Dreamstime: Rene Van Den Berg
A groups of toxicological experts convened by the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization have concluded that the widely used herbicide glyphosate, marketed by Monsanto as Roundup, is "unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans" exposed to it through food. Reuters further reported that the:
Having reviewed the scientific evidence, the joint WHO/FAO committee also said glyphosate is unlikely to be genotoxic in humans. In other words, it is not likely to have a destructive effect on cells' genetic material. Diazinon and malathion, two other pesticides reviewed by the committee, which met last week and published its conclusions on Monday, were also found to be unlikely to be carcinogenic. "In view of the absence of carcinogenic potential in rodents at human-relevant doses and the absence of genotoxicity by the oral route in mammals, and considering the epidemiological evidence from occupational exposures, the meeting concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet," the committee said. Glyphosate is also "unlikely to be genotoxic at anticipated dietary exposures", it added. The group reaffirmed an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of up to 1 milligram of glyphosate for every kilogram of body weight.
This contradicts the highly precautionary March 2015 conclusion of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. On the other hand, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has also come to the conclusion that glyphosate is not a human carcinogen (but later strangely suppressed its report).
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