Expert addresses ‘hysteria’, ‘misinformation’ against weedkiller Roundup

The herbicide in a commonly used weedkiller is not a carcinogenic, a Sydney expert says.

A 1994 TV advertisement featuring a boy and ball to relaunch Monsanto Australia’s weedkiller, Roundup.

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A Sydney environmental expert has fired a blistering attack against the “hysteria” and “misinformation” that popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, saying the scientific evidence shows it’s “our safest herbicide”.

University of Sydney Emeritus Professor Ivan Kennedy, who has conducted risk assessments of pesticides for nearly 50 years, claims the recent landmark court verdicts in the United States against Bayer, the owner of Roundup manufacturer Monsanto, were based on emotion rather than hard scientific data.

One couple was paid out more than $2 billion in damages after suing on the grounds that long-term exposure to glyphosate, the herbicide used in Roundup, had caused their cancer.

“This is very disappointing because, from my point of view, glyphosate is the safest herbicide that we have — and it’s inherently not toxic,” Prof Kennedy said yesterday.

Environmental scientist Ivan Kennedy.

The widely used weedkiller, Roundup.

“If you look at its structure, you see it’s made up of carbon dioxide, linked to ammonia and phosphate. And these sorts of bondings occur in most of the molecules in our body. So how they can be a carcinogenic is beyond me.

“The court decisions, I believe, were based on emotion and there’s all this hysteria and misinformation out there now.”

His comments come amid the first lawsuit in Australia this week over Roundup’s cancer links, and two councils in Sydney’s northwest considering whether to ban staff from using it.

And shares in German company Bayer have now crashed to a seven-year low since the third US jury verdict that found its Roundup weedkiller caused cancer.

“In one case, the judge didn’t even allow all the evidence from the all world’s regulatory agencies to show (glyphosate) is not carcinogenic,” Prof Kennedy said.

“As well as that, the legal tactic (of the plaintiffs) was to attack Monsanto as a bad company. And that was largely wrong too.

“The danger now is that chemical companies, which can’t stand this type of legal cost, will now stop making them and start using other herbicides which are inherently more toxic.

“I’m very disappointed that the law is being used against good science.”

Glyphosate, sold under the Roundup brand, is the world’s most widely used herbicide. Picture: Philippe Huguen

Australian authorities have backed up Prof Kennedy’s analysis, deeming the use of glyphosate as “safe”.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has said that glyphosate products registered with them are “effective if used according to the label directions”.

Parramatta Labor councillor Pierre Esber said he was concerned about the welfare of the council’s big team of garden and maintenance staff in using Roundup.

“We have more than 360 parks and playgrounds in the LGA and a few-hundred outdoor staff — and it’s our responsibility to make their jobs safe,” Cr Esber said.

“I’ll be calling for council’s acting CEO (Rik Hart) to investigate this matter further at next week’s council’s meeting.”

Parramatta councillor Pierre Esber.

Hunters Hill councillor Elizabeth Krassoi.

Hunters Hill independent councillor Elizabeth Krassoi will also be raising the issue at her council’s meeting on Tuesday night.

“We need to be as proactive as possible on this, because the World Health Organisation has raised the possibility that glyphosate is carcinogenic and of course the recent US court decisions,” Cr Krassoi, who has a background in environmental science, said.

“The current council document (on the use of glyphosate) doesn’t go far enough and, as part of our OHS (occupational health and safety) for staff and our bushcare volunteers, we need to investigate it further and look for alternative methods of forgoing the use of glyphosate.”

Prof Kennedy accused the councillors of being “unnecessarily alarmist” in looking to remove Roundup from staff use.

“Everyone is dead scared of chemicals and you’re really fighting an uphill battle to say (glyphosate) is a good chemical — even though our bodies are full of chemicals,” he said.

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