Documenting the history of pesticide hazards in the United States
In their latest attempt to shield Monsanto from accountability, House Republicans have seized upon the flawed and biased reporting of a Reuters journalist whose work has emerged as a key lobbying tool for the embattled agrichemical company as it faces lawsuits, regulatory threats and a wave of awful press coverage about allegations of improper influence over research.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/republicans-rush-monsantos-aid-industry-biased-reuters-report
For decades, the EPA has been assuring U.S. citizens that glyphosate formulations are safe to use despite a total lack of safety data on the “inert” ingredients, including polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA). The latest FOIA documents released by U.S. Right to Know show EPA “scrambling” to get data on these chemicals, even as it continues to assure the public there is no cause for concern.
“And indeed, the EPA has been a stalwart supporter of Monsanto Co.’s claims of safety, assuring the public that there is nothing to fear from the company’s cocktail of chemicals. But internal agency documents, released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, indicate that as recently as last year, the agency had holes in its data files when it comes to the actual Roundup formulations used by consumers, farmers and others around the world. The documents also raise questions about how and why regulators for years have failed to require robust testing on what is the world’s most widely used weed killer.”
Internal documents by Monsanto scientists also confirm a lack of safety testing on the other ingredients in glyphosate herbicides:
“In a 2002 email also obtained as part of discovery in the court case, a Monsanto scientist writes to a colleague, “we are in pretty good shape with glyphosate but vulnerable with surfactants. What I’ve been hearing from you is that this continues to be the case with these studies – Glyphosate is OK but the formulated product (and thus the surfactant) does the damage.” In another 2002 email between the same Monsanto colleagues, the scientist writes, “Even though no testing requirements have been implemented for several years now, this damn endocrine crap just doesn’t go away, does it.”
Read read this important Huffington Post article “Internal EPA Documents Show Scramble For Data On Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide” written by Veteran Journalist and research director of U.S. Right to Know Cary Gillam (7 August 2017) in full at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5988dd73e4b030f0e267c6cd
A law firm released documents indicating connections between Monsanto corporation and Henry I. Miller and other academics. They suggest academics either volunteered or were asked to ghost-write articles defending Monsanto products. Other documents revealed a contractual relationship between Monsanto and A. Wallace Hayes, the former editor of a scientific journal, Food and Chemical Toxicology. Hayes retracted a peer-reviewed paper showing glyphosate and GE corn could harm rats.
Read the full article, “Monsanto Emails Raise Issue of Influencing Research on Roundup Weed Killer” by Danny Hakim at the NYT (1 August 2017) : https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/business/monsantos-sway-over-research-is-seen-in-disclosed-emails.html?_r=0&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Business%20Day&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=article
Collusion between Monsanto and academics was revealed by previous FOIA requests, including documents released two years ago by the group US Right to Know. This story was covered by Independent Science News in: https://www.independentsciencenews.org/science-media/the-puppetmasters-of-academia-ny-times-left-out/
A 30-year U.S. Environmental Protection Agency senior official is leaving federal service today convinced that her agency is being steered in a disastrously wrong direction, according to her farewell message posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). She is an eyewitness to the wreckage wreaked by Administrator Scott Pruitt and his cadre of political appointees.
https://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/dissent-inside-epa-deepens.html
Stacy Malkan on the steady attacks on IARC for its calling glyphosate a “possible carcinogen”.
“One key weapon in industry’s arsenal has been the reporting of Kate Kelland, a veteran Reuters reporter based in London.
With two industry-fed scoops and a special report, reinforced by her regular beat reporting, Kelland has aimed a torrent of critical reporting at the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), portraying the group and its scientists as out of touch and unethical, and leveling accusations about conflicts of interest and suppressed information in their decision-making.”
Original article posted here:
Reuters vs. UN Cancer Agency: Are Corporate Ties Influencing Science Coverage?