2 February 2017
Activists, who have a long history of using selective data and drawing flawed conclusions to link crop protection products and agricultural biotechnology to health issues, are up to the same old tricks again.
Their latest attempt, to link one of the world’s most used and important agricultural chemicals, glyphosate, to health issues, is a study that relies on the same samples from the discredited 2012 Seralini study that was determined to be flawed by multiple regulatory authorities around the world (including the European Food Safety Authority and the Food Standards Australia New Zealand) and was formally retracted by the scientific journal, Food and Chemical Toxicology.
This new study also uses a flawed interpretation of the data to link glyphosate to liver disease. Ultimately, their conclusions contradict numerous independent, peer-reviewed studies and assessments conducted by independent and regulatory authorities worldwide.
Promoting this paper under the name of one of the lesser known researchers and using the same old flawed data from a previously retracted study is just dishonest, disingenuous and deceptive behaviour.
Glyphosate is one of the most thoroughly tested and important herbicides, and those comprehensive technical assessments by independent expert regulators have consistently concluded that the registered-use of glyphosate does not pose a risk to public health or safety.
Glyphosate is a crucial tool for farmer’s abilities to produce, safe, nutritious and affordable food. To put things in perspective, glyphosate is less toxic than baking soda, table salt, caffeine, and many other products we all use or consume regularly.
This ongoing misleading activist campaign against crucial agricultural products is an affront to a society grappling with the challenges of finite agricultural land, changing climate pressures, precious resources, and an ever-growing population.