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Monsanto facing lawsuit over Roundup products

Monsanto is facing lawsuits for claims that components in its Roundup products cause cancer.

An ongoing lawsuit claims that glyphosate, which is an active component of Roundup is a probable carcinogen to humans. These claims were later backed by a study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a part of the World Health Organization.

Monsanto, for its part, rejects the claims. Dr. Donna Farmer, Monsanto senior toxicologist says world health organizations including the US EPA have conducted research indicating glyphosate is safe.

“And their conclusion has been very consistent that glyphosate is not a carcinogen.” says Farmer.

Dr. Farmer says that the IARC study is an outlier when compared to the rest of the scientific community and says the study had some other issues.

“It looks at the data very differently. It looks at a subset of all the data, it actually cherry-picks the data, interprets the data differently than the scientists who actually conducted the study themselves. And that’s why their conclusion is so strikingly different than regulators around the world.” says Farmer.

Regarding the lawsuits, a statement from Monsanto provided to Brownfield that said;

“The contrived claims that glyphosate causes cancer are based on the erroneous conclusions of a French-based, non-governmental agency of the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).  IARC and its findings have been thoroughly discredited and rejected by the rigorous scientific research of governmental authorities around the world. In fact, those respected regulatory agencies, including the U.S. EPA, the European Food Safety Authority and the relevant bodies in Germany, Japan, Australia and Canada, have all come to the exact opposite conclusion: glyphosate is safe. Even the World Health Organization has now issued a new report that states glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through diet, contradicting the IARC report.

While we empathize with anyone facing these terrible illnesses, there is no evidence that glyphosate is the cause. The very long and well-established history of glyphosate as safe clearly shows that these claims are supported neither by the science nor the facts.”

Several firms representing the plaintiffs were contacted for comment but failed to respond.

Audio: Interview with Dr. Donna Farmer