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Every weekday morning CAI brings you coverage of local issues, news, and stories that matter. Join us for Morning Edition from 6 a.m. to 9a.m., with Kathryn Eident.

New Documents Stir Debate Over Safety of the Weedkiller Roundup

Jeff Robertson, Associated Press

The maker of one of the nation’s most popular weed-killing products is coming under scrutiny. Recently released court documents suggest Monsanto, the maker of the weed killer Roundup, may have ghost-written research to make its product seem safer.

The New York Times reports the unsealed documents also point to an EPA official who may have blocked a government review of the product's main ingredient, glyphosate. 

The documents are part of a lawsuit brought against the chemical giant by a group of people with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Herbicides with glyphosate are commonly used on the Cape and throughout our region, so WCAI's Kathryn Eident reached out to Monsanto for comment.

Spokesperson Charla Lord declined to speak on tape about the case, but she did refute the Times' story, saying no regulatory body—in the US or elsewhere—considers glyphosate a carcinogen. 

She says the company empathizes with anyone facing cancer, but refutes a claim by a branch of the World Health Organization that found "limited evidence" linking glyphosate to non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She says Roundup is one of the world's most-studied agricultural products, and says study after study has deemed it safe. 

Cynthia Luppi of the environmental advocacy group, Clean Water Action, disagrees.  Kathryn Eident talked with Luppi for her take on the documents and whether glyphosate poses a potential risk to humans. 

Kathryn Eident was the Morning Edition Host and Senior Producer of News until November 2022.