New Study Links Monsanto’s Roundup to Children’s Liver Disease

Santa Clara, CAA new study has determined that metabolic disorders and liver diseases are increasing among youth and young adults. Researchers at the University of California Berkeley’s School of Public Health after studying mothers and children in Salinas Valley, California, have linked this disturbing increase to the use of glyphosate--the most widely used herbicide worldwide and the active ingredient of Roundup. And the next Monsanto trial is scheduled to take place next week in St. Louis County.

The study, which was published in March in the medical journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found that children with higher levels of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA)--a chemical created by the degradation of glyphosate--in their bodies were at a higher risk of liver inflammation and metabolic disorders when the children entered adulthood. Researchers also showed a link between the use of Roundup and liver cancer, liver disease, heart disease, diabetes and other long-term health complications.

The study included 480 mother-child duos in the Salinas Valley--a dense agricultural region where Roundup use is rampant. The researchers focused on Roundup use near the duo’s homes while the mother was pregnant and until the child was up to five years old, and measured glyphosate, AMPA and other chemicals in their urine. They followed up with liver and metabolic health in those children when they reached 18 years old.

The researchers further found that the use of glyphosate near the duo’s homes from birth through age 5 was also associated with higher metabolic disorder risks. A metabolic disorder can occur when some organs, such as your liver or pancreas, become diseased or do not function normally. Diabetes is an example and the disorder is also associated with liver disease, liver cancer and other health problems, warning that the children’s diets were a major agent for these chemicals. The researchers wrote that, “Overall, a 2-fold increase in urinary AMPA during childhood was associated with a 14% and a 55% increased risk of elevated liver transaminases and metabolic syndrome, respectively… Living near agricultural glyphosate applications during early childhood (birth to 5 y of age) was also associated with metabolic syndrome at age 18 y in the case–control group.” (Metabolic syndrome is also, like metabolic disorders, a condition that can increase the risk of diabetes, liver problems, including liver disease and liver cancer. The syndrome also includes hypertension, high cholesterol, and an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and heart disease.)

In conclusion, the researchers explained that previous research on glyphosate in humans has largely focused on its potential carcinogenicity, while this study indicates the need for further investigation of its association with metabolic and liver outcomes.  After the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2015 finally classified glyphosate in Roundup as a likely cancer-causing agent, the floodgates opened to research that suggests Roundup exposure increases the risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma and other cancers.

Latest Monsanto Trial

Bayer-owned Monsanto faces another trial in Missouri state court starting April 24 over cancer risks allegedly associated with the company’s ‘Roundup’ brand weedkiller, according to Courtroom View Network (CVN). The trial will be Monsanto’s third in St. Louis County, known to be less plaintiff-friendly than other locations. The first trial here was found for the defense and a settlement was reached in the second.

Like all other Roundup trials nationwide, lawsuits against the agrochemical giant allege it knew of Roundup’s carcinogenic risks but chose to put profits over people by withholding information from the public. Roundup trials since 2018 have found for both defense and plaintiffs. Verdicts and rewards have run the gamut – from over $1 billion verdicts to $25 million awards. As of June 2020, Bayer cancer settlements had reached $10 billion, reported The New York Times.

According to CVN, the upcoming trial before Judge Brian May is expected to take about four-to-six weeks to complete. If the defense wins, it will give Monsanto/Bayer an upper hand for any future settlement talks and “make plaintiff attorneys, many of whom operate on contingency-fee arrangements, far less inclined to take a risk on trials that often take weeks to complete and rely extensively on costly expert witness testimony.” On the other hand, a plaintiff win would provide an “important reset in the litigation as both sides continue to fine-tune their approach to presenting extremely complex scientific and medical information to juries of laypeople.”

Meanwhile, Bayer announced it will remove glyphosate from Roundup versions of the weed killers sold to U.S. residential customers by 2023, but it will still be used to agra businesses and farmers. Roundup with glyphosate is banned in many countries.