Dandelions are often the target of Roundup weed killer. Stay tuned for my upcoming post all about how to use dandelions instead of spraying them.
On April 30, the open comment period for the pesticide glyphosate closed. Glyphosate is up for safety review by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which will take into account these public comments when reviewing studies analyzing the pesticide’s connection to cancer.
More commonly known as Roundup, glyphosate is the most commonly used agricultural pesticide world-wide, specifically on corn, soy and cotton crops in the US.
According to the 2015 United States Geological Survey (USGS), 300 million pounds of glyphosate are used in the US each year.
Glyphosate, manufactured by Monsanto Co. was introduced to farmers in 1974 and has been in use since to keep weeds out out of crops. These crops have been genetically modified to be resistant to the pesticide. The “Roundup-Ready” seeds are also manufactured by Monsanto Co.
The effects of glyphosate are debated among experts. As of the last approval in 1993, the EPA found glyphosate not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used according to the label, though there are potential negative effects on birds, mammals and both aquatic and terrestrial plants.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans. A document published on March 20, 2015 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer states,
“The herbicide glyphosate and the insecticides malathion and diazinon were classified as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A).” There are potential links between glyphosate use an Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma according to IARC studies.
Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center of Biological Diversity in Arizona, has been studying glyphosate for three years.
The Center for Biological Diversity says that the EPA’s analysis of glyphosate is inaccurate claiming that the EPA did not follow it’s own guidelines when analyzing the chemical.
“A lot of these are studies are done by Monsanto and other chemical companies that sell glyphosate,” Donley said in a phone interview. “ [Companies] allow the EPA to look at it, but they don’t let anyone else look at it. It’s secret basically.”
WHO uses only public studies to do their toxicity analysis while the EPA also uses private studies.
The scientific advisory panel which reviewed both the EPA and WHO data, was split on whether or not glyphosate is a carcinogen but they were unanimously in agreement that the EPA did not follow its own analysis guidelines.
“The 2005 EPA guidelines for risk of carcinogens are intended as a guidance only,” EPA wrote in response to the scientific advisory panel.
According to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) which governs pesticide use, pesticides that are approved must go through a reregistration process every 15 years. Glyphosate is ten years overdue for reregistration.
During this current re-approval phase the EPA will go back and take into account any new science since the last approval of glyphosate as well as the public comments from the draft risk assessment, though this process could take years.
Glyphosate is also the most common household lawn and garden pesticide in the country but there is no specific data for private citizen use.
In addition to being a probable carcinogen, glyphosate kills milkweed, the only plant that monarch Butterflies will lay their eggs in. Monarch populations have declined 80 percent in the last 20 years.
Click here to read the Draft Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessments for Glyphosate and docket details can be found here.
If you have questions or comments about this issue contact Charles Smith (smith.charles@epa.gov, 703-305-0291) or Dana Friedman (friedman.dana@epa.gov, 703-347-8827) of the Pesticide Re-Evaluation Division (PRD).
