The weedkiller in our food is killing us
Erin Brockovich
Growing research show that glyphosate, one of the most
widely used herbicides in the US, causes cancer
Thu 6 Dec 2018 10.30 GMT Last modified on Thu 6 Dec 2018
18.06 GMT
On a recent Saturday afternoon, in an estuary near Tampa
Bay, Florida, I watched airboats move up and down the river banks, spraying
massive plumes of weedkiller on to the vegetation. The state of Florida was
trying to control and kill off scores of plant species. Nearby, children were
lying out in the sun, though they knew better than to swim in the water, which
has recently been blooming with toxic algae. Mists of weedkiller drifted
downwind toward them.
The main active ingredient in that mist, and in the
weedkiller being sprayed throughout Tampa Bay, is glyphosate, one of the most
widely used herbicides in the US. First registered for use here in 1974, it is
now an ingredient in more than 750 products, including the most widely deployed
herbicide in the world, Monsanto’s Roundup. For more than a generation,
Americans have been using Roundup and other glyphosate-based chemicals to
improve agricultural yields, manage forests, ripen fruit and kill the
dandelions sprouting from our front lawns.
This August, the jury in a civil trial found Monsanto, which
was acquired earlier this year by the German chemical behemoth Bayer, guilty of
causing the cancer of Dewayne Johnson, a school groundskeeper. The jury awarded
Johnson $289m (a judge later reduced the award to $78m, citing statutory
limits). Roughly 8,700 similar cases against Monsanto are also before the
courts.
Almonds, carrots,
quinoa, beets … these are just some of the foods which typically contain high
levels of glyphosate
Growing research suggests that glyphosate causes a form of
cancer called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, with which Johnson was diagnosed in 2014.
At least three studies, in the US, Canada and Sweden, have linked glyphosate
exposure to the disease, and, in 2015, the World Health Organization’s
International Agency for Research on Cancer found glyphosate to be a “probable”
cause of cancer in humans. California’s state environmental protection agency
has also declared it a probable carcinogen.
Almonds, carrots, quinoa, soy products, vegetable oil, corn
and corn oil, canola seeds used in canola oil, beets and beet sugar, sweet
potatoes – these are just some of the foodstuffs which typically contain high
levels of glyphosate. Research released in August by the non-profit
Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that Cheerios, Quaker Old Fashioned
Oats and at least 29 other popular breakfast foods contained what the EWG
considers unsafe quantities of the herbicide. The environmental group has been
urging public action to get the EPA to revise its outdated standards, which
currently fail to protect the public from glyphosate in foods. Levels of
glyphosate in the bodies of people in some areas appear to have jumped over
1,300% in the past 20 years, according to a study published in the Journal of
the American Medical Association.
There is also evidence that glyphosate is an important
driver of Florida’s toxic algae bloom and of similar algal efflorescences
across the country. According to research conducted on Lake Erie, the algae
thrive off the phosphorus released when the compound is sprayed on certain
soils. In turn, human exposure to the toxic algae, which regularly kills pets
and wildlife, has been linked to neurodegenerative disorders such as
Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and ALS.
Glyphosate is only one of more than 80,000 registered
commercially produced chemicals in the US. Some of these compounds, such as
PFOA and the one I made my name investigating, hexavalent chromium, have also
been convincingly linked to health crises – testicular cancer in the case of
PFOA, and lung cancer in the case of chromium-6.
We need to petition
our legislators, exercise our right to vote, rally our communities and lobby
for what we believe in
Unlike pharmaceuticals, which have to go through relatively
rigorous (if imperfect) testing before being released on the marketplace, the
vast majority of chemicals like glyphosate will never be adequately tested for
their effects on ecosystems or human beings. Governments don’t have the
resources, and companies don’t have the incentive. Even when safety guidelines
and regulations are in place, the rate of chemicals acceptable by law may be
far higher than what is genuinely safe.
The fact is we simply have no idea the extent of the harm
most chemicals are doing to our bodies or our planet. And as the Trump
administration undermines the Environmental Protection Agency and Republicans
seek to gut the meagre safeguards that are in place, our exposure to glyphosate
and other such chemicals is only likely to increase.
Many people are looking for a simple answer or new insight
into the issue, but the answer has always been the same. We need to petition
our legislators, exercise our right to vote, rally our communities, lobby for
what we believe in, and most importantly, understand that it’s the health and
welfare of our families that is at stake.
Erin Brockovich is an American legal clerk and environmental
activist
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