Independent scientific reviews of Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup appear to be anything but, according to an article from Bloomberg Businessweek. Lawyers for plaintiffs suing the company released emails that reportedly demonstrate that Monsanto employees were heavily involved in the editing of academic papers developed by consultants on the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate. The reviews were published in the scientific journal Critical Reviews in Toxicology.
According to the article, the scientific reviews were designed to rebut the findings of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the World Health Organization, that declared gyphosate a probable human carcinogen. The IARC assessment led to California listing glyphosate as a known human carcinogen and reportedly triggered thousands of lawsuits. Monsanto defended the reviews’ independence and say they only performed “cosmetic editing” and did nothing to alter the papers’ conclusions, according to Bloomberg.
Read the entire article here.