{"id":76749,"date":"2018-04-23T15:11:15","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T22:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=76749"},"modified":"2018-04-23T15:11:15","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T22:11:15","slug":"the-gmoa-guns-glyphosate-and-misses-a-milestone-study-on-90000-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/04\/23\/the-gmoa-guns-glyphosate-and-misses-a-milestone-study-on-90000-people\/","title":{"rendered":"The GMOA guns glyphosate and misses a milestone study on 90,000 people?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chandre Dharmawardana, Canada<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

[A shorter version of this article appeared in the Daily News:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.dailynews.lk\/2018\/04\/19\/features\/148615\/glyphosate-ban-has-gmoa-studied-research]<\/p>\n

In a press conference held on 11th April,\u00a0 the Government Medical Officers\u2019 Association (GMOA) stated that fresh laws should be introduced to take stern action\u201d against people involved in smuggling in such harmful chemicals\u201d like glyphosate. The GMOA considers\u00a0 glyphosate to be harmful\u201d because it allegedly\u00a0 causes cancer and kidney disease. However, just last November, the world’s largest study on the health effects of glyphosate covering over\u00a0 nearly a quarter century (23 years)\u00a0 and\u00a0 involving 90,000 people, found NO harmful effects even on applying powerful statistical analysis to scrutinize the data.<\/p>\n

As the kidney, blood, urine, heart function and many other health characteristics were monitored for over nearly a quarter century, any increase in all chronic diseases including kindey disease can now be ruled\u00a0 out as being NOT connected with the use of glyphosate formulations in agriculture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) on 9-November 2017, the long-term large-numbers study found that there was NO association between glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto\u2019s popular herbicide RoundUp and any type of cancer. In particular, there was no association with any solid tumors or lymphoid malignancies overall, including non-Hogkin Lymphoma\u00a0 and its subtypes\u201d. The new study used\u00a0 long-term data collected through the Agricultural Health Study. The study carefully monitored the health of nearly 90,000 people in Iowa and North Carolina from 1993 to 2010. These included farmers licensed to apply pesticides to their crops, and their spouses. The impact of more than 54,000 pesticide applications is taken into account in the study of which 83 percent contained glyphosate. Many of the farmers had been using glyphosate even before the study. Yet, after some two decades of continuous and intense use of glyphosate herbicides,\u00a0 they found NO significant increase in cancers among those exposed to the chemical.<\/p>\n

Most scientists acknowledged the quality, clarity and decisiveness of the study, funded entirely with government and university sources.\u00a0 Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, said:<\/p>\n

This large and careful study shows no significant relationship between Glyphosate use and any cancer.\u00a0 The reported possible association with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is no more than one would expect by chance when looking at 22 different cancer types. In fact the association that comes closest to statistical significance is a negative link with testicular cancer \u2013 that is, higher Glyphosate use was associated with lower risk \u2013 but again this is just the sort of chance result one would expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, how did the GMOA miss this decisive, massive study which in fact looks at the type of diseases that the GMOA thinks is caused by glyphosate? Even though we can excuse Ven. Ratana and his acolytes to be out of touch with the scientific community, one would expect that the GMOA would have its committee of mavens when it comes to technical matters, even though we recognized that the GMOA is a trade union with the primary mandate of protecting its own turf.<\/p>\n

The most important non-communicable disease\u201d that the GMOA refers to is cancer. This is precisely what is now definitively excluded from any association with the use of glyphosate, even if the latter were used continuously and intensely for two decades by a farmer.\u00a0 Perhaps the GMOA\u00a0 also has in mind the form of chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu)\u00a0 that is prevalent mainly in the Rajarata. There is no scientific evidence at all in support of this, while there is compelling\u00a0 evidence against the claim. In Sri Lanka, a small but politically powerful group of individuals led by Ven. Ratana, and a small number of scientists on the fringe of the main scientific community have claimed that chronic kidney disease is caused by the glyphosate in the environment and the food chain, and that too only if arsenic, hard-water\u00a0 and other\u00a0 agents are found in conjunction with glyphosate.<\/p>\n

