Cameron English | Genetic Literacy Project | June 4, 2018
Anti-GMO activists argue with religious certainty that the weedkiller glyphosate (Monsanto’s Roundup) is dangerous, deadly even. But in the next breath, they whine that the 40-year-old herbicide needs to be further studied, because we don’t know how it affects human health.
This blatant contradiction in the activist argument has frustrated scientists who are trying to get good information out to the public, but it also reveals that the anti-GMO crowd doesn’t really care about facts. They’re playing a shell game to keep the controversy around glyphosate alive, which is why their crusade against the chemical is ultimately going to fail.
A Lawsuit Exposes the Contradiction
The ongoing legal battle in California against Monsanto illustrates why this contradictory line of argument is so problematic. Last week, expert witnesses began giving testimony in a series of lawsuits against the biotech firm. The plaintiffs--3,500 farmers and their families--allege that the company’s flagship weedkiller Roundup caused them to develop non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL), a very common type of cancer in the U.S. If the plaintiffs’ lawyers and their hired experts can convince the judge that Roundup could potentially cause NHL-- “whether the experts used a recognized, reliable methodology for arriving at their opinions”--the lawsuits will actually go to trial and a jury will decide if the weedkiller actually does cause cancer.
The plaintiff’s lawyers say they have a solid case. "There is overwhelming evidence...that exposure to [Roundup] causes NHL,” they wrote............To Read More....
No comments:
Post a Comment