Australian judge dismisses class action claiming Roundup causes cancer | Health

There is not enough evidence to prove an ingredient used in a popular weedkiller causes cancer, an Australian federal court judge has found.

Justice Michael Lee handed down his judgment in the class action against widely used herbicide Roundup on Thursday afternoon.

The case, launched by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, claimed Roundup’s active ingredient glyphosate caused the cancer of more than 800 Australian non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients.

Lee ruled there was not enough current evidence to say glyphosate was carcinogenic and capable of causing non-Hodgkin lymphoma in humans.

The judge only needed to consider the question of general causation, not the specific claims of the lead applicant, Kelvin McNickle, or the other class action group members.

Lee ordered the proceedings be dismissed.

Bayer, which acquired Roundup’s producer Monsanto in 2018, has previously stated glyphosate-based herbicides have been rigorously tested in hundreds of studies and it is safe when used as directed.