American Academy of Pediatrics Advises Avoiding GMO Foods Due to Glyphosate Residues

A new clinical report issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) – the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States – to provide guidance to clinicians in providing pediatric care addresses concerns raised by families about GM foods. It focuses on the risks of the herbicides sprayed on GM food and feed crops – especially glyphosate.

The AAP report authors, three eminent pediatricians, note that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen and may be an endocrine (hormone) disruptor in humans. They also point out the link between high urinary levels of glyphosate in pregnant women with an increased risk of premature births. They add that other herbicides used on GM crops – dicamba and 2,4-D – are “possible” carcinogens, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The authors mention the 2016 report from the National Academy of Sciences, which concluded that there was a lack of evidence of a difference in risk to human health between non-GM and GM crops. However, the authors caution that “the report emphasised that there were no long-term, published epidemiologic studies directly assessing the potential health impact of genetically engineered food and associated herbicide exposure, so conclusions about health were largely made in the absence of available data”.