Americans are frightened by the
drumbeat of claims they are in danger of cancer from chemicals in the
environment and hence need more government regulation for protection.
Paul Driessen is a scientist exposing the corruption of science,
collusion of regulators with anti-chemical activist groups and
activist lawyers, and diversion of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in France for
phony manipulation of studies to show carcinogenicity.
The latest target of the IARC is
glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, the most widely used
herbicide in the world. It is also one of the most extensively tested
chemicals ever. Over 3,300 studies over four decades attest to its
safety. Driessen writes,
“Virtually every reputable regulatory agency and scientific body in
the world has determined that it does not cause cancer –
including the European Food Safety Authority, European Chemicals
Agency, German Institute for Risk Assessment and US Environmental
Protection Agency. Only IARC says glyphosate causes cancer.”
Dr. Linda Birnbaum is director of the
$690-million-a-year National Institute for Environmental Health
Sciences (a National Institute of Health agency in the U.S. Health
and Human Services). She has worked closely with anti-chemical
pressure groups and even trial lawyers, thereby undermining the US
regulatory and chemical review process and benefiting predatory
lawyers who are suing glyphosate manufacturers. And in the
coordinating and directing these activities, she has has turned the
United States into IARC’s biggest donor.
Driessen writes: “IARC repeatedly
ignored or altered studies that exonerated glyphosate. One report
clearly said the researchers “unanimously” agreed that glyphosate
had not caused abnormal growths in mice they had studied. IARC
deleted the sentence.
“In other cases IARC panelists
inserted new statistical analyses that reversed a study’s original
finding; quietly changed critical language exonerating the chemical;
and claimed they were 'not able to evaluate' a study because it
included insufficient experimental data, while excluding another
study because 'the amount of data in the tables was overwhelming.'”
These machinations helped to ensure a “consensus.”
“Equally questionable, NIH Cancer
Research Institute scientist Aaron
Blair conducted a years-long study that also found glyphosate was
not carcinogenic. But he held off on publishing his results, and did
not divulge his findings, knowing IARC would leave “unpublished”
work out of its analysis.
"This is not science. It is manipulation and deception – supported by our tax dollars, and used to drive safe, widely used chemicals off the market.”
“Other activists repeatedly claim 'endocrine disrupting' chemicals which don’t cause cancer or other harm in high doses somehow do so at barely detectable levels. Another clever ploy claims no actual exposure is needed; kids get cancer because their parents or grandparents were exposed to something, perhaps years ago. It’s ridiculous”
Paul
Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A
Constructive Tomorrow and author of books and articles on energy and
environmental policy.
