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Roundup linked to cancer, antibiotic resistance

The World Health Organization has declared glyphosate, the active weed killer in Roundup, a probable carcinogen at the same time that new research has connected it and a few other biocides to antibiotic resistance.

The W.H.O.’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reviewed five organophosphate pesticides in an article published in The Lancet Oncology last month. Three of them – malathion, diazinon and glyphosate (the world’s most popular herbicide) – were rated as “probably carcinogenic” for humans.

Response from the pesticide industry, particularly Monsanto, maker of a number of glyphosate-containing products including Roundup, was fast and furious. In a statement, the company said it was “outraged” and accused IARC of “cherry-picking” data.

A number of industry-submitted studies were indeed rejected by IARC. Kathryn Guyton, a senior toxicologist with the agency, says the group relied on government reports and peer-reviewed studies instead. Because evidence in humans was limited, glyphosate was deemed a “probable carcinogen.”

With all eyes on the cancer link, another study published last week in the American Society for Microbiology journal mBio connecting glyphosate to antibiotic resistance got little press. It found that herbicides glyphosate, 2,4-D and dicamba led to multiple antibiotic resistance in E. coli and salmonella.

The study’s authors noted that the high use of both herbicides and antibiotics near farm animals and important insects like honeybees might “compromise their therapeutic effects and drive greater use of antibiotics.”

ecoholic@nowtoronto.com | @ecoholicnation

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