A billion dollars would feed a lot of people for a very long time, but instead, Monsanto will spend this absurd amount of money to build a new plant in Luling, Louisiana to produce weed-killing, and health-damaging dicamba.
In an effort to expand its business after glyphosate was declared likely carcinogenic by the WHO, Monsanto has announced that it will focus on an alternative herbicide – dicamba. While the EPA only considers dicamba to be ‘mildly toxic’ thus far, and it has been used since the 1960s, research does link the chemical to colon cancer and lung cancers.
It is also very similar in its chemical make up to 2,4-D, another herbicide which was recently called ‘possibly carcinogenic’ by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
Though while the warnings for this herbicide were less alarming than those for the other-tested pesticides Lindane and DDT, the researchers did still called 2 ,4,-D, possibly carcinogenic. They also reported that it caused oxidative stress as well as a suppressed immune response, which are both known health conditions that support the development of cancer.
Monsanto will likely spend up to $1 billion to create a production facility that can make up for its failed Round Up, which has caused super weeds to grow throughout farms in the Midwest and across the US.
The plant is expected to be built over the next three to five years, and will take place in a part of Louisiana that has been responsible for making glyphosate for years.
It should be noted that Monsanto still has not taken any responsibility for polluting farms and tables everywhere with glyphosate. Traces of the herbicide have even been found in breast milk and fetal tissues.
“Approximately 1 billion pounds of pesticides are sprayed on crops in the United States alone every single year. Thanks to pesticide/herbicide-resistant GMO crops, that number is growing every year. Much of this pesticide spraying contains a toxic ingredient known as glyphosate – the primary poisonous active ingredient in Monsanto’s best-selling herbicide Round Up. Regulators as well as Monsanto claim that this ingredient is excreted from the body, but numerous studies have shown that not only is it causing numerous health problems, but it is showing up in urine samples, blood samples, and even breast milk.”
Nonetheless, with numerous countries and communities banning or at least restricting glyphosate’s use, apparently, Monsanto sees this as a time to switch its business model to the creation of yet another toxic concoction.