WHO study crop protection glyphosate most likely carcinogenic

Experts rate pesticide as potentially carcinogenic
Plant protection products containing the active ingredient glyphosate are among the most commonly used products for weed control worldwide. But the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified the drug as "probably carcinogenic". Environmental organizations are calling for immediate consequences to avoid damage to their health. Because critics have long feared that the contact with the pesticide next to cancer, for example could also cause hormonal imbalances and malformations.

Under the product name "Roundup" also widely used in the private sector
Glyphosate is one of the most widely used crop protection products and has been sold in Germany for four decades. Especially in agriculture, the agent is used on a large scale, and it comes not only for weed control before or after sowing on the fields. Instead, farmers are increasingly using the pesticide shortly before harvest, as glyphosate dries out the plant, allowing more accurate planning of harvest time. It is also used privately under the product name "Roundup" and is used by a large number of homeowners and allotment gardeners as anti-weed remedies.

Glyphosate is used on a mass scale as a crop protection agent. According to WHO, it is probably carcinogenic. (Image: countrypixel / fotolia.com)

But studies have been providing evidence of harmful effects over the years, and critics such as Greenpeace and the Greens have long called for a ban. Possibly soon with success, because after the evaluation of several investigations the international cancer research agency (IARC) the means as "probably carcinogenic" classified. Already in March, the authority of the World Health Organization (WHO) had reported in the journal "Lancet Oncology" of their assessment. Now she published a new report on Wednesday, with the experts providing the rationale. According to this study, limited evidence was found in human studies as well as in animal studies that glyphosate produced cancer.

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment recently rated glyphosate as harmless
"After a systematic review and evaluation of scientific evidence, the monograph group classified glyphosate as likely to be carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A)," according to the IARC release. Thus, the WHO authority contradicts the assessment of other institutions such. the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). This was because in its most recent assessment, it came to the conclusion that "according to the current data, when glyphosate is used properly, no carcinogenic risk for humans can be derived." However, the classification of the IARC is currently being examined, according to the latest BfR communication. A critically necessary step, because "it is irresponsible to classify glyphosate as harmless", so the pesticide expert of the BUND, Tomas Brückmann told the news agency "dpa".

Meanwhile, environmental organizations such as Greenpeace or the German Nature Conservation Union are calling for immediate consequences: "All applications where humans are likely to come into direct contact with glyphosate must be immediately suspended," explained Greenpeace Germany's agricultural expert Christiane Huxdorff. (No)