Minister’s praise for weedkiller blamed in £226m cancer case
‘Voice of inexpertise’
AN ENVIRONMENT minister last night gave her backing to a weedkiller that has been linked to cancer in a court case.
Therese Coffey tweeted a picture of a bottle of Roundup in her garden accompanied by the words: ‘ Getting ready to deploy the amazing Roundup!’
Her comments came despite a landmark court case last week in which an American man who blames his terminal cancer on the weedkiller was awarded £226million in damages.
Dr Coffey’s stand was seen as an attempt to get behind British farmers, who rely heavily on the use of Roundup’s main ingredient glyphosate for crops such as wheat and barley. But her tweet drew an angry response from some who suggested the minister was disregarding the evidence. Doubling down, she then wrote: ‘Like a lot of chemicals and pesticides, you handle appropriately to manage the risk. Just like you do with bleach and other household chemicals.’
One person replied: ‘ There speaks the voice of inexpertise. In USA many people excrete glyphosate in their urine, but how many excrete bleach? Roundup is not bleach.’
Another wrote: ‘Bold assurance... given that there’ll likely be group action. Do you own shares?’ The case against Roundup’s developer Monsanto was brought by Dewayne Johnson in California. He blamed long-term use of Roundup for his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Doctors say that the former school groundsman, 46, may only have a few months left to live. A US jury awarded him £226million in damages on Friday after an eight-week trial. They concluded that Roundup was the direct cause of his blood cell cancer and that Monsanto had failed to warn him of the health risk from exposure. Monsanto insists its products are safe and will appeal. Vice president Scott Partridge said hundreds of studies have shown glyphosate does not cause cancer. ‘The public should not be concerned about this verdict,’ he said.
However, the case raises new questions about the use of glyphosate on food crops. Traces of the chemical – the world’s most widely used weedkiller – were found in nearly two in three loaves of wholemeal bread in the UK, according to official research. It has also been found in Cheerios and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes in the US, as well as Doritos crisps and Ritz crackers.
Its use by British farmers has increased by 400 per cent in the last 20 years, according to the Soil Association, which campaigns for organic farming.
But despite a World Health Organisation agency judging it a ‘probable human carcinogen’, the EU relicensed its use for another five years last November.
Official research suggests a third of UK cereal crops, such as wheat and barley, are sprayed with glyphosate. It is used to kill weeds and as a drying agent on the plants, which makes them easier to harvest. Its use was found to be at levels well below the safety limits set by European and American food watchdogs.
UK retailers, including Homebase and B&Q, are now reviewing whether to continue selling the weedkiller to gardeners against the background of academic studies highlighting health concerns. Glyphosate has been linked to liver and kidney disease, infertility, and birth abnormalities.
After the US court case, Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson tweeted: ‘ This finding has huge implications for the food chain.’