Report that alleged Monsanto collaborator at the EPA tried to “kill” is finally published

A draft US federal report has confirmed links between glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup weedkiller, and some forms of cancer. The report could have a damaging impact on Bayer/Monsanto’s attempt to defend the large number of legal cases involving its weedkiller.

On April 8, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), which is tied to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, released its long-awaited draft toxicological report on glyphosate. It had been delayed for over three years, allegedly thanks to the efforts of Monsanto and a group of high-ranking officials within the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The ATSDR documented a range of concerns about glyphosate. But most worryingly for Bayer/Monsanto, just like the World Health Organisation’s cancer agency IARC, it identified evidence for a link between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This is exactly the outcome that the company feared because it undercuts its narrative that IARC’s concerns about glyphosate’s carcinogenicity can be offset by the EPA’s determination that glyphosate is “not likely” to cause cancer.