Despite the World Health Organization’s classification of glyphosate — the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup — as a probable carcinogen for humans last year, the product remains the top-selling herbicide worldwide. Though the agrichemical behemoth vociferously disputes the findings, researchers recently found Monsanto’s claims are based on outdated and inadequate science.
Enough glyphosate, Truthout noted, “is now used to cover nearly every acre of cultivated cropland in the U.S.,” leading to widespread glyphosate tolerance, including reports of “superweeds” that are virtually immune to repeated drenchings. Use of the dangerous weedkiller has increased by more than 100 times since it first came to market in 1974.
Glyphosate originated as a pesticide, and still technically fits that classification, but it has not been included in FDA tests for pesticide residues in foods. It was only last week that the agency decided to begin testing for it. Truthout has also pointed out glyphosate “is also not included among the 200-plus chemicals on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s human biomonitoring program.” Remarkably, the United States agencies tasked with protecting public health seem to have largely ignored glyphosate’s cancer-causing potential found by WHO.
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