Monsanto weed killer can 'probably' cause cancer: World Health Organization | Food Production and Preservation | Forums

Monsanto fights report tying herbicide, cancer

WASHINGTON – Monsanto Co. called on the World Health Organization on Tuesday to withdraw a claim that the most widely used weed killer in the world could cause cancer, with the seed giant accusing the agency of unnecessarily scaring consumers and farmers who use their products.

The St. Louis company, which gets billions in revenue annually from the sale of its corn, soybeans and other seeds designed to withstand glyphosate spray, has asked for a meeting with World Health Organization officials to discuss the findings. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto's popular herbicide Roundup that is sprayed on genetically modified crops grown using its seeds — killing the weeds but allowing the plants to thrive.

The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said in a report Friday that glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic" to humans. The agency said the chemical, used in more than 750 products made by Monsanto and other companies, has been found in water, air and food during spraying. But WHO said use of the weed killer is often low in areas where most of the public would face the greatest risk of exposure.

The finding, Monsanto said, contradicts decades of scientific and regulatory reviews — including by the Environmental Protection Agency — that have deemed glyphosate safe and not a risk to human health. Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, blasted the IARC for "cherry-picking" data and accused the agency of "an agenda-driven bias."

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