By JIM RUTLEDGE

D.C. Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is no link between cancer and the popular weed killer glyphosate used by U.S. farm workers, according to the findings of a long-term study by the nation’s top scientists.

Published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), using data collected over a number of years from nearly 55,000 farmhands, the research concluded there was “no association between glyphosate and any solid tumors or lymphoid malignancies overall, including non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and its subtypes.” The study was published on Nov. 9.

Glyphosate is the main active ingredient in Monsanto’s flagship and best-selling herbicide Roundup, used throughout the United States and in several foreign markets. About 300 million pounds of glyphosate were used last year in the U.S., and it is the most heavily used weed killer in history, according to the publication Environmental Sciences Europe, which tracks Roundup use globally.

Monsanto Vice President of Global Strategy Scott Partridge said the JNCI report was expected and “it further reinforces what we’ve been saying all along, there was never a link to cancer,” he told Farm World. “This is the largest study of agricultural workers in history, over the longest period of time.

“There’s never been a more studied herbicide in the history of farming,” he asserted. “In more than 700 studies, not one has associated cancer with the use of glyphosate.”

The long-awaited study is likely to have an impact on several lawsuits in the U.S. against Monsanto, in which more than 180 plaintiffs are claiming exposure to Roundup gave them cancer – allegations Monsanto has repeatedly denied.

The study was led by a team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and scientists from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), from the Iowa and North Carolina state health departments and academic researchers from the University of Iowa-Iowa City and Drexel University’s Domsife School of Public Health in Pennsylvania.

The research is part of the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) led by NCI’s principal investigator, Dr. Laura Beane Freeman, that has been tracking agricultural workers, farmers and their families in Iowa and North Carolina. Some 54,251 (pesticide) applicators were studied, 44,932 – or 82.9 percent – of them who used glyphosate.

The summary conclusion said: “Glyphosate was not statistically significantly associated with cancer at any site.” It said there was “some evidence of increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia among the highest exposed group” but added “this association would require more research to be confirmed.”

Since the early 1990s, researchers have gathered and detailed data collected from agriculture workers and their families and their use of pesticides, including glyphosate. Several months ago two leading members of Congress asked the NIH to publish the AHS data. For four months, Congress has been waiting.

In an email statement to Farm World, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said, “The Agricultural Health Study confirms what we already knew – there is no link between glyphosate exposure and cancer. This only echoes the findings of the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Panel and the European Chemicals Agency, both of which have also determined that glyphosate is not a carcinogen.

“These findings reaffirm my concern that previous administration purposefully withheld the release of this report while they refused to finish glyphosate’s registration review.”

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, also questioned why the data had not been published. A telephone and email inquiry from Farm World to his spokesperson Amada Gonzales was not returned.

Last March, the EPA’s Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) concluded glyphosate “not likely” caused cancer, but the panel was divided. Months later, the SAP said it would issue a new review this year. In response to an inquiry from Farm World, an EPA spokesperson emailed that it will complete its health risk assessment on the effects, if any, to the use of glyphosate by farm workers by early next year.

The agency is currently reevaluating the safety of glyphosate via a program called registration review. This process occurs every 15 years and is mandated by federal law. As part of the review, the EPA has pulled together all studies considered by the United Nations’ International Agency for Research on Cancer, as well as findings from Japan, Europe and South America.

The available data thus far, the agency stated, has concluded “that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic in people at doses relevant for human health risk assessment.”

The new JNCI report, along with all other available data, are under review by SAP, which includes new members appointed in the past month. Once the EPA has considered the SAP report, it will release its findings for a 60-day public comment period. “After consideration of the public comments, the EPA will determine whether any risk management is needed,” the agency spokesperson stated on Monday.