For those only exposed through food, the EPA says that glyphosate residues on food are safe up to certain thresholds.
The chemical giant Monsanto introduced glyphosate in its product Roundup in 1974.
“Glyphosate is the most widely used chemical weedkiller in human history because of genetic engineering,” said Dave Murphy, the founder of Food Democracy Now, an advocacy group that tests glyphosate in food.
“It’s sprayed ubiquitously and Monsanto has, for decades, just maintained that it’s the safest agricultural chemical ever made.”The EPA’s safety limits for glyphosate exposure from food are twice the levels allowed in the European Union.
The company pointed NBC News to other studies — including some that it has sponsored — that either refuted a link to cancer or challenged the relationship between acres sprayed and exposure levels.