Landscape Architect & Specifier News

MAR 2018

LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.

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The Back and Forth on Glyphosate Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup weed killer and is widely used in agriculture, landscaping and gardening. Monsanto is the company that manufactures and distributes Roundup. A coalition of a dozen national and Midwestern agricultural groups have joined Monsanto in a lawsuit against California over the state's requirement to have a glyphosate cancer warning on all products that contain the chemical ingredient. Representatives from Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and a few other states have stated that adding the label would be misleading because they believe there is not substantial enough evidence to link glyphosate to cancer. If the requirement to include the cancer-warning label passes in California, businesses around the country would also have to display the warnings on specific products, as their goods may come into California. In March 2015, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) labeled glyphosate a "probable carcinogen." The France-based panel's ruling has since sparked debate around the world, prompted hundreds of lawsuits over allegations that glyphosate causes cancer, and resulted in the state of California adding glyphosate to its list of cancer-causing chemicals. Glyphosate is not restricted by the EPA and has been used widely since 1974 as a means of killing unwanted weeds while leaving crops and other plants alive. A new study 1 published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute "found no evidence of an association between glyphosate use and risk of any solid tumors or lymphoid malignancies (emphasis added)… However, we found some evidence of a possible association between glyphosate use and acute myeloid leukemia." (Emphasis added.) Note: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) interferes with the production of normal white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. This cancer begins in the bone marrow where new blood cells are made, but in most cases quickly moves into the blood. It can spread to the lymph nodes, liver, spleen, central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and testicles. It should be noted that much of the funding for this study came from agencies located in Iowa, which is one of the states that joined Monsanto in the lawsuit against California. Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that human exposure to glyphosate has increased approximately 500 percent since 1994 1. Glyphosate Use and Cancer Incidence in the Agricultural Health Study, G Andreotti, et al. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 09 November 2017 March 2018 97 I n f o r m a t i o n R e q u e s t # 5 5 7

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