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Fighting infections with infections
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News

Glyphosate appears to not cause cancer


 

Science Insider reports that a recent evaluation from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) declares that glyphosate is unlikely to increase the risk of cancer. They also set a limit on what is thought to be a safe does, 0.5 mg per kilogram of body weight. So someone weighing 80 kilograms (166 pounds) could consume 40 mg of glyphosate a day and run no increased risk of cancer. Other agencies have weighed into this in the last few years and concluded that there is some risk. The difficulty comes from assessing the toxicity to humans either based on studies using rats or mice as the model animal, or looking at epidemiological studies. Mice and rats are not humans, really. Our bodies may react differently than a rodents. In the epidemiological studies, large populations have to be examined to detect small risks and often these studies are expensive and fraud with confounding variables. Epidemiological studies can only show correlation, not causation. For right now, it seems glyphosate, such as Roundup, appear to be safe.