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Influential paper on chemical in popular weed killer retracted

Containers of Roundup are displayed on a store shelf. (Haven Daley/AP)
Haven Daley/AP
Containers of Roundup are displayed on a store shelf. (Haven Daley/AP)

A 2000 paper on the safety of glyphosate, the chemical in the weed killer Roundup, has been retracted. It turns out it was ghostwritten by employees of Monsanto, the company that makes Roundup, and showed it did not cause cancer or other health problems in humans. That research has been used for decades by regulators.

Here & Now‘s Scott Tong speaks with Naomi Oreskes, a professor of the history of science at Harvard University, who has written about the problems with this study long before it was retracted.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2025 WBUR

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