EU Declared Monsanto Weedkiller Safe

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EU declared Monsanto weedkiller safe after intervention from controversial US official – European Food Safety Authority dismissed a study linking glyphosate to cancer following counsel with an EPA official allegedly linked to the company and who figures in more than 20 lawsuits

EU declared Monsanto weedkiller safe after intervention from controversial US official

 The European Food Safety Authority dismissed a study linking a Monsantoweedkiller to cancer after counsel from a US Environmental Protection Agency officer allegedly linked to the company.

Jess Rowlands, the former head of the EPA’s cancer assessment review committee (CARC), who figures in more than 20 lawsuits and had previously told Monsanto he would try to block a US government inquiry into the issue, according to court documents.

The core ingredient of Monsanto’s RoundUp brand is a chemical called glyphosate, for which the European commission last week proposed a new 10-year license
Doubts about its regulatory passage have been stirred by unsealed documents in an ongoing US lawsuit against Monsanto by sufferers of non-hodgkins lymphoma, who claim they contracted the illness from exposure to RoundUp.
“If I can kill this, I should get a medal,” Rowlands allegedly told a Monsanto official, Dan Jenkins, in an email about a US government inquiry into glyphosate in April 2015.
In a separate internal email of that time, Jenkins, a regulatory affairs manager, said that Rowlands was about to retire and “could be useful as we move forward with [the] ongoing glyphosate defense”.
Documents seen by the Guardian show that Rowlands took part in a teleconference with Efsa as an observer in September 2015.
Six weeks later, Efsa adopted an argument Rowlands had used to reject a key 2001 study which found a causal link between exposure to glyphosate and increased tumour incidence in mice.
Rowlands’ intervention was revealed in a letter sent by the head of Efsa’s pesticides unit, Jose Tarazona, to Peter Clausing, an industry toxicologist turned green campaigner.
In the missive, Tarazona said that “the observer from the US-EPA [Rowlands] informed participants during the teleconference about potential flaws in the Kumar (2001) study related to viral infections.”
Efsa’s subsequent report said that the Kumar study “was reconsidered during the second experts’ teleconference as not acceptable due to viral infections”.
Greenpeace said that news of an Efsa-Rowlands connection made a public inquiry vital. “Any meddling by Monsanto in regulatory safety assessments would be wholly unacceptable,” said spokeswoman Franziska Achterberg. “We urgently need a thorough investigation into the Efsa assessment before glyphosate can be considered for re-approval in Europe.”
Socialist MEPs last week said that they too would call for an inquiry unless outstanding questions about the relicensing were cleared up.
A reply to Tarazona’s letter from Clausing, seen by the Guardian, also says: “In the light of Jess Rowland’s role in the assessment of carcinogenicity of glyphosate in the US as reflected by the internal Monsanto documents, I have serious concerns that he might have influenced the decision by providing wrong information which has not been scrutinised by Efsa and its experts.”
A Monsanto spokesman said: “Plucking a single email out of context doesn’t change the fact that the US EPA and regulators around the world, as well as a branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) that analysed pesticide residues, have concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans.”
The WHO’s pesticides panel ruled last May that glyphosate was probably not carcinogenic to humans through diet, a year after the WHO’s cancer arm came to the opposite conclusion.
Efsa though remains bullish about the probity of its assessment of the most heavily used weedkiller in human history.
Tarazona declined to comment on Rowlands’ contribution to the Efsa study but said that Kumar’s paper had been compromised by the use of Swiss albino mice.
“The issue of ‘high background incidence’ is something common to all studies that use that strain of mouse,” he said. “There was [also] the fact that the effect was observed only at a very high dose level.”
Other toxicologists, such as Prof Ivan Rusyn, who contributed to a WHO assessment of glyphosate, contend that where sample sizes are limited, “the most informative animal studies are those conducted with sufficiently high doses”.
Clausing said that there was “almost no difference” between malignant lymphomas in Kumar’s control group, compared to others.
To read the original article from The Guardian, click here

SCH Ltd Has One Of Its Busiest Quarters

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SCH (Supplies) Ltd has had one of its busiest quarters since it began trading more than thirty years ago.

SCH Ltd Has One Of Its Busiest Quarters

We are delighted to be taking so many orders – a sign, we feel, of the faith that our customers and dealers have in us as a company.

This has been a busy time for us also because our Managing Director, Andrew Rodwell, has suffered a little of late with a few health problems. We are glad to say he is now on the road to recovery and has certainly lost none of his enthusiasm, continuing to invent new machines and investigate various new ways of taking our products to the market.

Andrew is still very much in overall command of SCH but has handed over the day to day running of the business to Ian Holder, SCH’s General Manager, and to Jenny Wiggins, Sales Administrator.

Ian has been with SCH for 12 years. He knows the operational aspects of the factory inside out and can step in with seemingly boundless energy, and take over in all departments where needed. Ian also has in intuitive understanding of the SCH machinery. Having been closely involved in the development of some of the SCH products, he has an eye for detail and an ability to spot potential problems from a mile away!

Jenny keeps the office running like clockwork. Answering customer questions, arranging courier deliveries and trying her best to keep Andrew in order means Jenny has her work cut out. Her knowledge of the SCH products is incredible and she always goes the extra mile to ensure our customers and dealers receive the best possible service from SCH. Having worked here for 15 years, there is nothing that Jenny can’t handle and no problem to which she cannot find a solution.

So with Ian and Jenny on board and with the support of the rest of the team, Andrew is confident that SCH will continue to go from strength to strength. He can enjoy a slower pace of life, enjoy his (semi) retirement and oversee the next chapter in the SCH story.

Thanks to all our dealers and customers, many of whom have been dealing with us since we first began trading all those years ago. And here’s to the next thirty years.

Fleetwood Announce New Groundsman

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Fleetwood announce new groundsman – Fleetwood Town have promoted Nick Hyndman to the role of head groundsman after the departure of long-serving groundsman Dale Frith.

Fleetwood announce new groundsmanThe club announced Frith’s departure to PSD Agronomy as a senior consultant earlier this month with his deputy Hyndman gaining a promotion and officially taking over the reins on June 1.

Hyndman has been with the club for over six years and has progressed from part-time groundsman through to his new role under the tutorship of Frith.

Hyndman said: “I feel like learning under Dale has put me in a great position to keep up the standards and continue the great work he and the team have done.

“I’ve watched the club grow around me in the last six and a half years. Previously the pitches were looked after by contractors but now we have a superb ground at Highbury and unbelievable facility at Poolfoot Farm.”

And Frith says Hyndman deserves the opportunity to follow in his footsteps. He said: “I’m really pleased for Nick. I’m sure he will continue on the work that we have been doing. He deserves the opportunity and the chance to do it. I’m confident he will flourish in the role.”

In further changes to the department Liam Scott-Rattray will fill Hyndman’s position as deputy head groundsman, Oliver Vincent moves to an assistant groundsman role alongside Ashley Roche, with Cameron Chisholm one of two apprentice groundsmen. Another apprentice will be appointed in the coming days.

To read the original article from Blackpool Gazette, click here