Roundup weedkiller
Herbicide
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.
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.
43 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 33
- approval share
- 23%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Kills target plants, leaves others alone
“You literally roll it onto the leaves of the things you want to kill, and everything else remains unharmed.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Influential study on glyphosate safety retracted 25 years after publication” “that ends up killing them but largely leaving other plants alone”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Influential study on glyphosate safety retracted 25 years after publication” “A contact-only killer sounds like just the right thing.”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Influential study on glyphosate safety retracted 25 years after publication” Works reliably
“I just use roundup, honestly. It works.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Influential study on glyphosate safety retracted 25 years after publication” “Roundup has saved far more lives than it may have cut short”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedkiller Case” Seen as safe for farming
“Roundup is probably the most safe outside of per-emergents like corn husks or whatever, but it's not a free ride either.”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “Thousands of U.S. farmers have Parkinson's. They blame a deadly pesticide” “Roundup is the safest chemical we have for farming.”
Comment from 26 Jun 2026 in “US Supreme Court scales back Roundup cancer lawsuits”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Linked to cancer, known carcinogen
“Its perfectly alright to give your customers cancer (Roundup, Fracking, Massive amounts of sugars which lead to metabolic disease)”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “AMA: I'm Eric Ries (The Lean Startup) & Author of New Bestseller Incorruptible” “Allowing a known carcinogen to make crops easier to harvest has to do with profit margin not food supply”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedkiller Case” “producers of known-carcinogenic substances (like Chrome-6 or Roundup)”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “US economy unexpectedly sheds 92,000 jobs in February” Industry put profit before safety
“Allowing a known carcinogen to make crops easier to harvest has to do with profit margin not food supply”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedkiller Case” “Like the tobacco industry before them, a Monsanto employee proposed producing a scientific paper”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Landmark Roundup Weedkiller Case” “some will not be troubled at harming or killing their customers in the name of immediate profit”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “The Last Gasps of the Rent Seeking Class” - Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “Thousands of U.S. farmers have Parkinson's. They blame a deadly pesticide”
- Comment from 26 May 2026 in “Is "colorectal cancer" rising in "young people"?”
Harms insects and persists in environment
“its worldwide impact in insect biomass is at the level of the largest mass extinctions in history”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 on Hacker News “it's a fully synthetic chemical that stays in the atmosphere for days”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Influential study on glyphosate safety retracted 25 years after publication” Residue left on food
“We literally added as a final step for our food to pour questionable glyphosate/herbicides on it all.”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Is it just me or techno-optimism died in the past few years?” “non-organic oats are typically harvested by first spraying RoundUp (glyphosate) on them to dry out”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “Iowa cancer rates surge – farm chemicals are a key risk, new report finds”
What people said
40 of the 45 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“its worldwide impact in insect biomass is at the level of the largest mass extinctions in history”
“they priced Roundup out of my farming budget”
“Better cover it with roundup so they don't have to suffer the horror of seeing a spider”
“Great writeup, in general.”
“New roundup is a lot more toxic than glyphosate.”
“Roundup is the safest chemical we have for farming.”
“they are chemically warfare attacking with Roundup at 40,000x agricultural concentration”
“both are pretty terrible when used near bodies of water”
“Its perfectly alright to give your customers cancer (Roundup, Fracking, Massive amounts of sugars which lead to metabolic disease)”
“I too believed Patrick Moore representing Monstanto when he said 'Round up' was safe to drink.”
“farmers will continue spraying RoundUp on oats just before harvest”
“For European lentil growers it's illegal to use roundup.”
“Did you miss the BILLIONS in lawsuits against RoundUp and other herbicides?”
“frankly the product is IMO non competitive with other substances in use the same field”
“Roundup also contains a very strong surfactant and we know that those totally fuck up your GI as well.”
“This issue is not well-studied and has very large corporate sponsors”
“reacting with hard water creating extremely unsafe compounds”
“Glyphosate kills grass, so I would not recommend this”
“Roundup has saved far more lives than it may have cut short”
“Like the tobacco industry before them, a Monsanto employee proposed producing a scientific paper”
“Roundup - which includes Glyphosate, in addition to other additives - may be unnecessarily dangerous.”
“Allowing a known carcinogen to make crops easier to harvest has to do with profit margin not food supply”
“non-organic oats are typically harvested by first spraying RoundUp (glyphosate) on them to dry out”
“some will not be troubled at harming or killing their customers in the name of immediate profit”
“producers of known-carcinogenic substances (like Chrome-6 or Roundup)”
“Roundup really is the herbicide for the ignorant”
“make more money giving you cancer than they pay in settlements”
“The same ag lobbyists who claimed Roundup was harmless?”
“When the stories about Roundup started floating around, I switched to 30% strength vinegar”
“Both he and a gardener he hired to help died from dementia.”
“Roundup is probably the most safe outside of per-emergents like corn husks or whatever, but it's not a free ride either.”
“paying people to social media astroturf to defend the roundup pesticide online”
“We literally added as a final step for our food to pour questionable glyphosate/herbicides on it all.”
“A contact-only killer sounds like just the right thing.”
“You literally roll it onto the leaves of the things you want to kill, and everything else remains unharmed.”
“I just use roundup, honestly. It works.”
“that ends up killing them but largely leaving other plants alone”
“there are plenty of reasons for it to be appealing”
“it's a fully synthetic chemical that stays in the atmosphere for days”
“I'm not very comfortable with that so looking around for other solutions”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.