# Roundup weedkiller Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/roundup/ 7 people recommended Roundup weedkiller in Hacker News comments, 2 had mixed feelings and 31 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 4 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. 4 of the 7 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Influential study on glyphosate safety retracted 25 years after publication”. **Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. A glyphosate weedkiller that kills the plants it touches and leaves others alone, often called the safest option for farming. Critics cite cancer concerns and lawsuits. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Industry put profit before safety (4 comments in the sample): "Like the tobacco industry before them, a Monsanto employee proposed producing a scientific paper" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47925927)) "some will not be troubled at harming or killing their customers in the name of immediate profit" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47547979)) "paying people to social media astroturf to defend the roundup pesticide online" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46275591)) - Linked to cancer, known carcinogen (2 comments in the sample): "Its perfectly alright to give your customers cancer (Roundup, Fracking, Massive amounts of sugars which lead to metabolic disease" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48483043)) "producers of known-carcinogenic substances (like Chrome-6 or Roundup" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47279787)) - Harms insects and persists in environment (2 comments in the sample): "its worldwide impact in insect biomass is at the level of the largest mass extinctions in history" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49611905)) "it's a fully synthetic chemical that stays in the atmosphere for days" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46162090)) - Residue left on food (2 comments in the sample): "We literally added as a final step for our food to pour questionable glyphosate/herbicides on it all." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46189185)) "non-organic oats are typically harvested by first spraying RoundUp (glyphosate) on them to dry out" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47789535)) ## Why people recommend it - Kills target plants, leaves others alone (3 comments in the sample): "You literally roll it onto the leaves of the things you want to kill, and everything else remains unharmed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46168643)) "that ends up killing them but largely leaving other plants alone" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46162791)) "A contact-only killer sounds like just the right thing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46177320)) - Works reliably (2 comments in the sample): "I just use roundup, honestly. It works." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46167514)) "Roundup has saved far more lives than it may have cut short" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47926231)) - Seen as safe for farming (2 comments in the sample): "Roundup is probably the most safe outside of per-emergents like corn husks or whatever, but it's not a free ride either." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46276431)) "Roundup is the safest chemical we have for farming." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48686438)) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Roundup weedkiller", https://hackerapproved.com/p/roundup/ (7 recommend, 2 mixed, 31 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.