The Unfathomable F*ckedup-ness of Glyphosate
Three weeks ago, a piece of news briefly blipped on to my radar before being quickly swallowed up in a swell of pandemic reporting and political headlines. It came to light that the United States government, at the behest of Monsanto (now owned by Bayer), is pressuring Mexico to drop its ban of glyphosate.
If true, as reported by The Guardian, the magnitude of sheer f*cked-upness that this represents is almost unfathomable. Here’s why…
What is glyphosate?
Glyphosate is an herbicide that is the primary active ingredient in the weedkiller Round-Up. This compound was developed by Monsanto in 1974, and became widely adopted by farmers in the 1990s. Since its introduction, America has sprayed 1.8 million tons of this chemical, mostly on our agricultural crops. This is because in 1994, Monsanto began to genetically modify wheat, corn, and soy crops to be resistant to glyphosate’s devastating effect on biology—it is a broad spectrum antimicrobial, killing most any plant, bacteria, or fungi it comes into contact with. These GMO crops now allowed farmers, at the direction of Monsanto sales reps, to indiscriminately mass spray the herbicide on their fields, killing unwanted weeds while leaving their commodity crops unaffected. In this process, farmers were quite literally spiking America’s food supply with this toxic chemical.
Today, glyphosate can be found in everything from a box of “heart healthy” Cheerios*, to Quaker Oats, to Sabra Hummus, and virtually all samples of conventional (non-organic) wheat and flour found on grocery store shelves today. Glyphosate is so pervasive that it is now in almost every bite of food in the U.S. food supply.
*The EWG found Cheerios to have levels of glyphosate more than 5 times higher than what is considered a safe level for children
Why is glyphosate so bad?
Glyphosate is a known carcinogen, and Monsanto is facing thousands of lawsuits for cancer deaths linked to human exposure to RoundUp. Beyond causing cancer, glyphosate wreaks havoc on the gut microbiome, and some scientists even believe it is a primary cause behind the rising incidence of autism and other developmental disorders in American children, as well as dementia and Alzheimers in the elderly. [1]
In August of 2018, a California jury found Monsanto liable for causing non-hogkins lymphona in a 46-year-old groundskeeper who sprayed the chemical frequently in his work. The jury awarded the plaintiff $289 million in damages.
In short order, Monsanto sold itself to Bayer, and the new parent company immediately dissolved Monsanto as an entity.
Today, over 20 countries ban or restrict the use of this chemical, including Australia, Scotland, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Oman, and the UAE.
Most of the glyphosate restrictions or bans throughout the world were introduced following a 2015 IARC report on glyphosate that found it to be a “probable human carcinogen.”
The report further concluded that glyphosate exposure caused “DNA and chromosomal damage in human cells, as well as genotoxic, hormonal and enzymatic effects in mammals.”
More recently, transgenerational studies in rats found severe birth defects in 3rd generation rats, whose grandparents were exposed to glyphosate (even when the 2nd and 3rd generation rats were not), confirming the likelihood of DNA mutations that can be passed on to offspring.
Mexico commits to banning glyphosate
On December 31, 2020, Mexico issued a presidential decree stating its intent to eliminate glyphosate and GMO corn from the country by 2024. [1, 2]
Here is the statement accompanying the ban:
“[W]ith the objective of achieving self-sufficiency and food sovereignty, our country must be oriented towards establishing sustainable and culturally adequate agricultural production, through the use of agroecological practices and inputs that are safe for human health, the country’s biocultural diversity and the environment, as well as congruent with the agricultural traditions of Mexico.”
Bayer lobbies the U.S. government to pressure Mexico out of its decision
On Tuesday, February 16th, The Guardian published a bombshell report detailing months of backdoor dealings and communication between Monsanto executives and officials in the Office of US Trade Representative (USTR) and other government agencies:
“Internal government emails reveal Monsanto owner Bayer AG and industry lobbyist CropLife America have been working closely with US officials to pressure Mexico into abandoning its intended ban on glyphosate, a pesticide linked to cancer that is the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkillers… Internal USTR communications lay out how the agrochemical industry is “pushing” for the US to “fold this issue” into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal that went into effect 1 July. The records then show the USTR does exactly that, telling Mexico its actions on glyphosate and genetically engineered crops raise concerns “regarding compliance” with USMCA.”
– from “Revealed: Monsanto owner and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban”
At a meeting between US and Mexican officials in January 2020, a USTR “briefing paper”, prepared as guidance for the meeting, included the glyphosate issue as a key concern to be discussed with Luz María de la Mora, Mexico’s undersecretary for foreign trade. The paper specified as one talking point the United States’ concern that the rejection of glyphosate imports was done “without a clear scientific justification.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/feb/16/revealed-monsanto-mexico-us-glyphosate-ban
Here’s the kicker…
This isn’t the first time this has happened.
In an exclusive article in Reuters from September 2020—entitled In the weeds - How Bayer, U.S. government teamed up against Thailand's glyphosate ban—this pressure by Bayer-Monsanto, and subsequent actions by the US government on their behalf, were also caught and called out by investigative journalists, but the story never broke into the mainstream.
In this instance, more than 200 pages of partially redacted documents and emails, some directly between U.S. officials and a Bayer representative, show that pressure applied from Bayer made its way into formal trade negotiations with Thailand. In this case, unfortunately, it worked. Thailand eventually dropped plans to ban glyphosate a few days before the ban was due to come into force in December 2019.
In a rebuke of the decision, Thailand’s public health minister Anutin Charvinrakul said during a press conference that “our job is to take care of the people’s health.”
Isn’t it time the United States government took a similar stance?
Further Reading and Listening:
Zach Bush, M.D. On GMO's, Glyphosate & Healing the Gut, Rich Roll Podcast, 11 Mar 2018
Genetically Engineered Crops, Glyphosate and the Deterioration of Health in the United States of America, The Natural Farmer
In New Round of Tests, Monsanto’s Weedkiller Still Contaminates Foods Marketed to Children, Environmental Working Group
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