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Lawmakers call for answers on glyphosate study
Story Date: 2/8/2018
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Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 2/7/18
Several Republicans on the House science committee have repeatedly tried in recent months to get answers from an agency of the World Health Organization that classified glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, as a probable carcinogen. On Tuesday, they held a hearing on their own without representatives from the WHO body.
The research in question: The study at issue was by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and published in 2015. That year, the WHO agency made glyphosate one of Europe's most intense political issues when it concluded the herbicide "is probably carcinogenic to humans."
A no-show from the star witness: The House Science, Space and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith, sent a three-page letter in early November, expressing concern about the report and asking for someone to testify at a hearing.
IARC director Christopher P. Wild declined in a letter sent on Nov. 20, but he welcomed lawmakers to visit him at IARC's headquarters in Lyon, France.
Tension escalated from there. In a Dec. 8 letter, the committee threatened to cut funding to IARC (the U.S. has given more than $48 million since 1985.) IARC responded again on Jan. 11, asking that the agency's "immunity of the organization" be "fully respected."
Many unhappy campers: In his opening statement on Tuesday, Smith said that "he selective use of data and the lack of public disclosure raise questions about why IARC should receive any government funding in the future." Three out of four witnesses who testified criticized the IARC study, Pro Ag's Christine Haughney reported.
The agency's lone defender was Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, who said that IARC had received "unprecedented" pressure from pesticide industry. Monsanto, which uses glyphosate in its widely used Roundup weedkiller, has said the study was flawed. It roundly attacked the IARC study last summer as regulators in Europe debated whether to renew glyphosate's license.
Also in Europe: Separately on Tuesday, the European Parliament agreed to create a special committee to investigate potential failings in the EU's system for renewing pesticides such as glyphosate.
House Dems urge Perdue to advance last GIPSA proposal: Nearly a dozen House Democrats sent a letter to Perdue on Monday asking him to move forward with an Obama-era proposed rule that would overhaul the tournament system, which is used by poultry companies to determine how much to pay contract farmers. It was among three rules under the USDA Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, known as GIPSA - two of which Perdue decided to scrap last year.
"Under the ranking system, much of what determines a grower's performance is actually controlled by the purchasing company," the letter said. "We appreciate that the rule attempts to require companies to set up a tracking system to make sure individual farmers are not targeted repeatedly by lower-quality inputs." The letter added that the rule should go further by creating a system "where farmers do not bear the financial burden of lower-quality inputs supplied by the company, even if the inputs are distributed randomly."
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