Earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the active ingredient in Roundup a “probable” carcinogen and — presumably — giggled maniacally to itself at the inevitable media frenzy that ensued.
When the Grist staff caught wind of the news, one of us did his job and wrote this, while the rest of us pored over the long list of other things that do, probably, possibly, or probably don’t cause cancer. Then, we picked out some of the craziest shit: Chinese-style salted fish does (if you eat enough of it); hot mate (you know, the Argentinian national drink) probably could (again, level of exposure is important); and aloe vera might, too (that’s A LOT of aloe vera).
On the verge of declaring the world a hopeless death trap and closing up shop, we decided to instead ask our pal Andrew Maynard, the University of Michigan professor behind the YouTube series Risk Bites, what to make of all this. He whipped up this helpful video and, needless to say, we’re back in business, renewed with hope, and ready to report on less death-is-upon-us subjects like climate change and … oh damn it.
