Monsanto Responds To Latest Glyphosate Controversy, Discredits Study Authors
February 18, 2016 Like people everywhere, Monsanto employees understand concerns about product safety. Whether it’s toys we buy for our kids, appliances we buy for our homes, or anything else, we expect reliable information about product safety, writes Daniel Goldstein, M.D., Senior Science Fellow and Lead, Medical Sciences and Outreach for Monsanto.
Unfortunately, misinformation sometimes clouds decision making and can even cause unwarranted confusion and concern.
Enter the latest report from Charles Benbrook and his co-authors, where – again – they significantly misrepresent the safety of glyphosate-based herbicides. Benbrook and his colleagues use fear-mongering to paint an inaccurate story about an agricultural tool with a 40-year history of safe and effective use. The result will no doubt be another wave of unnecessary and unfortunate concern among consumers.
That’s no surprise, considering the affiliations of Benbrook and many of the authors of the paper. Benbrook is a pro-organic consultant with a history of using funds from the organic industry to undermine conventional agriculture. Co-author Michael Hansen is employed by the anti-GM Consumers Union. Michael Antoniou and Robin Mesnage have published with Gilles-Eric Seralini, whose study on GM crops and glyphosate has been retracted. And Bruce Blumberg is on the board of the Factor GMO study that seeks to vindicate Seralini’s retracted findings.
The reality is that glyphosate’s history of safe use is supported by one of the most extensive worldwide human health, crop residue and environmental databases ever compiled on a pesticide product. In evaluations spanning four decades, the overwhelming conclusion of experts worldwide has been that glyphosate, when used according to label directions, does not present an unreasonable risk of adverse effects to humans, wildlife or the environment.
Check out the full write-up from Goldstein over on Monsanto’s Beyond The Rows blog.
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