Weed killer goes on trial in California courtroom

At numerous hardware and big-box stores… just a hop, a skip, and a jump from the U.S. District Court in San Francisco… you could buy a truckload of Roundup if you wanted to.

But anyone who’s privy to the goings-on inside judge Vince Chhabria’s courtroom is going to think long and hard before even touching a bottle of the weed killer!

More than 700 plaintiffs — including farmers, gardeners, and landscapers who once used Roundup without a second thought — are blaming its active ingredient, glyphosate, for the fact that they now have cancer.

This, however, is far from your typical lawsuit.

Despite numerous findings over the years clearly linking glyphosate to cancer, Chhabria will be the first judge ever given the opportunity to make a court decision on that fact.

And that could mark a turning point for Monsanto’s billion-dollar baby – a chemical that has cut a path of destruction not only across America’s heartland, but also through our own backyards.

Roundup’s last roundup?

The idea that glyphosate can kill more than just weeds isn’t new.

Three years ago, a branch of the World Health Organization called the International Agency for Research on Cancer (considered the “gold standard” in research) identified the chemical as a “probable carcinogen.”

Other studies have linked it to kidney and liver damage, obesity, IBD, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.

But it seems that no matter what scientists reveal about the health risks of using this chemical, it keeps right on selling — not just to farmers, either, but to schools, businesses, weekend gardeners, and everyone in between.

Hopefully, the hundreds of cases now waiting to go to trial will put an end to glyphosate’s reign as the best-selling herbicide in the world. Believe it or not, it still brings in close to $4 billion a year for Monsanto – which is likely how the company is able to afford its army of attorneys!

But before the cases can go forward, various experts have been asked to give testimony so that the judge can determine whether there’s enough science to prove in a court of law that this widely-advertised weed killer caused all of those cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

While that might sound like a typical legal maneuver, it’s much more than that. What’s going on is a high-stakes gamble — and if Monsanto loses, it could mean “game over” for Roundup.

So far, during the media-dubbed “science week,” Chhabria has heard from dozens of experts on both sides of the fence. Professor Beate Ritz from the University of California at Los Angeles, told the judge that enough Roundup is used in Iowa each year, for example, to coat every square mile of the state in nearly 90 pounds of the chemical.

But guess what? All of that glyphosate doesn’t just stay in Iowa — or any other location, for that matter.

The chemical is used on hundreds of commodities, many of which are genetically modified Frankenfoods such as corn, canola, and soy (with tons of corn being grown in Iowa). As for other non-GMO crops such as wheat and oats, we broke the news to you several years ago. Monsanto has been encouraging farmers to use Roundup on them as a drying agent (a.k.a. a desiccant) just prior to harvest as well.

Because of that, glyphosate residue has been found on all sorts of non-GMO foods, including oat cereal made for babies!

But whether Monsanto wins or loses in court, we need to make our own ruling about keeping glyphosate out of our lives – and off of our dinner tables. The best way to do that is buying organic whenever possible (especially where corn is concerned). You can also find processed foods bearing the “Non-GMO Project Verified” stamp.

And when you see all of that Roundup on the store shelves, do what I’m sure all of those cancer patients who are suing Monsanto wish they had done — leave it right where it is!

“Monsanto’s cancer fight judge pictures weed killer showers” Joel Rosenblatt, March 14, 2018, Bloomberg, Bloomberg.com