Agribusiness nervous as WHO cancer unit analyzes popular pesticide Markets |
May 29 The World Health Organization is set to examine a
widely used pesticide and agribusiness is bracing for bad news, less than three
months after the group classified another popular herbicide as
"probably" cancer-causing.
Twenty-four scientists representing WHO's International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) are set to analyze scientific findings
regarding links between cancer in humans and the herbicide known as 2,4-D at a
June 2-9 meeting in Lyon, France.
A separate group of IARC scientists in March unanimously
decided to classify glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto Co's Roundup
weedkiller, as "probably carcinogenic to humans." The designation
prompted outrage and calls for a retraction from Monsanto, and demands by some
public officials and consumers for bans on the pesticide.
Many believe the same could happen for 2,4-D.
"I do think they are going to upgrade 2,4-D," said
Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumers Union who has served on an
advisory committee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as a WHO
consultation project.
"There is just as strong, or even a stronger case (for
links to cancer), on 2,4-D than there was for glyphosate," he said.
IARC's work is of particular concern to Dow AgroSciences, a
unit of Dow Chemical Co. The company manufactures 2,4-D and this year is
rolling out a product that combines 2,4-D with glyphosate after gaining
approval from the Environmental Protection Agency last year.
Dow will have representatives at the meeting, and a 2,4-D
task force backed by Dow funded an analysis of 14 studies that refutes concerns
about 2,4-D and cancer that has been submitted to IARC.
"The epidemiology evidence does not support an
association between 2,4-D and NHL (non-Hodgkin lymphoma), gastric cancer, or
prostate cancer risk," said Julie Goodman, a scientist and consultant
working for the 2,4-D task force.
However, a different analysis of scientific studies did find
cancer connections with 2,4-D, said IARC scientist Maria Leon, who co-authored
the analysis last year.
There were indications that farm exposure to 2,4-D was
associated with a 40 percent higher risk of NHL. Determining the strength of
the evidence will be up to the IARC working group, Leon said.
Maarten Bosland, a U.S. cancer scientist and member of the
IARC group evaluating 2,4-D, said he knows the work will be closely watched and
that the outcome will rely on the scientific evidence.
"There is nothing that anybody can say at this point.
We haven't seen all the evidence," Bosland said.
Like glyphosate, 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) is a
long-used, popular herbicide. Homeowners as well as farmers and ranchers use
products containing 2,4-D.
Critics for years have said 2,4-D has very clear ties to
several types of cancer and note that it was a key ingredient in Agent Orange,
which was used to defoliate jungles in the Vietnam War. But agribusiness
interests, U.S. regulators and others say evidence of cancer connections is
lacking.
A coalition of U.S. farmer and environmental groups have
sued the EPA, seeking to overturn approval for Dow's new herbicide.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City, Missouri; Editing
by Richard Chang)