Glyphonsate Not Carcinogen and Farmers Getting Older

Glyphonsate Not Carcinogen and Farmers Getting Older

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
**EPA's conclusion that glyphosate is "not likely" to cause cancer in humans has received a mixed review from a scientific review panel.

According to the report, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel "was split."

Some panelists agreed with the EPA paper, prepared by the Office of Pesticide Programs last year, but others weren't comfortable with the "not likely" characterization, preferring instead "no credible evidence" or "equivocal."

The report follows by a day a report from the European Chemicals Agency that concluded glyphosate is not a human carcinogen.

** President Trumps' pick for Ag secretary, former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, and Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch are each getting long-awaited confirmation hearings in the Senate.

Perdue's hearing is set for tomorrow before the Senate Agriculture Committee. Gorsuch's hearing in the Senate Judiciary and is expected to run several days.

** U.S. farmers are getting grayer, their national numbers are on the decline and fewer young people are moving back to farms and ranches.

According to the USDA's Economic Research Service, the average age of a principal operator of a U.S. farm is now over 58 years old.

Absent opportunities for manufacturing, recreation or other industries, the ERS reports many of their surrounding small towns are dying off, too.

The rural population in 2015 stood at 46.2 million, just 14 percent of the U.S. population on 72 percent of the land mass. That represents a decline of 136,000 people between 2010 and 2014.

Previous ReportEPA Loses in Trump Budget and CAFE Standards Revisited
Next ReportChina Bans Brazilian Beef and Trump Proclaims Nat'l Ag Day