A Monsanto scientist denied on [July 24th] that the company based its assertions that its Roundup weed killer doesn’t cause cancer on non-existent studies, on the tenth day of a landmark California jury trial over whether the herbicide triggered a school groundskeeper’s incurable lymphoma.
[T]he agrichemical company’s long-time toxicologist Donna Farmer explained that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency only requires tests of Roundup’s active ingredient glyphosate and of the surfactants Monsanto adds to the product to help it spread across plant surfaces.She said Monsanto performed those tests and found no link between either glyphosate or the surfactants and cancer in humans, allowing it to conclude that Roundup is also not carcinogenic.
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The line of questioning by attorneys for plaintiff DeWayne Johnson stems from internal company correspondence in which Farmer told a colleague that “you cannot say that Roundup does not cause cancer. We have not done the carcinogenicity studies with Roundup.”
Johnson’s lawyers argue Roundup is more carcinogenic than pure glyphosate because surfactants boost the chemicals’ cancer-causing properties.
Establishing that Monsanto refused to test Roundup would boost Johnson’s contention that the company has known for decades that the product is carcinogenic, but didn’t warn consumers for fear of disrupting its multi-billion dollar business.
Read full, original article: Lawyers Allude to Monsanto, EPA Link in Roundup Cancer Trial
