Score one for consumers: Monsanto loses big in California
This could be the biggest blow ever to the biotech bully Monsanto.
Just last week, a superior court judge issued a tentative ruling that California was within its rights to require that a warning be put on the herbicide Roundup, saying it may cause cancer.
Obviously, the last thing Monsanto wants people to see is a statement tipping them off that the chemical might be killing a lot more than just weeds.
For years now, Monsanto has been running TV commercials for Roundup with cutesy jingles showing tough guys protecting their driveways from dandelions.
Well, I wonder how the company would feel about adding something to those ads about Roundup and cancer? Bet it would take a whole crew of “Mad Men” in big ad agencies to spin that one!
But there are more ways to be exposed to Roundup — or, more specifically, its active ingredient glyphosate — than just using it on your driveway (more on that in a minute).
First, the big blow to this corporate Teflon bully must have been a shock. For decades, Monsanto has spent a king’s ransom to kill off labeling laws for the Frankenfoods its genetically modified seeds grow.
But apparently, it couldn’t buy off the entire world: Two years ago, a branch of the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), identified glyphosate as a “probable carcinogen.”
And that’s when Monsanto’s worries began.
You see, it’s pretty hard to argue with what’s considered the “gold standard” in research, as the IARC is. But still, the company tried.
California — like several other states, the U.S. government, and even other countries — rely on IARC’s findings on cancer-causing substances. So Monsanto, having seen the handwriting on the wall, sued California to try and stop it from adding cancer warnings to its products.
And, in what must have been the surprise of the century for Monsanto, it lost!
A California superior court judge just ruled that yes, Roundup can — and should — be slapped with a cancer warning label.
Of course, the company already has its legal team fighting the state’s order tooth and nail. But here’s the craziest part of all.
Monsanto is saying that by using the highly respected IARC decision that its beloved chemical may cause cancer, the state is allowing an “unelected foreign body” in France (where IARC is headquartered) to make decisions on California matters!
Aside from being the most ridiculous argument to ever hit a courtroom, it’s not without a touch of irony. Because Monsanto is now in the process of being gobbled up by German chemical giant Bayer — meaning that American farmers who buy its bioengineered seeds will soon have their livelihoods dependent on a foreign entity.
As I mentioned earlier, there are more ways to be exposed to Roundup — or glyphosate — than just picking up a container at Walmart or Home Depot and spraying it on a patch of driveway weeds.
According to the Associated Press, California farmers now use it on more than 250 types of crops! And that’s a whole lot more than the half-dozen or so commodities now being genetically modified to make them “Roundup Ready.”
As we broke the news to you last year, that’s probably because Monsanto has been encouraging the use of the chemical as a drying agent, or “desiccant,” on numerous crops just prior to harvest. Testing last year even found glyphosate in oat cereal for infants!
But while completely avoiding exposure to it may now be almost impossible, here are the top three ways to protect yourself and your family from everyday sources of glyphosate:
#1: Go for organic when buying bread and other items made from flour and lentils, peas, dry beans, flax, barley, potatoes, and oats. Those are crops most likely to have been sprayed with the chemical before harvesting.
#2: For the big three GMO crops — soy, canola and corn — your choices should be organic, or those labeled “GMO-Free.”
#3: Don’t use Roundup around your home. It may be an easy way to kill weeds… but honestly, is that something worth risking your family’s health over?
