According to evidence unearthed from the archives of the EPA
(Environmental Protection Agency) in the United States, it has been
established that Monsanto was fully aware of the potential of glyphosate
to cause cancer in mammals as long ago as 1981.
Recently the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer
(IARC) issued a statement in which glyphosate (the main component of
Roundup herbicide) was classified as "probably carcinogenic" to humans
and as "sufficiently demonstrated" for genotoxicity in animals (1).
This announcement of a change to toxicity class 2A was given vast
coverage in the global media, causing Monsanto to move immediately into
damage limitation mode. The corporation demanded the retraction of the
report, although it has not yet been published! Predictably, there was
more fury from the industry-led Glyphosate Task Force (2). This Task
Force also sponsored a "rebuttal" review article (3) from a team of
writers with strong links with the biotechnology industry; but because
of the clear bias demonstrated in this paper (which suggests that
glyphosate has no carcinogenic potential in humans) it is best ignored
until it has been carefully scrutinized by independent researchers (4).
