Rep. Gowdy Questions Why Cancer Study Was Buried

Rep. Trey Gowdy penned a letter to the National Cancer Institute, demanding to know why research that would have cleared an herbicide as non-carcinogenic was buried, the Washington Examiner reported.

A scientist with NCI reviewed findings from the Agriculture Health Study which found there was no evidence that glyphosate — the key chemical used in the weed-killer Roundup — causes cancer.

By failing to surface the AHS results that glyphosate likely does not cause cancer, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) subsequently ruled that it likely was carcinogenic, the Examiner reported.

Gowdy now chairs the House Oversight Committee.

"The committee is concerned about these new revelations, especially given Dr. Blair's apparent admission that the AHS study was 'powerful,' and would alter IARC's analysis of glyphosate," Gowdy wrote to NCI, the Examiner quoted.

The IARC's ruling has massive implications for Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, which is fighting lawsuits in the millions from people who claim coming in contact with the product caused them to get cancer, the Examiner reported.

In the meantime, Republicans are scrambling to make public the AHS findings in order to buy some time on the true effects of glyphosate.

"We have an obligation to make sure that publicly funded studies, like the AHS, are made available as soon as they are complete," Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla. wrote to Health and Human Services, the Examiner reported.

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