Tag: glyphosate

Besides the potential contamination of local maize varieties, the groups argued that the health risks of introducing GMO maize into Nigeria could be “enormous” considering that maize is a staple food in their diet.

This move by France and their EU partners will hit the biotech giant Monsanto and other large pesticide companies which rely on glyphosate-based herbicides for a large percentage of their global profits.

While the pre-harvest use of glyphosate may account for a small amount of overall use of the herbicide, this still has a huge impact.

Public pressure against glyphosate in countries across Europe has been intense, with nearly 1.5 million people petitioning the EU’s health commissioner for a ban on the substance.

The German Brewers’ Association admitted that low residues of the probable human carcinogen glyphosate could not be prevented, because “the herbicide is now found virtually everywhere after decades of use in agriculture”.

The federal agency already tests for residues of many agricultural chemicals on food. Now it will include the widely used weed killer linked to cancer.

Monsanto has long maintained the safety of their widely popular product. The agribusiness giant has also vehemently denied glyphosate’s link to cancer.

In 2001 glyphosate was detected in the urine of only 10% of the participants, in 2013 it was present in just under 60% of the test group, and most recently in 2015, it was 40%.

Monsanto is facing a slew of criticism from environmentalists as well as mounting class-action lawsuits over the controversial chemical.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which sets the tolerance levels allowed for glyphosate and other pesticides has said glyphosate is safe at certain defined tolerance levels, and has actually raised those tolerance levels in recent years.