US EditionInfluential study on glyphosate safety retracted 25 years after publication
The 2000 study was retracted after 25 years due to ghostwriting and undisclosed conflicts, undermining its conclusion that glyphosate poses no cancer risk, journal officials said.
- Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology retracted and removed the April 2000 study on November 28, citing ethical concerns over authorship and reliance on unpublished Monsanto data.
- Following litigation disclosures, the retraction was prompted by Monsanto Papers showing company employees heavily drafted the paper, with Editor Martin van den Berg citing misrepresented authorship and conflicts of interest.
- Internal emails show Monsanto staff proposed ghostwriting and paying signatories, revealing a multi-year Freedom to Operate strategy with William Heydens and seven Monsanto employees, spotlighted in U.S. jury trials.
- Bayer AG said regulatory consensus supports glyphosate safety, but the retraction could impact regulations and litigation while environmental advocates urged EPA reassessment and Nathan Donley called it a `hijack` of science.
- Researchers Alexander Kaurov and Naomi Oreskes found the paper shaped policy for two decades and was cited around 40 times in the 2015 European expert report, underscoring the need for stricter journal policies.
10 Articles
10 Articles
Citing "serious ethical concerns," journal retracts key Monsanto Roundup safety study - The New Lede
The journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology has formally retracted a sweeping scientific paper published in the year 2000 that became a key defense for Monsanto’s claim that Roundup herbicide and its active ingredient glyphosate don’t cause cancer.
A scientific article on the safety of glyphosate has been retracted 25 years after its publication. Doubts have been raised about its independence:...
Landmark glyphosate safety study retracted for Monsanto ghostwriting, other ethics problems
A scientific study that regulators around the world relied on for decades to justify continued approval of glyphosate was quietly retracted last Friday over serious ethical issues including secret authorship by Monsanto employees – raising questions about the pesticide-approval process in the U.S. and globally. The April 2000 study by Gary Williams, Robert Kroes and Ian Munro – which concluded glyphosate does not pose a health risk to humans a…
Influential study on glyphosate safety retracted 25 years after publication
A 2000 study that concluded the well-known herbicide glyphosate was safe, widely cited since then, has just been officially disavowed by the journal that published it. The scientists are suspected of having signed a text actually prepared by Monsanto.
Journal Retracts Key Paper Claiming Glyphosate Not Linked to Cancer
The scientific journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology has issued a rare retraction of one of the most cited studies on the safety of the pesticide glyphosate, the main ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup. The study, which found that glyphosate poses no cancer or other health risks to people, was retracted because it relied exclusively on unpublished Monsanto studies. The study failed to review any research that was not conducted by Mon…
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