A lobbyist who has been making the media rounds saying the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer is safe for humans to drink refuses to drink glyphosate when a French TV news host offers him a glass.
The clip below is from a forthcoming Special Investigations documentary on the French TV network Canal+.
In it, Dr. Patrick Moore tells the host that glyphosate, an active ingredient in Roundup that was recently linked to cancer by the World Health Organization, is not linked to Argentina’s increasing cancer rate.
“You can drink a whole quart of it and it won’t hurt you,” says Moore.
“You want to drink some?” asks the host. “We have some here.”
“I’d be happy to, actually,” replies Moore. “Not really. But I know it wouldn’t hurt me.”
“If you say so, I have some,” says the interviewer.
“I’m not stupid,” says Moore.
“So, it’s dangerous?” says the interviewer.
Moore then says Roundup is so safe that when “people try to commit suicide” by drinking it, they “fail regularly.”
“Tell the truth, it’s dangerous,” says the host.
“It’s not dangerous to humans,” Moore replies. “No, it’s not.”
“So, are you ready to drink one glass?” the interviewer says.
“No, I’m not an idiot,” Moore says.
“Interview me about golden rice, that’s what I’m talking about. Otherwise the interview is finished. You’re a complete jerk.”
Greenpeace says Moore was an early member of Greenpeace before becoming a consultant for “the polluting companies that Greenpeace works to change: Big Oil, pesticides and GMO agribusiness, forestry, nuclear power… anyone who puts up the money for truth-benders who appear to carry scientific and environmental authority.”
Watch the Canal+ video below. An alternate video link is here.
More about Moore at Wikipedia, and on his website.
UPDATE: A representative for Monsanto shares the following:
Dr. Moore is not a Monsanto lobbyist or employee. Knowledgeable scientists, consumers and our farmer customers may be familiar with and confident in the safety of glyphosate, but their statements don’t make them lobbyists for our company. Dr. Patrick Moore is one of those individuals. He agrees with the science that supports the safety of glyphosate, and is an advocate for technology and innovation. But as I mentioned, he is not and never has been a paid lobbyist for or employee at Monsanto.
Previously: Ingredient in Monsanto weedkiller Roundup probably causes cancer (non-Hodgkin lymphoma), says WHO