Weedkiller is cleared from shelves in alert over cancer

DIY stores are removing brands of weedkiller amid growing concern over their safety.

Homebase said that it had cut back its range of products that contain the commonly-used ingredient glyphosate.

The announcement came after a California court found that Roundup was a substantial factor in causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in one man. Homebase had already taken action because it was the second ruling against the weedkiller in eight months.

Last night, a spokesman for the firm said ‘a number of glyphosate alternatives’ had been put on the shelves. Roundup is made by Monsanto, which was acquired by German drug firm Bayer last year. Yesterday’s ruling knocked 12 per cent off Bayer’s share price.

Roundup is thought to be the world’s biggest brand of weedkiller. The jury in yesterday’s case in San Francisco found Edwin Hardeman got cancer after using Roundup for 26 years to control weeds and poison oak in his yard. Last August a jury sided with Dewayne Johnson, 46, in a similar case.

A Bayer spokesman said: ‘Bayer stands behind these products and will vigorously defend them.’