A UN panel that ruled this week that the herbicide glyphosate was probably ‘not carcinogenic to humans’ has become embroiled in a bitter row about potential conflicts of interests. It has emerged that two people on the UN panel have ties to groups that have accepted over $1 million from Monsanto and another industry group representing agrochemical giants. The people are Professor Alan Boobis, chairman of the UN panel investigating glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup and other similar products, and Professor Angelo Moretto, the panel’s co-chair, the Guardian reported: Professor Alan Boobis, who chaired the UN’s joint FAO/WHO meeting on glyphosate, also works as the vice-president of the International Life Science Institute (ILSI) Europe. The co-chair of the sessions was Professor Angelo Moretto, a board member of ILSI’s Health and Environmental Services Institute, and of its Risk21 steering group too, which Boobis also co-chairs. In 2012, the ILSI group took a $500,000 (£344,234) donation from Monsanto and a $528,500 donation from the industry group Croplife International, which represents Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta and others, according to documents obtained by the US right to know campaign. Alan Boobis said: “My role in ILSI (and two of its branches) is [...]