Herbicide

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has quietly scrapped plans to start testing food for glyphosate, the primary component of the Monsanto-made herbicide RoundUp.

Monsanto herbicides are prepared prior to being sprayed on food crops. (Photo from the USDA via Wikimedia Commons)
If we had a dime for every kooky, left-wing theory we’ve heard alleging some vast corporate conspiracy to exploit the treasures of the earth, destroy the environment and poison people with unknown carcinogens all while buying off politicians to cover their tracks, we would be rich.  The problem, of course, is that sometimes the kooky conspiracy theories prove to be completely accurate.

The largest peach grower in Missouri has filed a lawsuit against Monsanto alleging that the biotech giant is responsible for illegal herbicide use that is believed to have caused widespread crop damage in southeast Missouri and neighboring states. [1]
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On November 9, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved dicamba, a dangerously toxic herbicide designed by Monsanto for its next generation biotech soy and cotton varieties. [1]
Source: National Pesticide Information Center
The approval means that farmers will be able to use the new Xtendimax with Vapor Grip Technology formulation of dicamba to help control weeds in their crops that have become resistant to glyphosate and PPO (protoporphyrinogen oxidase inhibitors). [2]

Majestic monarch butterflies cover the fir trees in the forests of Central Mexico every winter, but fewer of them have been calling these woods home, thanks mostly to humanity’s destruction of their natural environment. [1]

The number of monarchs have been dwindling for 2 decades, but the situation seems to have reached a tipping point this year.
Karen Oberhauser, co-chairwoman of Monarch Joint Venture, a national collaboration of 50 conservation, education and research groups, confirmed it, saying:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed the presence of trace amounts of glyphosate in a variety of oat products, including plain and flavored oat cereals for babies. [1]
An FDA chemist compiled data and presented it to other chemists at a meeting in Florida. The evidence revealed that residues of the chemical found in Monsanto’s blockbuster Roundup pesticide was present in several types of infant oat cereal, including banana strawberry- and banana-flavored varieties.

It took years of begging and pleading, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally agreed in February to start testing for glyphosate in food. The agency announced just a few days ago that U.S. honey samples tested positive for the chemical, which is an ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. [1]

Soybean fields in parts of Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee are plagued by “superweeds” that have become resistant to glyphosate, the main ingredient in biotech company’s Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide. Farmers are now dousing the plants with illegal chemicals to try and kill the rogue weeds.

Taiwan has recalled Quaker Oats after a random inspection by the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) detected glyphosate in amounts exceeding the nation’s legal limits in 10 out of 36 products.
It has been a rough month for Quaker Oats. The company has been under intense public scrutiny since trace amounts of glyphosate, the toxic ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, was detected in its products. A class action was filed in early May over the discovery by consumers who allege Quaker Oats’ “100% natural” label constitutes false advertising.

Four Nebraska farmers are now suing the agricultural giant Monsanto because they believe the herbicide Roundup has caused them to develop cancer. The farmers feel that Monsanto did not give them accurate information about the safety of Roundup and that their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is directly linked to daily exposure to the chemicals in the herbicide.