A new report reveals cancer is only one of many serious health concerns linked to long-term exposure to glyphosate in weed killers like Roundup. Bloomberg News recently published an article informing glyphosate in Roundup could potentially cause health risks including liver damage, water pollution, birth defects, and kidney damage.

“Studies over the past decade suggest that glyphosate — the active ingredient in Roundup — pollutes water sources, hangs around in soil far longer than previously suspected, and routinely taints human food supplies,” stated the article’s author Mark Buchanan, a physicist and science writer. “Toxicity studies in rodents have found that glyphosate can damage the liver and kidneys, even for doses in the range generally considered safe for humans.”

The International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded in 2015 that glyphosate is a likely human carcinogen, relying on public, peer-reviewed research to reach their conclusion. Other researchers, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Food and Safety Authority, declined to reach the same conclusion as the IARC. However, Buchanan’s findings suggest the EPA and EFSA’s methodologies and science were unreliable and outdated, stating an international team of biologists concluded that the EFSA’s studies deviated from standard hazard-assessment practices.

Thousands of victims across the U.S. have filed and continue to file lawsuits against Monsanto Company, the manufacturer of Roundup weed killer. Each Roundup case raises similar allegations that the plaintiff in question developed cancer(s) like non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from long-term exposure to the glyphosate in Roundup weed killer. Over 15,000 Roundup lawsuits are currently filed nationwide, and multimillion-dollar awards have already been awarded to several Roundup victims, one even totaling over $2 billion.

“Cancer may only be part of the story,” Buchanan related in Bloomberg.
A study published in April of this year lends to Buchanan’s findings, with researchers discovering that glyphosate might negatively impact biological functions for generations. This study published in Scientific Reports found that in rats fed glyphosate, the next two generations of offspring experienced malign effects of glyphosate exposure.

“These rats, without ever being exposed to glyphosate, nevertheless showed a prominent tendency toward prostate disease, obesity, kidney disease, ovarian disease, and birth abnormalities” Buchanan reported. While cancers like non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma have been the main focus of current Roundup lawsuits, new studies may reveal more adverse health conditions directly linked to glyphosate in Roundup.

All current Roundup claims are now centralized for pretrial proceedings in the Northern District of California before U.S. District Judge Vice Chhabria as part of a multidistrict litigation. Plaintiffs claim that Bayer’s Monsanto Company did not provide consumers with adequate warnings about the adverse heath risks of using Roundup.