The US study<\/p>\n

But the cats, dogs, cattle, and many villages in the Rajarata itself where the residents drink water from agricultural channels, rives and lakes do NOT get CKDu, while those who drink water from their private wells, located away from the paddy fields, get CKDu. So there is a strong anti-correlation between agrochemical use and CKDu. We also know that countries like Malaysia or NewZealand, which use many dozens of times more agrochemicals than Sri Lanka have no such chronic diseases.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the 90,000 people monitored by the US-NCI study would have also alerted the researchers to any higher incidence of kidney disease, since many different health indices of these subjects were a part of the inputs to the data base. While the presence of correlations does not establish a causal connection, the LACK of any correlation is a very strong indication that glyphosate cannot be a causative factor in diseases that the GMOA has indicated.<\/p>\n

This US-NCI study is\u00a0 just one of the many studies that have come\u00a0 to this conclusion. Over 190 countries of the world are satisfied and approve the use of glyphosate. However,\u00a0 strong political movements that take a nostalgic, romantic and often anti-science approach to agriculture have become very powerful during recent decades. Their strength is the unreasoned fear of the public, fanned by the MANTHRA\u201d\u00a0 that chemicals in the food\u201d cause all sorts of chronic diseases. These groups join hands with the commercial interests of large consumer chains that\u00a0 offer organic-foods\u201d, natural foods\u201d holistic foods\u201d etc., catering to the elite classes who also control the politics of most countries, constituting about 1% of the world population. It is not surprising that many educated people and indeed medical doctors who do the daily grind\u201d, but do not follow the research, fall for the\u00a0 chemicals are poisoning our food\u201d MANTHRA. In fact, many agrochemicals, if applied in sufficiently high doses can be toxic, as with ALL pharmaceuticals and industrial substances like gasoline, chlorine,\u00a0 or common detergents. Even spices like chillies and cloves are potent toxins when their familiar-use thresholds are exceeded.<\/p>\n

The conclusion\u00a0 of the International Agency for Research in cancer (IARC) in 2015 that glyphosate is a class-II hazard\u00a0 causing cancer at\u00a0 high doses was a god-sent to the no-chemicals in my-food\u201d\u00a0 (NCMF) lobby. The class-II HAZARD was weaponized for propaganda and renamed a\u00a0 dangerous TOXIN although no health risk was implied by the IARC. The NCMF lobby joined the powerful activists engaged\u00a0 against Frankenfood\u201d. This was their name for foods\u00a0 cropped from genetically modified organisms (GMO). Wheat, Soya, canola oil, rice and vegetables where specific genes in their DNA\u00a0 have been replaced by other genes confer them economically or medically\u00a0 desirable properties. Genetic engineering of crops is the modern version of plant breeding\u201d where\u00a0 trial and error approaches are replaced by a\u00a0 modern approach guided by the DNA of the\u00a0 crops\u00a0 of interest.\u00a0 A\u00a0 key role in\u00a0 GMO cropping\u00a0 has been given to\u00a0 glyphosate\u00a0 in that it is economically advantageous to use GMO crops resistant to glyphosate to allow weed control. Sri Lankans have been safely eating GM-wheat flour from USA, and Canadian lentils,\u00a0 for decades.<\/p>\n

The opponents of GMO have directed their guns on glyphosate as a part of their campaign against\u00a0 so-called Frankenfoods\u201d. Every manner of propaganda trick has been used. One of the most farcical\u00a0 is the Kangaroo court organized by a French journalist, Marie-Monique Robin in the Hague, Netherlands. This propaganda event, patented and owned by Ms. Robin is named by her\u00a0 The international court of Justice, Hague\u201d, is to deceive the public by associating\u00a0 with similar-sounding\u00a0 institutions linked to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

(see: http:\/\/dh-web.org\/green\/NatuNewsFake.html )<\/p>\n

This court\u201d pronounced in April 2017 that Monsanto has committed crimes against humanity in unleashing glyphosate which is a weapon of mass destruction\u201d! Ven. Ratana, and Dr. Jayasumana were the main Sri Lankan delegates\u201d to the Kangaroo court. The delegation claimed that 3 out of every 100 families\u00a0 in the Rajarata gave birth to deformed children due to glyphosate use.\u00a0 However, 3% is the expected average birth statistic for deformed children,\u00a0 irrespective of glyphosate use, even in the days before glypohsate, be it in glyphobic\u201d Norway, Sri Lanka or glyphilic\u201d North America. Ven. Ratana\u00a0 repeated the same false claim of 3% birth defects\u00a0 in the Rajarata being due to glyphosate\u201d on Derana Television, 27-3-2018.<\/p>\n

