Weedkiller in US cancer ruling is ‘amazing’, says Defra minister
ROUNDUP weedkiller is “amazing”, an environment minister has said, despite health concerns over the popular garden chemical.
Thérèse Coffey wrote on Twitter that she was using the product on her garden, just days after a terminally ill American man was awarded $289million (£226 million) after successfully claiming that manufacturer Monsanto failed to set out the risks of using it.
Dewayne Johnson was diagnosed with non-hodgkin lymphoma in 2014, having used Roundup and a similar product also made by Monsanto in his job as a school groundsman. The company pledged to vigorously fight the US court’s ruling.
Yesterday afternoon, Ms Coffey, a minister in the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) tweeted: “Getting ready to deploy the amazing Roundup!” She added: “Like a lot of chemicals and pesticides, you handle appropriately to manage the risk. Just like you do with bleach and other household chemicals. Roundup is just the same.”
She told The Daily Telegraph that it was important to take a “sensible approach”
‘You manage the risk just like you do with bleach and other household chemicals. Roundup is just the same’
to using weedkiller and other household products like bleach and over-cleaner and to manage them “appropriately”. But she added that people should also be “led by science”.
Ministers have said that the European Commission should decide whether Roundup should be withdrawn from use.
A government spokesman said: “The Government’s priority is the protection of people and the environment. Decisions on the use of pesticides should be based on a careful scientific assessment of the risks.
“Once outside the EU, we will continue to make decisions on pesticides based on the best available science.”
However, others have raised concerns about whether a minister should be praising the weedkiller so soon after the US court awarded damages.
Ben Gummer, the former Conservative MP whose father, Lord Deben, fed a burger to his four-year-old daughter to prove its safety while agriculture minister at the height of the BSE crisis, responded to Ms Coffey’s tweet with the word “Er…”
Scott Partridge, the vice-president of Monsanto, said: “Roundup has been safe for four decades and will continue to be safe. There is no credible scientific evidence that demonstrates otherwise. It is completely and totally safe and the public should not be concerned about this verdict.”