In a groundbreaking new study, just published in the journal Environmental Health, the safety assurances previously provided about glyphosate — the world’s most popular herbicide and the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup — have been proven incorrect.
A 2-year, multi-institutional and global research study (the “Global Glyphosate Study”) found that rats exposed to glyphosate doses that have been deemed “safe” by regulators for the human population, including children and pregnant women, were found to have caused 6 of the top 10 most common cancers in the world.
Glyphosate alone and two commercial glyphosate-based formulations, Roundup BioFlow (MON 52276) used in the EU and Ranger Pro (EPA 524-517) used in the U.S., were administered to rats via drinking water beginning in prenatal life, at doses of 0.5, 5, and 50 mg/kg body weight/day for 2 years. These doses are currently considered safe by regulatory agencies and correspond to the EU Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) and the EU’s No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) for glyphosate.
“We observed early onset and early mortality for a number of rare malignant cancers, including leukemia, liver, ovary and nervous system tumors. Notably, approximately half of the deaths from leukemia seen in the glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicide treatment groups occurred at less than one year of age, comparable to less than 35-40 years of age in humans,” stated Dr. Daniele Mandrioli, director of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center of the Ramazzini Institute and principal investigator of the study.
What makes the Global Glyphosate Study so notable is that it is the most comprehensive study ever done on an agricultural chemical. The only studies on chemicals that compare to the size and scope of this study are ones done on tobacco and asbestos 30-40 years ago.
Additionally, the Global Glyphosate Study is a multi-institutional and global initiative. It was led by the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center of the Ramazzini Institute in Italy (with over 200 compounds studied in over 50 years) and involved scientists from Boston College, George Mason University, King’s College London, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Scientific Centre of Monaco, University of Bologna, the Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology of the Italian National Research Council the Italian National Institute of Health, the National Food Safety Committee of the Italian Ministry of Health.
These new results provide robust evidence supporting the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) conclusion in 2015 that there is “sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity of glyphosate in experimental animals”. Furthermore, the study’s data are consistent with epidemiological evidence on the carcinogenicity of glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides.
“The findings from this carefully conducted study, and especially the observation that prenatal exposures of infant rats to glyphosate during pregnancy increase incidence and mortality from early-life leukemia, is a powerful reminder of human infants’ great vulnerability to toxic chemicals and strong reason to eliminate glyphosate from the production of foods consumed by pregnant women and their children,” concluded Dr. Philip Landrigan, study co-author and Director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College.
At a time when President Trump has tasked the Make America Healthy Again commission with taking steps to improve the country’s health, this new study provides further evidence that glyphosate must be phased out of use.
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Max Goldberg, Founder |
