Does Roundup weed killer cause cancer?

Opinions appear to be divided on the issue of whether Roundup can be linked to cancer.

Some experts have claimed that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, appears to be
carcinogenic.

Beate Ritz, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said her review of
scientific literature led her to conclude that glyphosate and glyphosate-based compounds such as
Roundup can cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Ritz said a 2017 National Institutes of Health study, that found no association between glyphosate
and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), had major flaws.

But in the US government regulators have rejected a link between cancer and glyphosate.

Makers Monsanto has vehemently denied such a connection, saying hundreds of studies have
established that the chemical is safe.

Lorelei Mucci, a cancer epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said:
"When you look at the body of epidemiological literature on this topic, there's no evidence of a
positive association between glyphosate and NHL risk."

The US Environmental Protection Agency says glyphosate is safe for people when used in accordance
with label directions.

In 2018 jurors agreed the product contributed to a groundskeeper's cancer - and awarded him £226m.

Johnson's lawyers sought and won £30 million in compensatory damages and £196 million of the £292
million they wanted in punitive damages.

“The biggest impact of glyphosate on bees is the destruction of the wildflowers on which they
depend,” said Matt Sharlow, at conservation group Buglife. “Evidence to date suggests direct
toxicity to bees is fairly low, however the new study clearly demonstrates that pesticide use can
have significant unintended consequences.”

The Sun:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6749228/roundup-weed-killer-cause-cancer-glyphosate-lawsuit-monsanto/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/24/monsanto-weedkiller-harms-bees-research-finds
Iminodiacetic acid approach to glyphosate synthesis



Why is Roundup safe?

You may have recently heard that glyphosate (Roundup’s main ingredient) could be a cause of cancer.

On March 20, 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer* (IARC) published the conclusion
that it found five substances – including glyphosate – to be “possibly” or “probably” carcinogenic
to humans.  The news then rapidly spread in many media.

Since such news may naturally cause confusion and concerns amongst consumers, Roundup Garden would
like to take to raise and answer a few important questions.

Are Roundup users exposed to a risk of cancer? No.

All glyphosate-based herbicides on the market meet rigorous standards of approval set by regulatory
and health authorities to protect the public, including infants and children.  In Europe,
substances like glyphosate must undergo a rigorous periodical safety evaluation.

In fact, the latest re-evaluation process is currently on-going. Germany has been appointed as
coordinator and has considered and reviewed all available data on glyphosate, including studies the
IARC took into consideration. Yet, they concluded in December 2014: “[...]the available data do not
show carcinogenic or mutagenic properties of glyphosate nor that glyphosate is toxic to fertility,
reproduction or embryonal/fetal development[...]“

Since March 20, German authorities have confirmed their conclusions and made clear in their
statement that they found no correlation between glyphosate exposure and any type of cancer. These
findings confirm what authorities worldwide have concluded on glyphosate.

How could IARC come to such conclusions then?

If public authorities are so clear about glyphosate, one may then wonder how the IARC could come to
so different conclusions. In this respect, Roundup Garden would like to draw you attention to an
important point.

Public authorities and IARC play different roles. On the one hand, public authorities’ job is to
make sure that the use of a substance like glyphosate does not expose us and the environment to
risks. To do so, they consider all available data (including epidemiological data) over a long
period of time and consider the use of the substance in the real world. On the other hand, the IARC
is a research-driven agency. They look at data from a purely scientific perspective and do not take
into consideration the use of the substance in the real world. IARC’s assessment tells us that
glyphosate has a potential to cause cancer in a lab – like a number of substances and items we are
daily exposed to (IARC’s classification includes for instance cell phones, the occupation of
barbers and aloe vera extract). What authorities tell us however is whether this potential
materializes in the real world, or not. In the case of glyphosate, they tell us it does not.

Taken from a Monsanto press release https://www.roundup-garden.com/why-is-roundup-safe

Carcinogenicity[edit]

There is limited evidence that human cancer risk might increase as a result of occupational
exposure to large amounts of glyphosate, such as agricultural work, but no good evidence of such a
risk from home use, such as in domestic gardening.^[22] The consensus among national pesticide
regulatory agencies and scientific organizations is that labeled uses of glyphosate have
demonstrated no evidence of human carcinogenicity.^[23]^[24] Organizations such as the World Health
Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization, European Commission, Canadian Pest
Management Regulatory Agency, and the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment^[25] have
concluded that there is no evidence that glyphosate poses a carcinogenic or genotoxic risk to
humans.^[23] The final assessment of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines
Authority in 2017 was that "glyphosate does not pose a carcinogenic risk to humans".^[23]^[26] The
EPA has classified glyphosate as Group E, meaning "evidence of non-carcinogenicity in
humans".^[23]^[27] Only one international scientific organization, the International Agency for
Research on Cancer (IARC), affiliated with the WHO, has made claims of carcinogenicity in research
reviews. The IARC has been criticized for its assessment methodology by failing to consider the
broad literature and only assessing hazardrather than risk.^[23]

From Wikipedia

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide, currently with the highest production volumes of all
herbicides. It is used in more than 750 different products for agriculture, forestry, urban, and
home applications. Its use has increased sharply with the development of genetically modified
glyphosate-resistant crop varieties. Glyphosate has been detected in air during spraying, in water,
and in food. There was limited evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of glyphosate.
Case-control studies of occupational exposure in the USA,^14Canada,^6and Sweden^7reported increased
risks for non-Hodgkin lymphoma that persisted after adjustment for other pesticides. The AHS cohort
did not show a significantly increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In male CD-1 mice, glyphosate
induced a positive trend in the incidence of a rare tumour, renal tubule carcinoma. A second study
reported a positive trend for haemangiosarcoma in male mice.^15Glyphosate increased pancreatic
islet-cell adenoma in male rats in two studies. A glyphosate formulation promoted skin tumours in
an initiation-promotion study in mice.

Glyphosate has been detected in the blood and urine of agricultural workers, indicating absorption.
Soil microbes degrade glyphosate to aminomethylphosphoric acid (AMPA). Blood AMPA detection after
poisonings suggests intestinal microbial metabolism in humans. Glyphosate and glyphosate
formulations induced DNA and chromosomal damage in mammals, and in human and animal cells in vitro.
One study reported increases in blood markers of chromosomal damage (micronuclei) in residents of
several communities after spraying of glyphosate formulations.

^16

 Bacterial mutagenesis tests were negative. Glyphosate, glyphosate formulations, and AMPA induced
oxidative stress in rodents and in vitro. The Working Group classified glyphosate as “probably
carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2A).


https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045%2815%2970134-8/fulltext  Taken from
the Lancet, oncology