

Monsanto seeks retraction for report linking herbicide to cancer - devy
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/24/us-monsanto-herbicide-idUSKBN0MK2GF20150324

======
realjakedoe
"Miller said the company provided scientific data to the IARC showing the
safety of glyphosate, but that the agency largely ignored it."

Scientific data is a term that means nothing by itself. You could double blind
test that drinking a 200ml Roundup solution has no mutagenic effects on blood
cells-from a one time measurement of blood drawn exactly 30 seconds after
drinking the solution. There you have 'scientific data' that proves nothing.

I think government should not wait too long to go into discovery what had been
known of this by Monsanto researchers and subsequently been suppressed.

------
ScottBurson
The last paragraph:

 _" There are a number of independent, published manuscripts that clearly
indicate that glyphosate ... can promote cancer and tumor growth," said Dave
Schubert, head of the cellular neurobiology laboratory at the Salk Institute
for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. "It should be banned."_

~~~
7sigma
I wonder what studies he's talking about. The ones I'm aware of that show
these effects are seralini study, or judy carman's pig study. And anybody with
even a basic knowledge of science should be able to tell that they are lousy
papers.

------
7sigma
this article provides a good rebuttal to the IARC

[http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2015/03/20/march-
mad...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2015/03/20/march-madness-from-
the-united-nations/)

tl;dr: the IARC report bases its conclusion on the potential hazard rather
than the actual risk. Regulatory agencies like Germany's BfR which review a
lot more data have concluded that there is no "carcinogenic or mutagenic
properties"

------
fit2rule
This is typical posturing from Monsanto - what else can they do, when
confronted with the potential that they've been poisoning the earth with
cancer-causing mass-profit-generationg chemicals, which form the basis of
their stock value? It should come as no surprise that they are calling for
this report to be retracted, as they _must_ attempt to defend the value of
their organization at all costs, regardless, or face the wrath of their
masters - the shareholders - when the stock takes a hit.

There are, as mentioned, multiple reports and findings that put Monsanto in
hot water on this issue. They deserve to have this dirty laundry aired,
considering the massive investment they have made in covering up the problems
with their products. This is not a company that will go lightly into the
chambers of justice - it will fight all the way for its own position to be
held in the public eye, because that is one of the things it does, as a
company, to build the value it has achieved so far. Monsanto is not just a
biological-product producer; they're also masters at manipulating public
opinion, owning politicians, and defining their PR on their own terms. Just
like they manipulate the genetics of organisms for their own gain, they
manipulate the general publics point of view in the same light. It will take
true science to defeat them, and this is a case where it looks like its
happening. Finally.

~~~
xkcd-sucks
They've certainly got lots of other herbicides in their pipeline... And, their
glyphosate patents expired a while ago. Banning Roundup is good for them,
because now they can sell a whole new herbicide/herbicide protection system.

If Monsanto was subjected to any meaningful penalties it might not be a win
for them, but we all know the likelihood of that happening.

------
Cowicide
I find it interesting when there's research that doesn't happen to be funded
(indirectly or otherwise) by industry, it often ends up exposing potential
dangers that all the other studies somehow missed completely.

Then again, there's much less incentive to use industry-friendly, stunted
methodologies when one doesn't have industry footing the bill directly or by
proxy.

And, on that note:

"... Most US research on glyphosate, Benbrook added, has focused on the
chemical in isolation. But in the real world, glyphosate is mixed with other
chemicals, called surfactants and adjuvants, that enhance their weed-slaying
power. Importantly, some of the research used in the WHO assessment came from
outside the US and looked at real-world herbicide formulations. ... "

source:

[http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2015/03/monsanto-
her...](http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2015/03/monsanto-herbicide-
cause-cancer)

