The Canadian federal government has declared that glyphosate — the main ingredient in the popular herbicide Roundup — is safe, in a striking contrast to a court ruling in the U.S. that determined that the weedkiller caused a California man’s cancer. Internal emails indicate that Canada’s government is aware of the possible contradiction, and took steps to mitigate it, says CBC.

Health experts around the world are divided on whether or not glyphosate is safe. This conflict was made apparent in Agriculture Canada’s recent statement that glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer and is an important part of farming. 

CBC reported that after the California court ruling that determined that Bayer’s Roundup caused a man’s cancer, Agriculture Canada officials strategized about how to best position the stance that glyphosate is safe. According to CBC, the internal emails indicating this conversation were released under Canada’s access to information laws.

Reportedly, one email bore the subject line “OVERVIEW OF THE CHEMICAL ROUNDUP, AND HOW TO COUNTER CLAIMS THAT IT CAUSES CANCER.” The CBC says that in that message an Agriculture Canada member stated that the organization’s continued stance that glyphosate is safe “may appear contradictory.”

According to CBC, Agriculture Canada officials worried that the U.S. court ruling, and other litigation filed over glyphosate, may cause stakeholders to be concerned about glyphosate’s risks. Another official proposed qualifying the risk in communications with stakeholders and the public by suggesting that the federal organization make a statement like “exposure to glyphosate through regular use is not a carcinogenic risk.”

Eco-Justice, a nonprofit environmental organization, commented on Agriculture Canada’s position, noting that “they are being careful in their wording — they know that the science is out there on the risks of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.” 

In their position on glyphosate, Agriculture Canada stressed glyphosate’s importance in agriculture, noting that the government believes it to be particularly important in sustainable farming. 

CBC goes on to explain that most regulators around the world do maintain that glyphosate is safe. The groups include groups in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan, as well as Health Canada, the European Food Safety Authority, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

One notable exclusion from this group is the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, which deemed glyphosate a probable human carcinogen in 2015.

Bayer, which acquired Monsanto, and with it, Monsanto’s Roundup, fought this statement. According to Bayer, the WHO’s findings were inconsistent with scientific research and the conclusions of worldwide organizations.

However, some critics of Bayer say that the WHO’s findings are based on more reliable data than the findings that glyphosate is safe, that better investigated real-world conditions in which people encounter glyphosate. Additionally, the lawsuit in California argued that Bayer’s evidence that glyphosate is safe was ghostwritten by scientists employed by Monsanto. Critics took this to mean that the science was not unbiased, and was therefore unreliable.

Critics have also argued that Health Canada’s determination that glyphosate was safe was then based on this faulty information, possibly putting the public’s health at risk.