Glyphosate is Unlikly Carcinogen

The pesticide glyphosate, sold by Monsanto in Roundup weed killer, is unlikely to cause cancer in people, according to a new safety review by United Nations health, agriculture and food experts.

The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) said glyphosate is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans” exposed to it through food.

The conclusion appears to contradict a finding by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which in March 2015 said glyphosate is “probably” able to cause cancer in humans and classified it as a Group 2A carcinogen.

Findings from the EPA characterized glyphosate as representing “low toxicity for humans.” The European Food Safety Authority concluded that glyphosate was “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans.”

In a document issued alongside the joint FAO/WHO statement, the WHO denied that the conclusions by the joint group and by IARC were contradictory. It said they were “different, yet complementary,” with one assessment focused on hazard and the other focused on risk.

“IARC reviews published studies to identify potential cancer hazards,” the WHO said. “It does not estimate the level of risk to the population associated with exposure to the hazard.”

The joint committee looked at studies to assess the health risk to consumers from dietary exposure.  Source: Reuters S