8 July 1999 Edition
Doctors warn of herbicide cancer link
BY ROBERT ALLEN
Swedish cancer doctors, Lennart Hardell and Mikael Eriksson, want to see further health studies on the impact of a herbicide being used on Irish farms.
The two doctors, who revealed a link between dioxin and cancers in workers exposed to the herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T (which are still available in Irish garden stores), have now shown a connection between one of the world's biggest selling herbicides, glyphosate, (which is marketed as RoundUp) and cancer.
In a study published in the journal of the American Cancer Society, Hardell and Eriksson revealed that exposure to glyphosate ``yielded increased risks for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma'' - one of the rare cancers also associated with dioxin exposure.
An estimated 112,000 tonnes of glyphosate were used globally in 1998. It is used in conjunction with genetically engineered crops which are resistent to the herbicide while it kills off wild plants.
Opponents of genetic engineering are concerned that the increased use of glyphosate/RoundUp will bring the herbicide onto our dinner tables, as a contaminant in food that has been produced using GE crops.
Lennart and Eriksson have called on governments to carry out health studies to determine the effects of RoundUp on human health. The Pesticides Control Service of the Department of Agriculture would monitor the use of RoundUp in the 26 Counties. They have confirmed that they have no information on its health effects.
Coillte, the 26-County forestry board, has admitted spraying RoundUp on a county Galway pine plantation beside a national school. Several parents pulled their young children out of the school in Woodlawn, County Galway, recently after they complained of feeling unwell following the spraying of the plantation.
Mark Lynch of Pesticide Control said his department has not licenced Coillte to spray RoundUp. Coillte claims it is allowed to spray RoundUp.
Swedish cancer doctors, Lennart Hardell and Mikael Eriksson, want to see further health studies on the impact of a herbicide being used on Irish farms.
The two doctors, who revealed a link between dioxin and cancers in workers exposed to the herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T (which are still available in Irish garden stores), have now shown a connection between one of the world's biggest selling herbicides, glyphosate, (which is marketed as RoundUp) and cancer.
In a study published in the journal of the American Cancer Society, Hardell and Eriksson revealed that exposure to glyphosate ``yielded increased risks for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma'' - one of the rare cancers also associated with dioxin exposure.
An estimated 112,000 tonnes of glyphosate were used globally in 1998. It is used in conjunction with genetically engineered crops which are resistent to the herbicide while it kills off wild plants.
Opponents of genetic engineering are concerned that the increased use of glyphosate/RoundUp will bring the herbicide onto our dinner tables, as a contaminant in food that has been produced using GE crops.
Lennart and Eriksson have called on governments to carry out health studies to determine the effects of RoundUp on human health. The Pesticides Control Service of the Department of Agriculture would monitor the use of RoundUp in the 26 Counties. They have confirmed that they have no information on its health effects.
Coillte, the 26-County forestry board, has admitted spraying RoundUp on a county Galway pine plantation beside a national school. Several parents pulled their young children out of the school in Woodlawn, County Galway, recently after they complained of feeling unwell following the spraying of the plantation.
Mark Lynch of Pesticide Control said his department has not licenced Coillte to spray RoundUp. Coillte claims it is allowed to spray RoundUp.