He says pylons cause cancer… but defends his f irm’s weedkiller
Campaigner is Irish boss of Monsanto, maker of cancer-causing Roundup
A LEADING campaigner who claims pylons cause cancer, heads a firm selling a weedkiller that a US court ruled was the cause of a gardener’s cancer.
Patrick O’Reilly of the North East Pressure Pylon Campaign, is the Irish boss of seed and pesticide company Monsanto, which was found guilty last month of causing the groundkeeper’s cancer.
Environmentalists say the firm’s products destroy people’s health and damage the environment.
Monsanto was forced to pay the San Francisco man $289m in damages in a landmark case after a jury ruled that its Roundup weedkiller caused his terminal lymphoma. It also found that Monsanto failed to warn the man of the health hazards from exposure and had ‘acted with malice or oppression’.
Mr O’Reilly, who has championed the use of Roundup in Ireland for the past 20 years – as well as the promotion of GM crops – denies he is a hypocrite for selling the product. ‘I’m not [hypocritical] because that US case is being appealed. We reject the findings that it [Roundup] causes cancer,’ he said.
‘Yes I believe that the pylons do cause cancer because that’s what I’ve read from experts. I’ve read it many, many times.’
Mr O’Reilly has been a leading opponent of the pending NorthSouth Interconnector scheme since it was proposed 11 years ago.
From Dunshaughlin in Co. Meath, he claims living near pylons ‘increases the risk of leukaemia, particularly to children’ and is associated with ‘risk of miscarriage, brain tumours, Alzheimer’s and motor neurone disease’.
Mr O’Reilly said Roundup – whose main ingredient is the controversial pesticide glyphosate – is the ‘safest and most commonly used weedkiller on the planet’.
However, the product has caused conflict among farmers and environmentalists.
Glyphosate was recently granted a five-year European licence following almost two years of bitter debate after a 2015 World Health Organisation study found it was ‘probably carcinogenic’.
Irish MEP Marian Harkin was one of those who voted to phase out the chemical within five years. Ms Harkin, who has appeared on platforms alongside Mr O’Reilly at anti-plyon protests, said she believes the pesticide is ‘very dangerous’.
Asked whether she thought Mr O’Reilly was the right man to voice health concerns over pylons, she said: ‘I’ve known of Mr O’Reilly’s link with Monsanto for some time but it’s up to the members of organisations to elect their leaders.’
Mr O’Reilly has been no stranger to controversy in the past. He condemned the destruction of a trial planting of a Monsanto-sponsored genetically modified sugar beet plantation in Cork four years ago.
Monsanto has since announced it is ceasing trials on GM crops in Europe for the foreseeable future.
Mr O’Reilly explained this strategic decision was taken ‘until there was a climate of interest in the technology’. He said Monsanto would continue to press European policy makers for import approvals on GM feeds such as soya.
‘We reject the findings that it causes cancer’