The Crush - April 2019 - 3

[ FROM THE PRESIDENT ]

We Must Stand Firm for Science

SEVEN CREDIBLE WORLDWIDE ORGANIZATIONS SAY GLYPHOSATE IS NOT A CARCINOGEN

By John Aguirre
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Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority
California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA)
European Union's European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
Food Safety Commission of Japan (FSJC)
Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations/World Health Organization (WHO) Meeting on
Pesticide Residues (JMPR)
* U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
These seven organizations all share something in common: they
reviewed four rodent cancer studies involving glyphosate and
concluded glyphosate is not a carcinogen.
Regrettably, in 2015, the WHO International Agency for Research
on Cancer (IARC) concluded differently. IARC reviewed those
same four rodent studies and declared glyphosate was a probable
carcinogen. Not only does IARC stand apart from other respected
health and safety programs around the world, they stand alone at
WHO, where three other health and safety programs determined
glyphosate was noncarcinogenic.
IARC's published findings in 2015 about glyphosate presented
no new research or data. The agency simply reviewed studies
and data that had already been reviewed and considered by
other regulatory agencies. Subsequent to IARC's announcement,
regulators in the U.S. (EPA, 2016), European Union (European
Food Safety Authority, 2015), Canada (PMRA, 2015) and Japan
(FSCJ, 2016) examined the same data and other available studies
and concluded that glyphosate is not a carcinogen. ECHA
issued its final listing and classification of glyphosate in 2017,
concluding no cancer classification was warranted because
the weight of the evidence did not provide an indication of
carcinogenicity (ECHA, 2017).
In other words, there is no credible, published scientific study
that tells us that human exposure to glyphosate through the
foods we eat causes cancer. None.
In reaching its conclusion, IARC chose to ignore the findings
from the largest and single most important study into the health
of pesticide applicators in the U.S. which found no link between

glyphosate and non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma or any another
cancer (De Roos et al., 2005).
That study involving 57,311
licensed pesticide applicators
in Iowa and North Carolina
concluded, "Glyphosate
exposure was not associated
with cancer incidence overall
or with most of the cancer
subtypes we studied."
It's not hard to see that IARC is an outlier and their conclusion
about glyphosate is highly suspect. Unfortunately, the firestorm
of controversy, negative press and litigation spawned by IARC's
irresponsible pronouncement cannot be undone. Bayer, who
acquired Monsanto and the glyphosate headache, has been
rocked by litigation that could only occur in America. No other
countries allow trial lawyers to hijack the regulatory process, as
they do here in the United States.
Most growers understand that glyphosate is an extraordinarily
safe and effective product, when used according to label
instructions. The product works by inhibiting an enzyme present
in plants (and some bacteria and fungi) that is needed for the
plant to grow. Humans and animals don't have this enzyme,
known as EPSPS. Glyphosate binds to soil, it readily degrades
into harmless components and doesn't leach into groundwater
and waterways, like some other herbicides. And, the product is
water soluble, so it doesn't bioaccumulate in the environment.
From an economic and safety perspective, we cannot afford to
lose glyphosate.
We must stand firm for science.
Science tells us that Earth revolves around the sun, evolution
is a biological process that has shaped the flora and fauna that
inhabit planet earth, vaccines don't cause autism, human activity
is changing our climate, and genetically engineered soybeans and
sugar beets pose no risk to human health. Growers must remain
firm in their expectation that science and rational thought will
guide regulation.

APRIL 2019 / 3
The Crush - April 2019

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