U.S. farm study finds no firm cancer link
to Monsanto weedkiller
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[November 09, 2017]
By Kate Kelland
LONDON, (Reuters) - A large long-term study
on the use of the big-selling weedkiller glyphosate by agricultural
workers in the United States has found no firm link between exposure to
the pesticide and cancer, scientists said on Thursday.
Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), the
study found there was "no association between glyphosate", the main
ingredient in Monsanto's popular herbicide RoundUp, "and any solid
tumors or lymphoid malignancies overall, including non-Hogkin Lymphoma
(NHL) and its subtypes."
It said there was "some evidence of increased risk of acute myeloid
leukemia (AML) among the highest exposed group", but added "this
association was not statistically significant" and would require more
research to be confirmed.
The findings are likely to impact legal proceedings taking place in the
United States against Monsanto, in which more than 180 plaintiffs are
claiming exposure to RoundUp gave them cancer - allegations that
Monsanto denies.
The findings may also influence a crucial decision due in Europe this
week on whether glyphosate should be re-licensed for sale across the
European Union.
That EU decision has been delayed for several years after the World
Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
reviewed glyphosate in 2015 and concluded it was "probably carcinogenic"
to humans. Other bodies, such as the European Food Safety Authority,
have concluded glyphosate is safe to use.
The research is part of a large and important project known as the
Agricultural Health Study (AHS), which has been tracking the health of
tens of thousands of agricultural workers, farmers and their families in
Iowa and North Carolina.
Since the early 1990s, it has gathered and analyzed detailed information
on the health of participants and their families, and their use of
pesticides, including glyphosate.
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Monsanto's research farm is pictured near Carman, Manitoba, Canada
August 3, 2017. REUTERS/Zachary Prong/File Photo
Reuters reported in June how an influential scientist was aware of
new AHS data while he was chairing a panel of experts reviewing
evidence on glyphosate for the International Agency for Research on
Cancer (IARC) in early 2015.
But since it had not at that time been published, he did not tell
the experts panel about it and IARC's review did not take it into
account.
The publishing of the study on Thursday comes more than four years
since drafts based on the AHS data on glyphosate and other
pesticides were circulating in February and March 2013.
In a summary conclusion of the results, the researchers, led by
Laura Beane Freeman, the principal investigator of the AHS at the
U.S. National Cancer Institute, reported that among 54,251
(pesticide) applicators in the study, 44,932, or 82.9 percent of
them used glyphosate.
"Glyphosate was not statistically significantly associated with
cancer at any site," the conclusion said.
The researchers said they believed the study was the first to report
a possible association between glyphosate and AML, but that it could
be the result of chance and should be treated with caution.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland, Editing by William Maclean)
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