Monsanto Attorneys Challenge IARC Cancer Designation

The IARC is the world's renowned source of independent cancer research but not in the eyes of Monsanto

Monday, July 23, 2018 - In March of 2015, the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) located in Lyon, France, designated glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide as carcinogenic in animals and therefore, "probably carcinogenic in humans." The official IARC determination opened a flood of Roundup lymphoma cancer lawsuits, possibly in the thousands against Monsanto alleging that the regular use of Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a rare form of cancer. The IARC is perhaps the world's most fiercely independent and credible public health advocacy organization and is a unit of the World Health Organization. The IARC's decisions and statements regarding substances that cause cancer are based on the world's leading scholarly scientists independent of outside commercial interests. The IARC's determination regarding glyphosate has repeatedly been called into question by Monsanto attorneys and the media in the US forcing the organization to fight back to defend their position on glyphosate. Monsanto is using these false claims against the IARC in the current lawsuit by the plaintiff, DeWayne Johnson against Monsanto, attempting to discredit the plaintiff's expert testimony.

One false claim that the IARC rejects states that "The IARC edited out non-carcinogenic findings and dismissed and edited findings from a draft from its review of the weedkiller glyphosate that was at odds with its final conclusion that the product probably causes cancer. The IARC rejects this claim as false. (1) Monsanto attorneys also challenge the process by which the IARC working group comes to its conclusions about glyphosate being carcinogenic, prompting the IARC to state "The cancer hazard classifications by the IARC Monographs are the result of scientific deliberations. The resulting published Monograph represents the Working Group's consensus conclusions, based on their critical review of the published scientific literature, agreed by all Group members in plenary sessions." (2) Also in response to Monsanto challenges that the IARC picked only the research that fit their pre-determined conclusions, the IARC wrote "The IARC does not base its evaluations on opinions presented in media reports. Instead, (the group) conducts evaluations of carcinogenicity based on the systematic assembly and review of all publicly available and pertinent scientific studies, by independent experts, free from vested interests." (3)

Attorneys for the plaintiff in the DeWayne Johnson, Monsanto trial presented internal Monsanto company documents and allege that Monsanto has bullied scientists, suppressed evidence and had prior knowledge for decades that glyphosate is carcinogenic and a public health hazard. The plaintiff claims that Monsanto" rejected critical research and expert warnings " for decades as well as "ghost-wrote" favorable articles about glyphosate that were presented to the media and the EPA as independent, objective scientific research.

The jury trial is the first against Monsanto to allege that glyphosate causes cancer and that scientific evidence and allegations that Monsanto suppressed evidence could be presented to the jury. If Monsanto is held responsible for their negligence, the jury will be allowed to consider possible punitive damages.

Sources:

(1) http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/iarcnews/pdf/IARC_Response_Reuters_October2017.pdf

(2) http://governance.iarc.fr/ENG/Docs/Statement%20WG_091017.pdf

(3) http://governance.iarc.fr/ENG/Docs/IARC_responds_to_Reuters_15_June_2017.pdf

-https://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/iarcnews/2016/glyphosate_IARC2016.php

-https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jul/09/monsanto-trial-roundup-weedkiller-cancer-dewayne-johnson

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