I’m a death lawyer and this is the supermarket item I’d NEVER touch: ‘It’s the one product I’m most afraid of’

A catastrophic injury and death lawyer has shocked viewers after revealing the one everyday product he refuses to go near – and it’s something millions of Australians pick up at the supermarket without a second thought.

Philadelphia-based attorney Tom Bosworth told his followers that the chemical glyphosate – used in many weed killers sold in Australia – is the one thing he won’t touch under any circumstances.

‘As a catastrophic injury and death lawyer I deal with some of the most dangerous products and some of the worst situations in the world,’ he said in a viral TikTok.

‘But if you were to ask me what’s the one product that I’m most afraid of that I would never go near – it’s without a doubt glyphosate.

‘There has been study after study that demonstrates the link between the weed killer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

‘The latency in people can be five, 10, 20 years. You might not get the diagnosis until 20 years after using the product.’

His warning mirrors years of global concern. 

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a ‘probable’ human carcinogen back in 2015, saying the evidence – while limited – was strong enough to prompt caution and further investigation.

Australia remains deeply divided over its safety.

Professor Lin Fritschi, an epidemiologist within the School of Public Health at Curtin University, has previously said the evidence around glyphosate and cancer risk remains incomplete.

‘The fact the IARC stated there is ‘suggestive evidence’ that glyphosate causes cancer means more information is needed on the issue,’ she said in an expert commentary published by Scimex.org following Australia’s first glyphosate-related cancer lawsuit.

She urged anyone using glyphosate to consider safer alternatives and to take greater precautions if they do continue to use it.

‘For glyphosate, the manufacturers recommend wearing eye protection, a respirator with a replaceable filter, rubber gloves, and cotton overalls buttoned at the neck and wrist,’ she said. 

‘A strong message from this is that labelling of pesticides in Australia needs to be improved.’

But not every expert agrees with the warnings.

Professor Ivan Kennedy, from the University of Sydney and an expert in risk assessment and the environmental fate of pesticides, has argued that concerns have been exaggerated.

‘The IARC made a ‘bad mistake’ in claiming glyphosate is a probable cause of cancer,’ he said in the same Scimex report. 

‘There is no convincing evidence for this, and much evidence gathered over 40 years about it as the safest herbicide known.’

Despite the pushback, Australia’s pesticide regulator recently reapproved glyphosate for use until 2035, saying there isn’t enough evidence to ban it – even as several countries including Vietnam, Austria, Belgium, and France have restricted or outlawed it entirely.

Bosworth said the long delay between exposure and diagnosis is what frightens him most.

‘It’s a product I’d never touch,’ he told viewers.