Glyphosate and Cancer
But the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) explained all that away. Cox continued [8]: “All of these increases in tumor incidence are “not considered compound-related” [12] according to EPA. In each case, different reasons are given for this conclusion. For the testicular tumors, EPA accepted the interpretation of an industry pathologist who said that the incidence in treated groups (12 percent) was similar to those observed in other control (not glyphosate-fed) rat feeding studies (4.5 percent) [13]. [This is a blatant, illicit use of controls.] For the thyroid cancer, EPA stated that it was not possible to consistently distinguish between cancers and tumors of this type, so that the incidences of the two should be considered together [a questionable manipulation of data]. The combined data are not statistically significant [10]. For the kidney tumors, the registrants reexamined slides of kidney tissue, finding an additional tumor in untreated mice so that statistical significance was lost. This was despite a memo from EPA’s pathologist stating that the lesion in question was not really a tumor [11] [and hence amounts to a falsification of data]. For the pancreatic tumors, EPA stated that there was no dose-related trend and no progression to malignancy [this is frequently the case in endocrine disrupting chemicals]. For the liver tumors and the thyroid tumors, EPA stated that pairwise comparisons between treated and untreated animals were not statistically significant and there was no progression to malignancy [12].” (Comments between square brackets added).
EPA concluded that glyphosate should be classified as Group E [13], “evidence of non-carcinogenicity for humans.” They added that this classification “is based on the available evidence at the time of evaluation and should not be interpreted as a definitive conclusion that the agent will not be a carcinogen under any circumstances.”
The EPA authorities went against the advice of their own scientists, as Cox revealed [8]. An EPA statistician wrote in a memo concerning one of the carcinogenicity studies [13], “Viewpoint is a key issue. Our viewpoint is one of protecting the public health when we see suspicious data.” Unfortunately, EPA has not taken that viewpoint in its assessment of glyphosate’s cancer-causing potential.
Epidemiological evidence that pesticides are associated with cancer risks
Studies dating back to the 1980s have indicated that despite the low overall mortality rate from heart disease, cancers of the lung, oesophagus, bladder and colon, farmers in many countries appear to have higher rates for Hodgkin’s disease, leukaemia, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and cancers of the lip, stomach, prostate, skin, brain, and connectives tissue compared with the general population. The strongest links of cancers in agricultural workers are to herbicides [14]. In 1993, the National Cancer Institute Bethesda Maryland in the US launched a large prospective cohort study in North Carolina and Iowa on people most likely to be exposed to pesticides – farmers and pesticide applicators – identified when they applied for a pesticide applicator license and undergo training and testing [15].
The 10-year Agricultural Health Study (1993-2003) was recently summarized to the press as the EPA proposes new safety rules for farm pesticide use [16]: “Current medical research suggests that while farmers are generally healthier than the general U.S. population, they may have higher rates of some cancers, including leukemia, myeloma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and cancers of the lip, stomach, skin, brain, and prostate.” This finding is no different from when the Study began.
The supreme irony is that the EPA has set new standards that drastically increase the amounts of glyphosate allowed [17]: in oilseed crops such as flax, soybeans and canola, it is doubled from 20 ppm to 40 ppm, while in food crops, it is multiplied 30-fold, from 200 ppm to 6 000 ppm. So although pesticides as a group is acknowledged to be carcinogenic, glyphosate is still considered a non-carcinogen by the EPA, the same as in 1985 [13]. But since 1994, the first year that GM crops were commercially grown, the use of glyphosate herbicides has gone up enormously, with regulatory authorities putting up the allowable levels to track the upward trajectory [18].
By 2007, glyphosate is the most commonly used pesticide in the agricultural sector, and second most commonly used in homes and garden as well as industry/commercial/ government sectors [19]. In other words, its use has become pervasive; and everyone in whatever sector will be exposed to it, through air, water and food as recent measurements in Europe confirms (see above). Not surprisingly, it has proven difficult to link individual pesticides with specific cancers in the Agricultural Health Study, least of all to glyphosate, given that dozens of pesticides are typically used, and the general population probably as much exposed to glyphosate-herbicides and herbicide residues as farmers and agricultural workers.
A review published in 2012 (ahead of EPA’s decision to increase allowable glyphosate levels) [20] “found no consistent pattern of positive associations indicating a causal relationship between total cancer (in adults or children) or any site-specific cancer and exposure to glyphosate.” The lead author of the review has served as a paid consultant to Monsanto Company, and the research was supported by the Monsanto Company. Actually, there have been studies aimed at glyphosate in particular that found increased risks to specific cancers, which were explained away in the review.
A Swedish study of 910 cancer cases and 1016 controls found a significant excess of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) associated with the phenoxy herbicide 2-methyl-4-chlorphenoxyactice acid (MCPA) OR (odds ratio) 2.1, and with glyphosate OR 2.02 [21]. This confirmed the team’s earlier pooled analysis of two case control studies – one on NHL and another on hairy cell leukemia, a rare subtype of NHL- consisting of 515 cases and 1141 controls [22]. Increased risks were found for subjects exposed to herbicides OR 1.75, insecticides OR1.43, fungicides OR 3.11, impregnating agents OR 1.48. Among herbicides, significant associations were found for glyphosate OR 3.04, and 4-chloro-2-methyl phenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) OR 2.62.
In another study, associations between glyphosate exposure and cancer incidence was examined in a prospective cohort of 57 311 licensed pesticide applicators (mostly male middle-aged) in Iowa and North Carolina (part of the Agricultural Health Study). There was no association with all cancers, but there was increased risk for melanoma (OR 1.8) adjusted for age, which decreased to OR 1.6 adjusted for age, demographic and lifestyle factors, and other pesticides. Adjusted risk estimates for colon, rectum kidney and bladder cancers were elevated by 30 to 60 % but not statistically significant. However, there was more than 2-fold risk of multiple myeloma (OR 2.1) associated with ever-use of glyphosate [23].
Continued...
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