Scientists call for new
review of herbicide, cite 'flawed' U.S. regulations
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[August 20, 2015] By
Carey Gillam
(Reuters) - U.S. regulators have relied on
flawed and outdated research to allow expanded use of an herbicide
linked to cancer, and new assessments should be urgently conducted,
according to a column published in the New England Journal of Medicine
on Wednesday.
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There are two key factors that necessitate regulatory action to
protect human health, according to the column: a sharp increase in
herbicide applied to widely planted genetically modified (GMO) crops
used in food, and a recent World Health Organization (WHO)
determination that the most commonly used herbicide, known as
glyphosate, is probably a human carcinogen.
The opinion piece was written by Dr. Philip Landrigan, a
Harvard-educated pediatrician and epidemiologist who is Dean for
Global Health at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, and
Chuck Benbrook, an adjunct professor at Washington State
University's crops and soil science department.
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"There is growing evidence that glyphosate is geno-toxic and has
adverse effects on cells in a number of different ways," Benbrook
said. "It's time to pull back ... on uses of glyphosate that we know
are leading to significant human exposures while the science gets
sorted out."
The column argues that GMO foods and herbicides applied to them "may
pose hazards to human health" not previously assessed.
"We believe that the time has therefore come to thoroughly
reconsider all aspects of the safety of plant biotechnology," the
column states.
The authors also argue that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
has erred in recently approving a new herbicide that uses glyphosate
because it relied on outdated studies commissioned by the
manufacturers and gave little consideration to potential health
effects in children.
Glyphosate is best known as the key ingredient in Roundup developed
by Monsanto Co, one of the world's most widely used herbicides, but
it is used in more than 700 products.
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It is sprayed directly over crops like corn genetically engineered
to tolerate it and is sometimes used on non-GMO crops, like wheat
before harvest. Residues of glyphosate have been detected in food
and water.
The WHO's cancer research unit after reviewing years of scientific
research from different countries on March 20 classified glyphosate
as "probably carcinogenic to humans."
But regulators and agrichemical companies in the United States and
other countries still consider glyphosate among the safest
herbicides in use.
In July, Monsanto said it had arranged for an outside scientific
review of the WHO finding.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City, editing by G Crosse)
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