# Key data on glyphosate concealed from WHO cancer panel

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 16, 2017, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109 "2017-06-16T13:13:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109/21 "2019-05-17T22:57:58Z")

</div>

> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> I have no issues with your post at all. Where did you get that impression? You asked perfectly reasonable questions. I think the big problem here is that no one really has the answers to those questions, and we should. And I agree with you about neonicotinoids, although it’s not clear why this is relevant to this discussion.
> 
> For the record, the rolleyes was intended solely for the poster who “works in the industry” and incidentally knows for a fact, absolutely no question about it, that glyphosate is the safest stuff in the history of the human race.

IMHO many more people are much more upset about glyphosate than they are about bees.

For the record, my position is that glyphosate is the **least dangerous** herbicide that is also effective, and that it’s also the most versatile weed killer.

And that will ultimately be its undoing. So many people use Roundup for so many things that weeds ultimately become resistant to it, and it isn’t effective anymore. No regulation, no court case can stop it. Be patient.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109/22 "2019-05-18T19:28:23Z")

</div>

> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> IMHO many more people are much more upset about glyphosate than they are about bees.

[Glyphosate may be harmful to bees](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/common-weed-killer-believed-harmless-animals-may-be-harming-bees-worldwide)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109/23 "2019-05-18T20:15:33Z")

</div>

Bring back the original triox

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109/24 "2019-05-19T01:07:20Z")

</div>

> [@DummyGladHands](#):
>
> Bring back the original triox

Here’s the 2007 [EPA reregistration notice on Triox.](https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/000239-02622-20071105.pdf) I’ll stay with Roundup.

> [@dtilque](#):
>
> Glyphosate may be harmful to bees

So are all [these pesticides.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide_toxicity_to_bees#Pesticides)

That list includes [2,4-D](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic_acid), one of the oldest weed killers, which has been in commercial use since 1945, was a component of\*\* Agent Orange\*\* and is _ **still approved for use by the EU, the U.S. and many other countries** _.

I’m standing firm on this.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2019, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109/25 "2019-05-19T06:56:15Z")

</div>

> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> I’m standing firm on this.

You may have missed this part of that paper:

> [@](#):
>
> The discovery also raises questions about whether **glyphosate is affecting the microbiome of other animals, including people.** The role of microbes in the human gut has a lot of similarities to bee guts, Moran says. More research is needed; humans have different microbes in their guts, they have vastly larger bacterial populations and are likely exposed to much lower doses of glyphosate than are bees.

(Emphasis mine.)

Not saying it causes cancer, or is worse than other pesticides, just that it’s not necessarily completely harmless.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2019, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109/26 "2019-05-20T13:27:41Z")

</div>

> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> That list includes [2,4-D](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic_acid), one of the oldest weed killers, which has been in commercial use since 1945, was a component of\*\* Agent Orange\*\* and is _ **still approved for use by the EU, the U.S. and many other countries** _.
> 
> I’m standing firm on this.

Probably because the problem with Agent Orange wasn’t the herbicides(it was a mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T), per-se, but rather impurities like dioxin that were generated as part of the manufacturing process.

It’s very, very similar to the ongoing blood pressure medication recalls we’re in the midst of- it’s not the losartan or valsartan that are the problem, it’s the NDMA and NDEA that are manufacturing process impurities that are the problem.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109/27 "2019-05-21T21:26:27Z")

</div>

> [@dtilque](#):
>
> You may have missed this part of that paper:
> 
> (Emphasis mine.)
> 
> Not saying it causes cancer, or is worse than other pesticides, just that it’s not necessarily completely harmless.

Name a more environmentally benign, more cost-effective alternative.

If you want more studies, I’m all for that.

If you want to restrict the use of glyphosate and make sure it’s used only by certified applicatiors under controlled conditions, I’m also fine with that. As I said upthread, glyphosate’s biggest threat is that everyone uses it everywhere with little concern for best management practices, or even without any attempt at integrated weed management.

But I’m really tired of singling out glyphosate as this generation’s DDT.

Full disclosure, again. Before I worled on the Roundup herbicide account, I worked on the Lasso herbicide account. Lasso was [alachlor.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alachlor#Safety) Monsanto doesn’t even make that stuff anymore, although you can still buy generic stuff.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109/28 "2019-05-22T00:34:30Z")

</div>

> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> …when there are jury verdicts like this – and Bayer faces glyphosate lawsuits from roughly 13,400 more plaintiffs in the US alone – some persuasive evidence must have been presented.

So when court cases decided that cellphones cause brain cancer and a vaccine was responsible for autism, the evidence must have been persuasive?\* I don’t think so.

The suggestion that reports of glyphosate safety are all Monsanto-derived is not factual, as voluminous research including independent comprehensive reviews by governmental oversight agencies in Canada, Germany, and by the WHO reaffirm a lack of convincing data associating glyphosate with increased cancer risk. One comprehensive review from the EPA in 2016 concluded:

“there is not strong support for the “suggestive evidence of carcinogenic potential” cancer classification descriptor based on the weight-of-evidence, which includes the fact that even small, non-statistically significant changes observed in animal carcinogenicity and epidemiological studies were contradicted by studies of equal or higher quality. The strongest support is for “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans” at the doses relevant to human health.”

Those who are JAQing off about glyphosate should be embarrassed at bringing up tobacco, lead gasoline and Boeing aircraft in an effort to excuse their lack of evidence. It’s the same tactic used by antivaxers who chant “Vioxx!” or invoke Semmelweis while attacking vaccines.

Pathetic.

\*Italian court judgments.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109/29 "2019-08-17T16:09:12Z")

</div>

> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> I’m all for the scientific method leading to the facts, but when there are jury verdicts like this – and Bayer faces glyphosate lawsuits from roughly 13,400 more plaintiffs in the US alone – some persuasive evidence must have been presented.

Or shady law firms are blanketing daytime TV with ads about the money to be claimed when you sue Monsanto. Never underestimate the greed of the American public. How many of those plaintiffs even have Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma? Given the number of humans exposed over how many years, if Roundup were so dangerous there should be a pandemic of it.

Personal disclosure: I have absolutely no skin in this game.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/key-data-on-glyphosate-concealed-from-who-cancer-panel/789109.md?page=1)
