CANBERRA, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Australia's peak cancer organization has called for an inquiry into whether Roundup, the world's most popular weedkiller, causes cancer.
The Cancer Council on Monday expressed concerns that there has not been an independent inquiry into whether glyphosate, the active chemical in Roundup, is dangerous in decades.
A 2015 World Health Organization (WHO) report found that the chemical was "probably carcinogenic for humans."
"We are concerned that this issue's not being taken seriously enough in Australia, particularly by the agricultural industry," Sanchia Aranda, chief executive of the Cancer Council, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Monday.
"The (WHO) report is independent and does suggest that there is absolutely a reason for concern."
A U.S. court in August awarded California man Dewayne Lee Johnson 289 million U.S. dollars in damages after he sued Monsanto, the company that manufactures Roundup, claiming that the weedkiller was a factor in causing his terminal cancer.
Monsanto documents made public during the trial revealed that a company toxicologist warned in 2003 that Roundup could not be declared safe because the necessary tests had not been completed.
"For the last 20 or 30 years, Monsanto has engaged in a systematic and deliberate campaign to attack any science that says their product is not safe and to attack any scientist that has the courage to say something," Brent Wisner, one of Johnson's lawyers, said.
Johnson's lawsuit has paved the way for more than 9,000 people to sue Monsanto in the U.S. alone.
Pharmaceutical giant Bayer completed a 63 billion USD merger with Monsanto in May 2018 and the company has defended its biggest product.
"It is the safest herbicide that's ever been developed," Scott Partridge, vice-president of Bayer, told the ABC.
