The pesticide glyphosate has been banned in Austria as of July 2nd 2019. Austria’s parliament passed a bill banning all uses of the weedkiller. In 2015, glyphosate, most recognised as part of Monsanto’s weedkiller RoundUp, but also found in many different pesticides, was rated as a probable carcinogen (class 2A) by the World Health Organisation. Since that point, thousands of lawsuits have been prepared and are now commencing in the United States.
Though the European Union re-approved glyphosate for use in 2017 for 5 years, there is growing opposition. Indeed, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, stated in June 2019 to the German parliament that glyphosate would at some point not be deployed by farmers any more.
Law courts in the United States have begun to rule that glyphosate causes the cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, has lost three legal cases in a row in the United States against plaintiffs who developed non-Hodgkin lymphona from glyphosate usage.
In the most recent trial, Monsanto was hit with punitive damages of $2bn. Punitive damages are awarded against defendants for outrageous conduct and for violations of the law that are hard to detect. Monsanto hid the fact it knew glyphosate caused cancer years before it ended up in court. There are more than 13,000 cases against Monsanto still outstanding in the United States alone.
Glyphosate destroys soil quality, disrupting the food web’s natural processes, gets into water supplies and foods. In a recent study conducted UC San Francisco, 93% of participants were found to have glyphosate in their urine. Pesticides are recognised as hazardous to our health and they pass from plants and animals to humans. They are used in GMO farming to kill weeds and insects, and are absorbed by the genetically modified crop.
Austria’s historic vote to ban glyphosate, in a nation where nearly a quarter of farms are organic, is a vital move in protecting the soils, plants, water supply and all life from the toxic effects of glyphosate. The ban should take immediate effect.
Sources:
Austria bans glyphosate:
https://nationalpost.com/pmn/entertainment-pmn/austria-set-to-be-first-eu-country-to-ban-all-uses-of-weedkiller-glyphosate
Class 2A Carcinogen:
http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/iarcnews/pdf/MonographVolume112.pdf
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(15)70134-8/abstract
EU re-approval of glyphosate based on Monsanto documents:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/15/eu-glyphosate-approval-was-based-on-plagiarised-monsanto-text-report-finds
Angela Merkel:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bayer-glyphosate-merkel/glyphosate-use-will-eventually-end-merkel-says-idUSKCN1TR1QN
Law suits:
http://www.panna.org/press-statement/third-consecutive-ruling-against-bayer-jury-awards-2bn-cancer-trial
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/13/monsanto-cancer-trial-bayer-roundup-couple
Glyphosate in urine:
https://detoxproject.org/1321-2/
Pesticides are harmful:
https://www.ucsf.edu/sites/default/files/legacy_files/pesticidesmatter_whitepaper.pdf
GMO and pesticides:
https://www.naturalscience.org/publications/the-hidden-use-of-genetically-modified-organisms-and-their-impact-on-human-beings-animals-and-nature/
