A board of scientists has been disputing a report published by World Health Organization previously this year. The report has concluded that the most widely used weed killer in the world and main ingredient in Monsanto Co's Roundup herbicide, glyphosate was probably carcinogenic to human beings.

The 16-member panel gathered by Intertek Scientific & Regulatory Consultancyhas presented its findings on Monday in front of the annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis, with an aim to publish the research at a later date following peer review. For the panel’s work, Monsanto has paid Intertek.

According to an abstract of findings, the group said that the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has misinterpreted or wrongly weighted some of the data reviewed by it and has ignored other data prior to classifying glyphosate as a likely human carcinogen.

The abstract said, “Thus, none of the results from a very large database, using different methodologies, provides evidence of, or a potential mechanism for, human carcinogenesis”.

The assessment of the panel resembles that of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which past month said that glyphosate was not probable carcinogenic.IARC was not instantly approachable for comment.

According to the US government, the herbicide is considered safe.Monsanto requested and got the US Environmental Protection Agency approval in 2013 for increased tolerance levels for glyphosate. Glyphosate is generally used for killing weeds in fields planted with soybeans and corn that are genetically altered to survive it.