A scientific journal has retracted an often-cited paper asserting that the widely used weedkiller glyphosate doesn’t cause cancer, after revelations that the chemical’s manufacturer appeared to play a major role in its publication.
The journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology said the paper — published in April 2000 — raises serious questions of ethical and scientific integrity because it appeared to be ghostwritten in part by Monsanto, which also paid the authors whose names appeared on it.
Details of the company’s connections to the paper were revealed in litigation related to charges that glyphosate, known by the brand name Roundup, causes cancer.
In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said glyphosate is a probable carcinogen in humans, feeding intense debate, lobbying and litigation in the U.S. ever since.
