CHANNEL 4 News, UK Tuesday 12 October 1999 Glyphosate [full transcript] So far all attention has been on the (GM) plants themselves, much less on the weedkillers that go with them. But a second battlefront could be opening up for Monsanto, this time with a herbicide called glyphosate. Glyphosate kills the weeds but spares the GM crops such as soya and maize; but a confidential report from the European Commission obtained by Channel 4 News reveals the growing concern about glyphosate. John McGhie reported: Weeds have always been the farmer's enemy, getting in the way and lowering crop yields, but the age-old struggle to be rid of them is soon to be embroiled in a new conflict, genetic engineering. So far protests have concentrated on the safety of modified plants. There has been less focus on what crops are being engineered to do, and that1s to withstand herbicides. Once crops are resistant, entire fields can be sprayed so that only weeds are killed. It1s those herbicides which are now coming under scrutiny. One of the main ones used in GM technology is the chemical glyphosate, American giant Monsanto producing the majority of the world's supply, mostly under the name Roundup. Glysophate's sales increased hugely in America last year, thanks to Roundup Ready seeds engineered to withstand Monsanto's herbicide. When farmers buy the seed they sign a contract which obliges them to spray Roundup. Experts here believe glyphosate use in Britain will also rocket, perhaps by 60%, if GM crops get the go-ahead. The safety of glyphosate is therefore crucial, not only because it's the world's biggest herbicide but because its use is central to the whole genetic engineering programme in Britain. But some scientists are now posing serious questions about the chemical's effects on human health and the environment. Channel 4 News has learnt that the herbicide which manufacturers claim is amongst the most benign in the world is starting to trouble some regulators. We've exclusively been leaked a confidential EC [European Community] report that could torpedo glysophate use across Europe because of its impact on wildlife. They may not match the whale in terms of high environmental visibility, but a series of tiny insects are holding the key to glyphosate's future use in Europe. An EC committee has decided that although the herbicide is only meant to kill weeds it also poses a significant risk to various predatory mites and arthropods. David Buffin - Pesticides Trust: Beneficial arthropods are things like insects and spiders that consume or parasitize insects that we consider as pests, and if you are knocking the beneficials off you may actually result in an increase in the insect pests. Then you have to go in with a very invasive insecticide to normalise the situation. John McGhie: The draft report comes from the committee which is deciding which herbicides Europe will be allowed to use. It reviewed the scientific evidence, and concludes that after applying glyphosate in the correct manner, harmful effects on arthropods cannot be excluded. It therefore recommends the chemical NOT be included on its Approved Annex, pending further studies. These recommendations are potentially dynamite for Monsanto's Roundup. Until now, European countries decided for themselves which herbicides could be used, and all have given the ok to glyphosate. Now it could be a different story. John McGhie: What is the significance of glyphosate not being on the Annex? David Buffin: Ultimately you won't be able to use it across Europe, and that will have huge impact on this most popular herbicide, and clearly on genetically modified herbicide crops as well. John McGhie: Monsanto is confident of getting onto the Approved Annex, and said in a statement "Because the Report is only a confidential draft based on 1995 documents it would be improper to comment." It added "Since that time more appropriate tests have been completed for assessment." However the regulation issue is resolved, glyphosate is now facing another set of concerns on its possible impact on human health. In Sweden, farmers, gardeners, and local authorities have been spraying glyphosate on their weeds for more than 20 years. But now Channel 4 News has learnt that serious concerns are being voiced about the safety of the world's no.1 herbicide. Earlier this summer a glyphosate controversy erupted in the Swedish press, centering on work emerging from Orebro Hospital. Professor Lennart Hardell specialises in possible environmental causes of cancer. He has investigated herbicides and their association with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, one of the fastest rising cancers in the western world. Professor Hardell: We have made 2 studies with consistent findings of an increased risk. The pool of these studies, putting together the 2 non-Hodgkin lymphoma [nHl] studies, then there is a significant increased risk of nHL with exposure to glyphosate. John McGhie: How much greater is that risk? Professor Hardell: It is 3 times increased risk. John McGhie: Is that a lot? Professor Hardell: In occupational studies that's rather high risk, yes. John McGhie: Professor Hardell's conclusions are controversial.He accepts that the numbers exposed to glyphosate - 4 in each study - are low, and acknowledges that the risks of contracting nHL are also small. However he does believe the risks are sufficient to warrant much further research. Professor Hardell: Based on our two studies we see a consistent pattern of an association. There is some experimental evidence, but to say that this causes nHL is definitely too early. We need to study this more. We need to study if there is some combined effect with other exposures, virus or whatsoever. John McGhie: In a statement Monsanto said that because the Hardell studies were old and had been discussed by others, they didn't wish to give them credibility by responding. What Monsanto scientists have said is that the number of people researched by Hardell was statistically insignificant. The company also points out that the World Health Organisation recently said that glyphosate wasn't carcinogenic.Professor Hardell published his studies this year and last, and said his studies were relevant, because for the first time they looked at herbicides and cancer in real life rather than the laboratory. It's a view shared by other herbicide experts. David Buffin: I think there is a level of concern with the studies that have been carried out in Sweden. They do raise some question marks over the impact of the use of glyphosate and nHL. We have to look fairly closely at this. There has to be more epidemiological research done, because a lot of the basis on which chemical safety is derived is basically looking at laboratory animals, and clearly human data is very significant when it crops up. John McGhie: In another part of Sweden they have been taking Professor Hardell's work very seriously. A Council used to spray herbicide on its streets to keep them weedfree, but when environmental health officers learnt of the Hardell studies they commissioned their own investigation into whether glyphosate was in its water supply. They found the chemical in 4 different places, and in June this year [it] became the world's first local authority to ban glyphosate from its town. Its action could prove significant. If a local authority and the EU consider curbing the chemical, it must remain a possibility that other regulators could follow suit. The question that Monsanto and other glyphosate manufacturers must now face is what effect this might have on the already troubled future of genetically modified crops in Britain. END