Herbicide

The United States Department of Agriculture is currently considering approving a new Monsanto corn genetically engineered to be used with five deadly herbicides. The vast majority of soy and corn grown in the United States is Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready product. Roundup is the trade name of glyphosate, a chemical agent widely accepted as causing cancer in humans, including by the World Health Organization and the State of California.

So far, this year has not been very kind to Monsanto. First, collusion between Monsanto and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was revealed, whereby the company worked in tandem with the federal agency to discredit independent research conducted by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Agrochemical giant Monsanto’s fight to renew the chemical license for its most popular herbicide, glyphosate (aka “Roundup”), was dealt a major blow this past Thursday when the European Parliament officially banned lobbyists representing the interests of the corporation. The move came after the controversial corporation and its lobbyists refused to attend a parliamentary hearing regarding allegations that Monsanto had sought to unduly influence studies examining glyphosate’s safety.

The EPA’s inspector general has launched an investigation into possible collusion between a former high-ranking EPA official and Monsanto, the maker of RoundUp. [1]
The probe was initiated in response to a request from Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, for an investigation into whether the EPA official colluded with the biotech giant to tilt research on glyphosate in favor of Monsanto’s claim that the chemical does not cause cancer in humans.
This, despite Monsanto having never conducted carcinogenicity studies on RoundUp.

A California federal judge has ruled that General Mills may continue to label its Nature Valley granola bars as “natural,” despite tests which showed they contained traces of the chemical glyphosate, the main ingredient in the herbicide RoundUp and a multitude of other weedkillers. [1]

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) announced July 25, 2017 that it had discovered traces of the RoundUp chemical glyphosate in 10 of 11 samples of Ben & Jerry’s ice creams. The levels were reportedly far below the limit set by the EPA. [1]
The discovery is a bit of an embarrassment to the ice-cream maker because it has billed itself as a non-GMO company since 2014. Thankfully, the levels found were quite low. [2]

On July 7, 2017, officials in Arkansas and Missouri enacted a temporary ban on dicamba, the herbicide blamed for vaporizing and damaging crops which have not been genetically engineered to withstand the weedkiller. The Arkansas Plant Board had voted June 23, 2017 to temporarily ban the spraying of dicamba on any crops except pasture land for 120 days. [1]
The newest ban, set to start July 11, 2017, extends the 120-day moratorium.

After hundreds of Arkansas farmers claimed their crops had been harmed by the weed-killer dicamba, which was sprayed on neighboring fields, the Arkansas Plant Board voted June 23, 2017, to impose an unprecedented ban on the herbicide.
David Hundley, who manages grain production for Ozark Mountain Poultry in the town of Bay, said:

U.S. Army armored personnel carrier (APC) spraying Agent Orange during the Vietnam War (WikiMedia Commons)
A key federal official who helps adjudicate claims by veterans who say they were exposed to Agent Orange has downplayed the risks of the chemical herbicide and questioned the findings of scientists, journalists and even a federal administrative tribunal that conflict with his views.

At a children’s health conference earlier this month, the results of a study were presented which show that glyphosate, the main component in the Monsanto herbicide, RoundUp, is detected in pregnant women and could lead to adverse outcomes, including shorter gestation times and lower birth weights.
The news comes just weeks after the USDA scrapped plans to start testing food for glyphosate.