More: Monsanto runs its own propaganda office that targets experts daring to criticize its popular herbicide, "Roundup". A recent post at gmwatch.org cited a Monsanto employee, Dr. William Moar, whose job is to provide seminars on the safety of Monsanto products, as admitting the company "has an entire department" dedicated to "debunking" experts responsible for negative press coverage. Dr. Goebbels would be proud. The company has a long way to go debunking the respected British journal of medicine, The Lancet. Because Roundup is such a huge money-maker, it has little choice but to dispute the findings of WHO and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Company vice president for regulatory affairs is questioning the quality of the assessment that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic, demanding the WHO "explain" its findings.
{26.03.15}The most popular herbicide in the world, Monsanto's Roundup used by farmers and homeowners alike, is now classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans". That assessment was made of glyphosate, Roundup's active ingredient, in new research published in The LancetOncology journal. Traces of the weed killer can be found in farmworkers' blood and urine. This condition increases the risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There is also evidence that glyphosate can cause cancer in laboratory animals. A study done by the US Geological Survey on the Mississippi Delta agricultural region found the herbicide present in 75% of air and rainfall test samples. Use of genetically modified corn and soybeans has dramatically increased the use of glyphosate. The World Health Organization report focused on the industrial use of the herbicide. Home users are throught to be at little risk due to their exposure to small amounts of glyphosate.
Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, invented Roundup in 1974 after DDT was largely banned around the world. Monsanto deliberately used a marketing strategy that chemically linked Round-up to genetically engineered seeds that could tolerate the herbicide in high doses. In a "lazy uncle Joe" approach to agriculture, farmers could plant Monsanto's modified seeds, spray their fields with thousands of gallons of Roundup and sit back to watch the corn grow, environmental health be damned. Besides cancer glyphosate has been linked to many health problems including kidney disease and Parkinsons. By US government standards the chemical to be safe for agricultural use. Monsanto requested and received approval from the EPA for increased exposure levels for glyphosate.