US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order aimed at supporting US glyphosate production, arguing that the herbicide, which the WHO says is a probable carcenogenic, is essential to the country's food security.

The White House said glyphosate-based herbicides were widely used in American agriculture but that there was only one domestic producer, necessitating imports.

The executive order tasks the US secretary of agriculture with taking measures to facilitate the US production of glyphosate and phosphorus, a chemical component necessary for glyphosate but which also has military uses.

While the US Environmental Protection Agency does not consider glyphosate a carcinogen, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), classifies it as a "probable carcinogen".

German agrichemical giant Bayer said on Tuesday its subsidiary Monsanto had proposed a class settlement of up to US$7.25 billion to end claims that its glyphosate herbicide Roundup causes blood cancer, potentially drawing a line under years of costly litigation.

The US Supreme Court in January agreed to hear Bayer's appeal against an award of US$1.25 million to a Missouri man who claimed Roundup was responsible for his blood cancer. (AFP)



Edited by Cecil Wong