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Swedish research questions pesticide (Thursday, Jan. 2, 2003 -- CropChoice news) -- Toronto Star, 01/01/03 via Agnet:
K. Jean Cottam, Ottawa, writes regarding,Decision on pesticide use to be
made in the spring Dec. 30, to state that what the story on Health Canada's
announcement about its intention of deciding on the legality of a
controversial pesticide in the spring failed to mention is that in the
United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not find the
2,4-D non-carcinogenic.
The EPA's position is that this chemical substance is non-classifiable due
to insufficient evidence.
This is largely due to a lack of independent 2,4-D studies in North America,
where most research of this nature is financed, at least in part, by the
industry.
This means that little, if any, research is done for the public good,
despite the input of public money, because no private industry will fund
research that could prove financially detrimental to it.
On the other hand, in Sweden, where scholarship is apparently more
independent from private funding than it is in North America, 2,4-D is not
approved for use.
The research of Dr. Lennart Hardell, a Swedish oncologist, does point to
evidence that 2,4-D contributes to cancers (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,
Hodgkin's disease and soft-tissue sarcoma). | |
