Glyphosate Pesticides like Monsanto Roundup ‘Probably’ Cause Cancer, Says WHO

It’s a bad time to be Monsanto. On Friday the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer evaluation arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), declared that glyphosate pesticides “probably” cause cancer in humans. More than two decades after being declared safe by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Monsanto’s premiere glyphosate-based weed killer Round-Up—famous for its use in conjunction with GMO crops that have been modified to withstand the powerful herbicide—is back under intense scrutiny.

This is not exciting news for Monsanto—the company immediately issued a statement decrying the IARC findings as agenda-based data cherry picking and pointing to the EPA’s research affirming the safety of the herbicide compound:

Monsanto CTO Dr. Robb Fraley also referenced the herbicide’s approval by agencies like the EPA and the European Commission in his defense that glyphosate is safe for human health:

For its own part, the IARC stressed to the New York Times that the agency has no agenda beyond simply advising the World Health Organization of its findings based on decades of data and research:

Meanwhile, advocacy groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) point to the disconnect between the EPA’s approval and the IARC’s concerns as evidence of a need for the EPA to reexamine their stance and reassess instead of relying on conclusions made in the 1990s. Jennifer Sass, senior scientist in the health program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, posted a blog commenting on the issue:

In an especially spectacular bit of bad related PR, Monsanto lobbyist Patrick Moore went on camera stating that drinking a whole quart of glyphosate won’t hurt you—then refusing to actually drink some that his interviewer has on hand, because he’s “not stupid.”

Of course you can’t blame anyone for not leaping at the chance to drink pesticides. But we’re also pretty sure that no one at Monsanto told Moore to say that you could drink a whole quart of it and maintain perfect health. That’s the kind of claim that just begs for proof, and if you’re going to make health claims on camera, you’d better be willing to put your money—or your glyphosate, for that matter—where your mouth is.

But bad PR aside, it will be interesting to see how Roundup sales fare in the wake of this new finding both domestically and abroad, how Monsanto will maneuver from here, and if the EPA will decide to take another look.