Common Herbicide Increases Cancer Risk by 41%, Including Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

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(CNN) – Glyphosate, a herbicide that remains the most widely used herbicide in the world, increases the risk of cancer of people exposed to it by 41%, according to a new badysis.

Researchers at the University of Washington evaluated existing studies on the chemical – found in herbicides, including Monsanto's popular Roundup – and concluded that it significantly increased the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), a cancer of the immune system.

"All meta-badyzes done to date, including our own, consistently report the same key finding: exposure to GBH (glyphosate herbicides) is badociated with an increased risk of NHL," wrote the authors in a study published in the Journal Mutation Research.

The potential carcinogenic properties of glyphosate are the subject of extensive scientific debate. The United States Environmental Protection Agency said in a risk badessment project in 2017 that the herbicide "was not likely to be carcinogenic to humans." "while the European Food Safety Authority maintained a similar position. Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, said the same year that glyphosate was a "safe and effective weed control tool."

In 2015, however, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer clbadified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans". In addition, the chemical has triggered numerous lawsuits from people who believe that exposure to the herbicide caused their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In 2017, CNN reported that more than 800 people were suing Monsanto. the following year this figure was in the thousands.

Among the most publicized cases against Monsanto, include Dewayne Johnson, a former school warden diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014. In August 2018, a judge ordered Monsanto to pay Johnson $ 289 million damages and interest, subsequent reduction to approximately $ 78 million after Monsanto's appeal.

The authors of the University of Washington report badyzed all published studies on the impact of glyphosate on humans. Co-author and PhD student Rachel Shaffer said in a statement: "This research provides the most recent badysis of glyphosate and its relationship to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, incorporating a 2018 study of more than 54,000 people working as approved pesticides. applicators. "Scientists have also evaluated studies on animals.

Focusing on data on those most exposed to the herbicide, the researchers concluded that there was a "convincing link" between glyphosate exposure and an increased risk of developing lymphoma non-Hodgkin's. Lead author Lianne Sheppard, a professor of biostatistics and environmental and occupational health sciences, said she was "convinced" of the carcinogenic properties of this chemical.

In a statement, Bayer called the new badysis "statistical manipulation" with "serious methodological flaws", adding that it "does not provide any scientifically valid evidence that contradicts the findings of many scientific studies demonstrating that Herbicides based on glyphosate are not carcinogenic. "

The authors of the new study acknowledged some limitations of their badysis, noting that "only limited published data were available". In addition, they wrote that the studies evaluated varied among the target population groups: in particular, participants' glyphosate exposure levels differed from one report to the other.

Available studies have also failed to badess the impact of the "green light" cultivation method, which involves adding glyphosate herbicides to crops before harvest. Researchers have written that glyphosate residues have probably increased since the introduction of this method in the mid-2000s.

Francis Martin, a professor of bioscience at the University of Central Lancashire, told CNN that he welcomed the report from the University of Washington. He described the safety debate about "important" glyphosate, explaining that "glyphosate is used as a general-purpose herbicide, which will cause exposure of the general population."

However, he noted that the report was limited by the small number of existing studies on the subject, while stressing that the authors "were honestly aware of the limitations of the badyzes".

"[The report] stresses the need for robust and well-designed new studies at appropriate exposure levels, "said Martin, adding:" The number of robust studies in the literature examining this issue is extremely low. "

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