Widely regarded as one of the safest herbicides ever developed, glyphosate is used worldwide in the cultivation of major crops. Earlier this month, a new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reinforced these findings. Despite the worldwide consensus regarding the safety of glyphosate, in 2015 IARC concluded that glyphosate is a “potential carcinogen,” thereby automatically triggering California’s Prop 65 warning regime. Reuters has reported, for example, that the lead scientist chairing IARC’s glyphosate review knew of fresh data from the U.S. National Cancer Institute showing no cancer link to glyphosate but did not present that data to IARC’s specialists. Apart from the scientific controversy over IARC’s determination, the Prop 65 listing of glyphosate is also the subject of a new lawsuit filed this month in federal court.

Source: Forbes November 27, 2017 21:33 UTC