French Minister Will Ask Garden Shops not to Sell Roundup

French Environment and Energy Minister Segolène Royal has told the French television network France 3 she plans to ask garden shops to stop selling Monsanto's glyphosate weed killer Roundup.

“France must press forward in its fight against pesticides,” the minister is quoted as saying, without proposing specific measures.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is based in France, is currently analyzing scientific findings regarding suspected links between cancer in humans and the herbicide active ingredient 2,4-D, which is based on glyphosate.

In April, WHO scientists unanimously decided to classify glyphosate “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

Monsanto has asked for the classification to be retracted, but some public officials as well as environmental and consumer health advocates have called for bans on herbicides containing the active ingredient.