Over 80% of urine samples drawn from children and adults in a U.S. health study contained glyphosate, a chemical contained in weed killers linked to cancer. According to a report in The Guardian, scientists are calling this finding “disturbing and concerning.”
The report, released by a unit of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found that out of 2,310 urine samples, taken from a group of Americans intended to be representative of the U.S. population, 1,885 were laced with detectable traces of glyphosate.
This is the active ingredient in herbicides sold globally, including the widely-used Roundup brand. Nearly a third of the study’s participants were children aged 6 to 18. Academics and private researchers have noted high levels of the herbicide glyphosate in analyses of human samples for many years now.
Effects of Glyphosate
However, the CDC only recently started examining the extent of human exposure to the chemical. This revelation comes at a time when there is growing concern over how pesticides in food and water affect human health and environmental safety. A 2019 analysis found that glyphosate exposure increases the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
According to research published in 2017 by the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, the amount and prevalence of glyphosate in human urine have been rising steadily since the 1990s, when Monsanto Co. introduced genetically engineered crops designed to be directly sprayed with Roundup.
Farmers in the U.S. use more than 200 million pounds of glyphosate each year, which is sprayed directly over genetically engineered crops such as corn and soybeans and other crops such as wheat and oats to dry crops before harvesting them.
Monsanto and Bayer, the company that bought it over in 2018, have argued that glyphosate and Roundup products are safe and that residues in food and human urine don’t pose health risks. However, that assertion doesn’t match the findings of researchers and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (a unit of the World Health Organization), which classified glyphosate as a possible human carcinogen in 2015.
If You Have Been Affected
Let’s say Roundup exposed you or a loved one to glyphosate. In that case, you may be able to file a lawsuit against Bayer (Monsanto) seeking compensation for damages, including medical expenses, cost of diagnosis, lost wages, permanent injuries, disabilities, cost of surgery, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. Manufacturers of these types of products are required by law to warn consumers about their dangers. However, Monsanto, for decades, has failed to warn consumers about the link between its weed killer products and cancer, despite knowing about the research for many years.
The mass tort attorneys at Bisnar Chase are now handling Roundup weed killer cases against Bayer (Monsanto). If you need clarification about pursuing your legal rights, don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-800-561-4887 for a free consultation and case evaluation.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/09/weedkiller-glyphosate-cdc-study-urine-samples
