Unless you're a scientist or a farmer, chances are high that you've been persuaded that glyphosate,

the world's most popular herbicide and the act of ingredient in Roundup, is poisonous

or otherwise harmful to humans.

Every speck of science that exists on the subject shows that it's completely safe, so how

did such misinformation become so popular?

The answer lies, at least in part, in behavioral economics.

And we're going to find out all about it right up next on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid, I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

Glyphosate and behavioral economics.

It's hardly possible to turn on the news, to talk to a farmer or to visit a nursery without

hearing something about glyphosate, the act of ingredient in many of the world's most

popular and effective herbicides, like Roundup, Pronto, Eraser, and 750 other products.

If you've ever heard of these products, you've probably already heard a thousand times

that the science shows no risk associated with glyphosate.

Despite a single committee from the World Health Organization listing it as a probable

carcinogen, and despite prominent court cases awarding billions of dollars to cancer victims

with the finding that the cancer was caused by glyphosate.

So we're not going to rehash that same science versus pop culture argument again.

Instead, we're going to look at the science behind how this misinformation spread, to

the point that a huge proportion of people in the world believe a harmless product is

harmful.

The result is very likely to be that we will see more bands of glyphosate requiring farmers

...