There is an old saying that dates back to antiquity, “the dose makes the poison.” That is true of many things in life. Risk is relative. There are undoubtedly numerous substances that have negative effects on humans even in a small way or are benign unless ingested in significant amounts. Alcohol is one example. My coffee creamer that I use to make café lattes every morning is probably another substance that should only be consumed in moderation.
If you have perused the Internet any amount over the past few years you have undoubtedly run across advertisements requesting that you call and talk to an attorney if you have lymphoma and you have ever used glyphosate, known by the trade name Roundup. One website advises contacting them if you have lymphoma and have come in contact with Roundup as little as 10 times. I have a small spray bottle of the stuff in my garage so anyone with lymphoma could potentially claim glyphosate exposure. The bulk of research has found nothing dangerous with Roundup. Indeed, many people believe it is the safest herbicide on store shelves. Roundup may even be safer than a garden hoe when you calculate accidents. According to a 2016 article in the Journal of Environmental Science and Health:
In 2014, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), on behalf of the European Union, reviewed all toxicological studies of glyphosate in laboratory animals, as well as over 30 epidemiological studies in humans, and concluded that “the available data do not show carcinogenic or mutagenic properties of glyphosate” and “there is no validated or significant relationship between exposure to glyphosate and an increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma or other types of cancer.” [1,2] This conclusion was consistent with those previously reached by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR), sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO), which concluded that glyphosate was unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans. [3–5]
An article from 2017 in the Frontiers in Public Health, “Facts and Fallacies in the Debate on Glyphosate Toxicity,” also said the risk is low. Despite most evidence that Roundup is safe, there have been lawsuits where juries of nonscientists decide a random person’s dreaded disease must be related to Roundup.
There have been other herbicides that are not so benign as Roundup. Remember Agent Orange? It was a defoliant used extensively in the war in Vietnam. Between 1962 and 1971 about 11 million gallons was sprayed on Vietnamese jungles. It is thought to potentially cause a host of illnesses, including:
- AL amyloidosis.
- Severe birth defects, abnormal fetal development or miscarriage.
- Bladder cancer.
- B-cell leukemia.
- Chloracne or acneform disease.
- Diabetes (Type 2).
- Hodgkin lymphoma.
- Hypothyroidism.
- Ischemic heart disease.
- Multiple myeloma.
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
- Parkinsonism.
- Parkinson’s disease.
- Peripheral neuropathy.
- Porphyria.
- Prostate cancer.
- Respiratory cancers (lung cancer).
- Soft tissue sarcoma.
About three million U.S. soldiers were exposed and a similar number of Vietnamese people. According to an article published in the Kaiser Family Foundation Health New (KHN):
The Department of Veterans Affairs has long given Vietnam veterans disability compensation for illness connected to Agent Orange, widely used to defoliate Southeast Asian battlefields during the U.S. war.
KHN reports that the herbicide was also used on U.S. military bases to control weeds. The VA is proposing to begin allowing compensation for service men and women who were exposed at 17 military bases in the U.S. Advocates complain that Agent Orange was used at nearly 50 other military bases across the U.S. and unless these too are added to the presumptive list it will be hard for veterans with to get disability compensation.
Agent Orange is the term servicemen gave to the black and orange barrels with the 50/50 mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, an herbicide in wide use at the time. Depending on your age, your father or grandfather may have sprayed Agent Orange on his lawn or garden. It was sold at about every hardware store 50 years ago in cans of Ortho Weed B Gon. You can still buy 2,4 D on Amazon but 2,4,5 T was banned in 1979.
Are common weed killers deadly? It likely depends on the dose. There is a difference between raining down millions of gallons on servicemen in the jungle canopy and trying to keep stubborn weeds in check on a military base or in your lawn.