The UN's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said Friday that three pesticides, including the popular weed killer Roundup, were "probably" carcinogenic and two others, which have already been outlawed or restricted, were "possibly" so.
IARC classified the herbicide glyphosate – the active ingredient in Roundup – and the insecticides malathion and diazinon as "probably carcinogenic" on the basis of "limited evidence" of cancer among humans.
The insecticides tetrachlorvinphos and parathion were classified as "possibly carcinogenic" in the light of "convincing evidence" from lab animals, the IARC said in a statement.
The classification, made by an expert panel, is not binding, said the IARC, an agency based in Lyon, that comes under the aegis of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"It remains the responsibility of individual governments and other international organizations to recommend regulations, legislation or public health intervention," it said.
Glyphosate – introduced in the 1970s under the brand Roundup but now manufactured generically – is the most-produced weed killer in the world, the IARC said.
Aerial spraying is not allowed in the EU.
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