Documents from 1985 have recently been uncovered which show how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was fully aware of glyphosate’s carcinogenic potential for the last 30 years – yet the organization has done nothing to lessen glyphosate’s use.
It helps that the World Health Organization’s (WHO) IARC recently announced that not only was Monsanto’s glyphosate ‘probably carcinogenic,’ and then followed with a determination that three other pesticides (2,4-D, Lindane and DDT) were likely causing cancer. But the declarations are a day late and a dollar short.
In an EPA memorandum titled: Second Peer Review of Glyphosate, one scientist involved in the discussion wrote in lieu of his signature ‘do not concur.’
Interesting tidbits within the document state:
- “. . .in 1985 glyphosate was found to be a Group C carcinogen.”
- “. . .an increase in interstitial cell tumors of the testes of male rats was found.”
- No carcinogenic effect was found in high-dose female rats, but “pancreatic tumors” were prevalent.
Furthermore, the document itself admits that control data for carcinomas, adenomas, hyperplasia, and other carcinogenic responses in the rats was provided by none other than MONSANTO.
Furthermore, as Sustainable Pulse points out, the Class C designation for glyphosate was changed by the EPA six years later to a Class E category which suggests “evidence of non-carcinogenicity for humans.” Mysteriously, this change in glyphosate’s classification occurred during the same period that Monsanto was developing its first Roundup-Ready (glyphosate-resistant) GM crops.
Is it any wonder it has taken so long for a large body with power to state that glyphosate and the other toxic chemicals that Monsanto makes are killing us?
The good news is that the world is now taking action against glyphosate and Monsanto at large.
- In Brazil, the country’s public prosecutor has written the Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) asking it to urgently re-evaluate their stance on the ‘likely carcinogenic’ herbicide ingredient, glyphosate.
- While US garden and DIY stores are still selling cancer-causing poison in a jug, a German retail giant will no longer carry glyphosate-containing products as of September 30, 2015.
- Bermuda has decided to suspend any importation of glyphosate/Roundup until further research give reason to lift the suspension.
- Sri Lanka’s newly elected president, Maithripala Sirisena, has announced that the import of Monsanto’s favorite killing-tool, glyphosate, will no longer be allowed in the country.
- And much more