Largest study ever shows glyphosate is safe

Earlier this year, Gov. Reynolds took an important step by allocating $1 million to the University of Iowa to further study Iowa’s high cancer rate. Iowans certainly deserve to know more about what is causing this terrible disease in our communities.

Certain elements of the debate on this issue, however, have become detached from science and the facts. Most troubling for me as a fifth-generation Iowa farmer is the misplaced controversy over the safety of glyphosate-based crop protection products. Recently, blatant mischaracterizations about this critical farming tool have been amplified in the media and at our State Capitol.

Glyphosate-based herbicides have been around for over 50 years, trusted by farmers because they are among the most extensively evaluated products of their kind. More than 1,500 studies back glyphosate’s safety. I participate in the biggest of them all.

Since 1993, the Agricultural Health Study, the largest epidemiology study of its kind, has followed over 50,000 pesticide applicators in Iowa and North Carolina. A 2018 review of 20 years of this data by the National Cancer Institute found no statistically significant association between glyphosate exposure and any type of cancer. Even among applicators with the highest exposure, it found no increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the disease at the heart of the relentless and costly glyphosate litigation.

None of the world’s leading health regulators, from the U.S., to Europe, to Japan, have found glyphosate to be carcinogenic.

So why all of the controversy and lawsuits? A single World Health Organization (WHO) affiliate agency alleged — without doing any original research — that glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic,” a label the agency also gave to very hot beverages such as coffee.

This single, deeply flawed report was all that opportunistic trial lawyers needed to extort billions from one of American agriculture’s most indispensable companies. This isn’t justice, it’s highway robbery that exploits cancer patients. Now farmers across the state and country are openly wondering if the sole American manufacturer of glyphosate — their best defense against weeds — will soon be forced out of the market. To their credit, Iowa’s legislature is taking action to prevent this potential catastrophe by considering Senate File 394.

The stakes are high for anyone who grows or eats food, especially in Iowa, where 60%-73% of corn and soybean acres depend on American-made glyphosate. Without it, farmers like me will have to either buy it from the only other country that makes it — China — or switch to costlier, less studied alternatives. Either way, American farmers and consumers will pay the price.

Over 50 years of science and real-world experience from farmers like me have proved glyphosate safe, effective, and essential. Letting trial lawyers, foreign junk science and political influence jeopardize access to this tool will lead to higher costs, lower yields, and greater strain on Iowa’s farm families. The future of farming in Iowa depends on passing SF 394.

Mark Jackson is a farmer in Mahaska County.