Monsanto Weed Killer contains carcinogenic ingredients, probably, at least that is what the World Health Organization (WHO) is saying. The WHO has a variety of departments within the organization, one of which is the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It believes that glyphosate is classified as being probably carcinogenic to humans. Glyphosate is the active ingredient found in the Monsanto Weed Killer, which is actually the most common weed killer found in America. The IARC said small amounts of evidence also show this ingredient can be linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma within the human population.
Monsanto is vehemently denying the weed-killing products are in any way carcinogenic or connected to cancer, and is calling on the WHO to release any and all information to support these findings. “We don’t know how IARC could reach a conclusion that is such a dramatic departure from the conclusion reached by all regulatory agencies around the globe,” Philip Miller, Monsanto’s vice-president of global regulatory affairs, said in a statement.
The WHO said this weed killer has been detected in a number of places, including in the food, water, and air within hours after the product was used. Glyphosate is most commonly used on various crops like soybeans and corn, since those products are genetically modified to withstand the chemical product. The use of glyphosate in these situations has been brought up numerous times within the past year. In fact, Vermont even made it a mandatory law to label food products that are genetically modified, so when you hear the term GMO, this is what is being talked about.
The debate continues as the U.S. EPA approved increased tolerance levels of this chemical in 2013, and the United States government has said this chemical is considered to be safe. The WHO claims that glyphosate is carcinogenic and can lead to cancer, which is based off of mostly agricultural exposure studies that have been published from 2001 until present. Although levels of the chemical can be found near places where it has been sprayed, the levels have been fairly low, and not even considered to be a risk for people living near the area. For Monsanto, things don’t seem to be all bad since after the announcement from the WHO, the stocks rose .3 percent. The WHO has not yet responded to Monsanto’s request to have a meeting and release the data about the findings.