On the same broadcast, Ven. Ratana stated that the GMOA is with him. Does the GMOA stand with the false statistics that Ven. Ratana rattles out? Has the GMOA taken cognizance of the world’s largest study on\u00a0 glyphosate covering some 90,000 people exposed to glyphosate for some two decades, continuously? As a responsible, professional\u00a0 body, we hope\u00a0 that the GMOA acts on the basis of evidence and\u00a0 rejects the false claims of\u00a0 misguided zealots.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it is claimed that products imported from diverse sources and small suppliers contain unknown, secret\u201d ingredients that may be harmful, and hence we cannot use them, and so we have BAN all\u00a0 herbicides. In fact, such claims are unfounded, as Chinese and Indian products are now up to world standards and even compete in the North American market. Instead of suffering a staggering Rs10-12\u00a0 billion loss every year, we can use a tiny fraction of that to allow the import of the slightly more expensive but proven product, to allay the\u00a0 fear psychosis\u00a0 that has been fanned across the country by uninformed zealots.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, two medical doctors, Prof. Saroj Jayasinghe, and Prof. Herath have stated that glyphosate should continue to be BANNED\u00a0 on the basis of what they call the precautionary principle (PP), i.e., as a precaution because there is some doubt among\u00a0 the scientific community about the total safety of glyphosate. There is always doubt about everything in science, as science never makes dogmatic statements that claim 100% exactitude. There are always some scientists\u00a0 as well as individual members of the public who claim that vaccinations are not safe, that fluoridation of water is not safe, that coconut milk is not safe etc., etc., and so on.<\/p>\n

The precautionary principle when used to ban\u00a0 and banish\u201d is\u00a0 known as the PP-BB. Such approaches have failed historically as with alcohol, guns etc. Indeed the imposed ban on glyphosate has led to a glut of contraband from India, proving that the PP-BB does not work. The lack of glyphosate or any other viable alternative weedicide during the last three years, and the consequent loss of crop productivity is believed to have made the country directly loose some Rs 30 billion, while indirect losses, and abandonment of plantations, have to counted in as well.<\/p>\n

The modern approach to PP is to use control and constrain\u201d, i.e., PP-CC, where the toxic substance, or the dangerous weapon, is not made available to the public but available through qualified service providers. Thus guns and weapons are available to the police and security forces, but not to the public. Pharmaceuticals are available to doctors and hospitals, and only\u00a0 non-prescription drugs can be bought by the public without any controls. Toxic agrochemicals like paraquat can also be made available to the farmer through technically competent, approved service providers, just as spraying for Dengue mosquitoes can be requested by any member of the public who may need such a service. No harmful insecticides and larvicides are sold directly to private individuals. That is, the PP is fully implemented by having the right controls and constraints on the toxic substance.<\/p>\n

However, we have to be fore-warned that today we have proponents\u00a0 who\u00a0 may reverse much of our gains in public health by opposing even fluoridation of water on the claim that the scientific community is divided on the issue, and hence fluoridation should be banned on the basis of the PP. Given such misunderstandings on the nature of scientific doubt, PP-BB\u00a0 and the public good on the one hand, and the action of anti-science zealots who want to turn back agriculture to the days of slash and burn cultivation, we face a grim reality that the public may not be aware of.<\/p>\n

[The author was a past Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Chemistry at the SJP\u00a0 university, Sri Lanka, and pioneering the setting up of the food science department at the SJP university;\u00a0 he currently works as Physicist at the National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa,\u00a0 and as a professor at the Dept. of Physics,\u00a0 University of Montreal, Canada. ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chandre Dharmawardana, Canada [A shorter version of this article appeared in the Daily News:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.dailynews.lk\/2018\/04\/19\/features\/148615\/glyphosate-ban-has-gmoa-studied-research] In a press conference held on 11th April,\u00a0 the Government Medical Officers\u2019 Association (GMOA) stated that fresh laws should be introduced to take stern action\u201d against people involved in smuggling in such harmful chemicals\u201d like glyphosate. The GMOA considers\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chandre-dharmawardana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}