Source: AgriLife Today
Whether on social media or in farming circles, many questions linger about glyphosate, better known as Roundup, and a link to cancer.
“It’s hard to know what to believe, but it’s important to make sure the information you receive is based on good science,” said Scott Nolte, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service state weed specialist, College Station.
Nolte addressed the issue during the Panhandle Farm Management Symposium in Amarillo recently, providing insight into the “myths and truths” surrounding the issue.
Glyphosate use and regulation
Pesticides such as glyphosate are regulated by the EPA; the Food and Drug Administration, FDA; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA. These regulatory agencies determine safe residue levels and regulate tolerances.
They determine exposure risk through residue in food, water, residential use and occupational use, Nolte said. Two criteria they use are lowest observable adverse effect level and no observable adverse effect level. They set the chronic reference dose, which is an estimate of a daily oral exposure for a chronic duration to the human population that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime.
How do we know Roundup is safe?
“Nothing is guaranteed to be 100% safe,” Nolte said. “But glyphosate is the most studied chemical in use today. None of the scientific studies have been able to definitively tie glyphosate to the cancer risks it’s been tied to.”
Nolte said there’s a scale of low risk to high risk, and sometimes, if something is considered low risk, some people are less careful in their use of that product.
What does science tell us about Roundup?
“It’s extremely challenging to talk in absolutes,” Nolte said. “There are too many things at play. But based on scientific evidence at this point, statistically, there is no tie between glyphosate and cancer. It’s usually never one thing that is involved in causing cancer, so that doesn’t mean in an individual situation where someone was predisposed to cancer that the chemical didn’t play a role.”
—
Through the application of science-based knowledge, AgriLife Extension creates high-quality, relevant continuing education that encourages lasting and effective change.
Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.