Los Angeles County this week issued a moratorium on the application of Monsanto's Roundup weed killer, citing a need for more research into its potential health and environmental effects.

The county's Board of Supervisors asked the Department of Public Works to work with other health officials to survey the use of glyphosate, which is the main active ingredient in Roundup.

The moratorium was issued the same day a federal jury decided that the weed killer likely played a role in a California man's cancer. Monsanto, which was purchased by Bayer AG last year, faces thousands of similar lawsuits at the federal and state level.

LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger recommended the ban, KNBC-TV reported .

"I am asking county departments to stop the use of this herbicide until public health and environmental professionals can determine if it's safe for further use in LA County and explore alternative methods for vegetation management," Barger said.

The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer declared glyphosate a carcinogen in 2015. However, the Environmental Protection Agency decided it likely does not cause cancer in people in a 2017 draft human health risk assessment.

More than 50 cities and counties have banned the chemical, according to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Environmental Working Group, which has long spoken out against the use of glyphosate.

"Kicking Bayer-Monsanto and its cancer-causing weedkiller off LA County property was absolutely the right call," Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook said in a statement. "We know glyphosate causes cancer in people and shouldn't be sprayed anywhere – period.