Glyphosate, or N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine, was originally developed as a corrosion inhibitor, but it has been the world’s most widely used herbicide for almost 40 years. Monsanto patented it in the early 1970s and began to sell it under the trade name Roundup. More recently, the company developed glyphosate-resistant transgenic crop seeds. But competition has hurt Roundup, and Monsanto has announced cutbacks associated with this business unit.
MOTW update: November 27, 2017
For decades, glyphosate has been a widely used herbicide, but in recent years pesticide applicators have claimed that exposure to it caused non-Hodgkins lymphoma. This past week, however, the results of a study on 54,000 workers showed that there is no significant association between glyphosate exposure and cancer—with the possible exception of multiple myeloma, which may the the focus of future studies.
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