High Glyphosate Use, Higher Cancer Rates? A New Report Raises Questions

A new report is giving one more reason to pause before spraying Roundup on your vegetable garden.

In March, Food & Water Watch, an environmental advocacy group, released a report analyzing glyphosate use, the main ingredient in Roundup, and its link to cancer clusters across the United States. It found that in counties where glyphosate is sprayed the most, rates of non-Hodgkin lymphoma tend to be significantly higher than the national average. And it’s particularly prevalent in the Midwest.

Glyphosate has made major headlines over the past few months due to new and redacted research, as well as a highly publicized executive order by President Donald Trump.

The pesticide, widely used on crops such as corn and soybeans, has been a cornerstone of American industrial agriculture for decades, largely due to a 2000 study claiming it does not cause cancer. However, in February, that study was retracted due to “serious ethical concerns” after an internal investigation by the journal that published it, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, found evidence that Monsanto (the former owner of Roundup) had employees help draft the paper and likely paid the authors.