The World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced Roundup and two other pesticides “probably” cause cancer.
In March 2015, WHO/IARC, based on an evaluation by 17 scientists from around the world, concluded that the body of scientific evidence indicates that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the most widely used herbicide in the world, Roundup, and two other pesticides, malathion (aerially sprayed in California today for the beet leafhopper and for many years for the medfly) and diazinon, “probably” cause cancer. WHO/IARC also designated two other pesticides, parathion and tetrachlorvinphos as “possible” carcinogens.
Resources
- WHO/IARC announcement
- Our response to a commentary in the New Yorker magazine on the WHO/IARC announcement
- Center for Environmental Health Research Director Caroline Cox’s post, “A Once-in-a-Century Pesticide (that Probably Causes Cancer)”