in fattening rabbits (p<0.0001); humans
on conventional diet had significantly higher glyphosate levels than those
on organic diet (p<0.0002), and healthy humans had significantly lower
glyphosate levels in urine than those with chronic disease (p<0.03). The
results clearly show that glyphosate and glyphosate residues could be
ingested in food and feed and drinking water (or indeed absorbed through
the air or through the skin, see later) and excreted in urine. Furthermore,
they can accumulate in all tissues, and at levels known to promote the
growth of cancer cells in vitro (see below).

Figure 1 Glyphosate residues in urine and animal tissues: A, urine of
cows in Germany and in Denmark; B, urine of cows from conventional and GM
free farms; C, levels in different organs and tissues from cattle obtained
in a slaughter house; E, urine from humans on conventional and organic
diets; F, urine from healthy humans and those chronically disease
(redrawn from [42])
Marked deterioration on public health tracks glyphosate and GM crops
increase
Although there has been no official health monitoring for glyphosate or GM
crops as such, it is possible to examine the health status of countries
that have seen the steepest rise in glyphosate use before and after the
introduction of GM crops when the rapid increase in glyphosate use began.
Plotting the best available government data year to year from the US
Centers for Disease Control for the incidence of diseases in the country,
and the Department of Agriculture for the GM crops grown and glyphosate
herbicides used, Swanson et al [8] showed increases in the incidence of
dozens of diseases including six cancers closely tracking the increases in
GM crops and glyphosate usage. Figure 2 shows the incidences of liver and
thyroid cancers, the former with a distinct pre-1990 trend, the latter
without.

Figure 2 Incidence of liver cancer (top) and thyroid cancer (bottom)
closely tracking increases in glyphosate use and GM corn and soy crop
planted (redrawn from [8])
When the Pearson correlation coefficients between the incidence of 22
diseases and the amount of glyphosate used and the percentage of GM maize
and soy planted respectively, most of the 44 coefficients are greater than
0.91 and none of them fall below 0.81 (see Table 1) (from Chapter 2 of
Banishing Glyphosate [9]).
Table 1: Pearson correlation coefficients between the incidence in the US
of 22 chronic diseases since 1995 and (a) the amount of glyphosate applied
to maize and soy (b) the percentage of maize and soy planted that was GM
Condition
Glyphosate use
%GM
Hypertension
0.923
0.961
Stroke
0.925
0.983
Diabetes prevalence
0.971
0.983
Diabetes incidence
0.935
0.955
Obesity
0.962
0.962
Lipoprotein metabolism disorder
0.973
0.955
Alzheimer’s
0.917
0.937
Senile dementia
0.994
0.918
Parkinson’s
0.875
0.952
Multiple sclerosis
0.828
0.876
Autism
0.989
0.93
Inflammatory bowel disease
0.938
0.812
Intestinal infections
0.974
0.901
End stage renal disease
0.975
0.958
Acute kidney failure
0.978
0.967
Thyroid cancer
0.988
0.938
Liver cancer
0.960
0.911
Bladder cancer
0.981
0.945
Pancreatic cancer
0.918
0.841
Kidney cancer
0.973
0.940
Myeloid leukaemia
0.878
0.889
In Argentina, where the use of pesticides including especially glyphosate
herbicides has increased more than 8.5-fold since GM crops were introduced
20 years ago [9], physicians and local governments have been documenting
rapid increases in birth defects and cancers for years. At the 1st National
Meeting of physicians in the crop-sprayed towns which took place in the
National University of Córdoba 27-28 August 2010, an official report from
the province of Chaco recorded a 4.5-fold increase in the incidence of
birth defects over 12 years, from 19.1 /10 000 in 1997 to 28.1 /10 000 in
2001 and 85.3/ 10 000 in 2009 [43]. Also, the incidence of childhood cancer
rose from 8.03/ 100 000 in 1991 to 11.2/100 000 in 2001 and 15.7/100 000 in
2007. A second report released by the Ministry of Health in Córdoba,
entitled “Report on cancer in Córdoba 2004-2009” based on analysis of
deaths from cancerous tumours in the province shows that the highest rates
of deaths occur in areas where GM crops and agro-chemicals are used, and
they are almost double the national average [44]. The provincial average is
158 per 100 000, and in Córdoba Capital, the rate is 134.8. But four
Córdoba departments are well above those rates: Marcos Juárez, 229.8;
Presidente Roque Sáenz Peňa, 228.4; Union, 217.4; and San Justo, 216.8.
These are the “pampa gringa”, the area of Córdoba agriculture. WHO’s latest
2012 data for Argentina show that the death rate from cancerous tumours for
Argentina as a whole is 115.13, about half of that in Marcos Juárez, where
glyphosate and AMPA have been detected in lakes, soils, and rainwater.
Apart from the worst affected pampa gringa, the departments of Rio Cuarto,
General San Martin, Celman, Tercero Arriba and General Roca, also dedicated
to industrial farming, have the second highest cancerous tumour deaths
ranging from 180-201 per 100 000, again well above the national average.
Cancer in experimental animals
As described in the IARC report [11], glyphosate was tested for
carcinogenicity in two studies by dietary administration on male and female
mice, and in male and female rats by dietary administration in 5 studies
and by drinking water in one study. The main finding was a positive trend
in the incidence of renal tubule carcinoma and of renal tubule adenoma or
carcinoma combined in males in one feeding study in CD-1 mice; renal tubule
carcinoma being a rare tumour in this strain of mice. In the second feeding
study, there was a significant positive trend in the incidence of
haemangiosarcoma in male CD-1 mice. For the five feeding studies in rats,
two in the Sprague-Dawley strain showed a significant increase in the
incidence of pancreatic islet cell adenoma in males, one of them also
showed a significant positive trend in the incidences of hepatocellular
adenoma in males and of thyroid C-cell adenoma in females. Two studies, one
in Sprague-Dawley rats, and one in Wistar rats found no significant
increase in tumour incidence at any site, but the study on Wistar rats was
considered inadequate because of the short duration of exposure. The study
in Wistar rats given glyphosate in drinking found no significant increase
in tumour incidence.
Many of the significant results came from animal studies submitted to the
US EPA, which dismissed them in altering its initial classification of
glyphosate as ‘possible carcinogen’ to ‘noncarcinogenic’.
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--
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared/



  • [permagriculture] Fwd: [SANET-MG] FW: Glyphosate is Carcinogenic, Lawrence London, 09/10/2015

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