Bayer again publicly defended the safety of Roundup, its glyphosate-based herbicide, following the release of a new study by the Ramazzini Institute indicating an increased cancer risk in rats exposed to the product. In a statement, the company affirmed that the research presents "serious methodological flaws" and fits into a "history of misleading claims" by the institute, whose studies have already been rejected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and criticized by European authorities for lack of scientific rigor.