Glyphosate - In the News

Glyphosate – What Is It? 9

Glyphosate in Nova Scotia Forests 9

Glyphosate – The Science (research Links) 9

Glyphosate – What You Can Do 9

Links to news articles and interviews

CTV National News Sarah Plowman’s interview with patient Sarah Nesbitt August 15, 2024

The Guardian reported that the former provincial lead on the file, Dr. Alier Merrero, recently sent a letter to the federal and provincial public health authorities urging them to consider conducting environmental testing for the herbicide glyphosate. He writes in the letter that a number of his patients have shown exposure to the herbicide, often used in the province’s forestry industry, and worries that it could be linked to other environmental toxins.
He goes on to say that glyphosate has been linked to an increase in neuro-toxic cyanobacteria, better known as “blue-green algae,” which has become increasingly common in the region.


Global News
March 2, 2023

Powerful story of a former Bay Area Groundskeeper who took on Monsanto after his terminal cancer diagnosis. Richard Elenko, a farmer from Biggar, Saskatchewan explains the process of desiccation, the practice of spraying a chemical, such as glyphosate, directly on crops before harvest in order to dry them out evenly.


the passionate eye — CBC Docs — 98min
February 6, 2023

The lawsuit has been filed by Ecojustice on behalf of four groups and comes in the wake of the Jan. 11/23 release of an American research study that found that people exposed to glyphosate have biomarkers in their urine linked to the development of cancer and other diseases.


Francis Campbell — Saltwire
January 28, 2023

Research by top US government scientists has found that people exposed to the widely used weed killing chemical glyphosate have biomarkers in their urine linked to the development of cancer and other diseases.


The New Lede
January 23, 2023

These two Canadian farmers used Roundup on their crops for decades.
Then they were diagnosed with cancer

The Passionate Eye, CBC
September 20, 2022

They say it’s killing their way of life.

The Passionate Eye, CBC
September 13, 2022

For first time, Bayer AG CEO Werner Baumann is targeted to give testimony in Roundup litigation – and within 90 days. Baumann was instrumental in driving Bayer to buy Monsanto in 2018 for $63 billion, and he has been the public face for the company’s continued insistence that Monsanto’s Roundup, and other glyphosate-based herbicides, are not carcinogenic.

Carey Gillam, The New Lede
August 26, 2022

SAN FRANCISCO — Today, in a historic victory for farmworkers and the environment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with Center for Food Safety (CFS) and its represented farmworker and conservation clients by overturning the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision that the toxic pesticide glyphosate is safe for humans and imperiled wildlife. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto-Bayer’s flagship Roundup weedkiller, the most widely used pesticide in the world.


centerforfoodsafety.org
June 17, 2022

The Federal Court of Appeal has issued a decision in favour of Safe Food Matters in a court case concerning the pesticide glyphosate. The decision remits the matter back to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency for reconsideration, and offers strong guidance to PMRA to avoid “the endless merry-go-round” of court applications and reconsiderations.

Reasons for Judgement (28 pages)
February 2, 2022

Inconvenient facts about eastern Canada’s forest industry.

Moira Donovan – maisonneuve.org
January 25, 2022
From a 5th generation woodlot owner
October 6, 2021

Hear why Suzanne Simard questions the use of the herbicide glyphosate.

CBC Info Morning
October 7, 2021 – 9.35 min

One important implication of the study is that the mothers did not have to be directly working in agriculture [or forestry] in order for their children to face dangerous exposure.

April 7, 2021

If you were exposed to Roundup between 1976 and April 4, 2019, you may be eligible to join the class action lawsuit and you may be eligible for financial compensation

Prolonged exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of the weedkiller Roundup causes significant harm to keystone species according to new research at the University of Birmingham.
December 16, 2020

“Buy it or else:”

Inside Monsanto and BASF’s moves to force dicamba on farmers. Internal company records show the companies knew crop damage from their weed killer would be extensive. They sold it anyway.
December 4, 2020
Greenwashing at its worst
After decades of denial and delay by big agribusiness, the pesticides industry appears to have become a climate champion.
Investigation: November 17, 2020

Safe food matters to you and me, but does it matter to Health Canada?
Informing Canadians since 2016.
October 21, 2020

  • Letter to NS Minister of Environment from Margaree Environmental Assoc.
    In part:
    “The Margaree Environmental Association (MEA) is strongly opposed to the NS Dept. of Environment’s issuing of permits to spray glyphosate herbicide on 1498 hectares of forest land on mainland Nova Scotia. Furthermore, MEA supports the efforts of individuals and groups protesting the herbicide spray program, as spraying has been shown to be dangerous to human health, destructive to the environment, expensive, and totally unnecessary.”
    September, 2020
Monsanto manufactures glyphosate
Monsanto was bought out by Bayer
Glyphosate causes non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
Bayer announces it can significantly prolong non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma patients’ progression-free survival
October 14, 2020

A Statement by the FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) Committee
on Reproductive and Developmental Environmental Health
July, 2019

The jury found that Monsanto and BASF conspired in actions that created what Bader’s attorney called an “ecological disaster” designed to increase profits at the expense of farmers

“In this commentary, we have identified factors that heighten concerns over the adequacy of safety assessments, and by extension, permitted levels of exposure to glyphosate and GBHs. These factors include increased use of GBHs on crops and for non-crop weed control, leading to measurable concentrations of glyphosate and AMPA in foodstuffs and likely increases in human exposures. The lack of biomonitoring data and epidemiological studies remain important data gaps. A small number of controlled laboratory studies using contemporary scientific approaches have identified adverse effects of glyphosate and GBHs at much lower doses than those used to make risk assessment decisions. Although there is controversy and debate regarding the carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting potential of these compounds, conclusions such as those drawn by IARC call into question the safety of GBHs beyond “reasonable certainty of no harm,” Considering what is now known about glyphosate from studies published over the last three decades, as well as the knowledge gaps that continue to raise concerns, we conclude that current safety standards for GBHs are outdated and may fail to protect public health and the environment.”
June, 2017

Excellent, cross-country resource

“To continue to find these effects one to two years after herbicide applications, in new parts of growing plants, is noteworthy.”

Dr. Lisa J. Wood, assistant professor
Ecosystem Science & Management Dept.
University of Northern British Columbia
June 16, 2021

Glyphosate translocates into root systems of perennial herbaceous plants such as raspberries and blueberries and flushes into the fruits the following spring. Residual glyphosate in fruits in the year following treatment with glyphosate based herbicides (GBH) could have chronic implications for wildlife such as birds, bears, and other mammals consuming large quantities of berries in forest cutblocks.
Begins Carrying Organic Alternatives Instead

August 1, 2021
Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 493

Bayer-Monsanto have announced that they will not be asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a $20.6 million verdict awarded to former school groundskeeper, Dewayne Lee Johnson, who proved that their glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup causes cancer.
In a recent interview before Bayer admitted defeat, Mr. Johnson said he knew the legal battle with Monsanto could continue for many more years but he was committed to trying to hold the company accountable.
He has managed to keep his illness in check so far with regular chemotherapy and radiation treatments, but is not certain how long that will continue.

“I don’t think any amount would be enough to punish that company.”

March 26, 2021

Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, a logger and the bill’s sponsor, said aerial application of glyphosate and other herbicides has caused irreversible environmental damage.

March 2, 2021
RURAL COALITION, ORGANIZACIÓN EN CALIFORNIA DE
LÍDERES CAMPESINAS, FARMWORKER ASSOCIATION OF
FLORIDA, BEYOND PESTICIDES, AND CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY,
Petitioners
v.
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [and others] 93 pages