The sheer quantity of weedkiller sprayed in the USA is appalling. I was reading this article last night and it struck me yet again how shameful it is that food growing is linked the the application of poisons:
“With the recent second verdict where a jury ruled that Roundup weedkiller contributed to a man’s cancer, controversial pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are once again in the news.
These chemicals, particularly the herbicide glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) have long played a role in American agriculture, but their health risks are only now being understood. As a result, thousands of cancer lawsuits have been filed against Monsanto, the company that invented Roundup, and Monsanto’s new parent company, Bayer AG.
Along with Priceonomics customer WeedKillerCrisis We decided to analyze data to uncover which states in the United States had the most and least exposure to pesticides, herbicides and other agricultural chemicals, with a particular focus on glyphosate, the active ingredient that is in the news right now. We looked at data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to see which compounds were most popular and which locations had the highest usage levels of these chemicals.
By a significant margin, the most popular herbicide in the United States is glyphosate, which is four times more popular than the second most popular chemical.”
Over 289 MILLION pounds of glysophate was used in 2016, with California, Washington and Illinois being the worst offenders.
A change in agriculture is long overdue, though I fear switching from this system of poison farming will be much easier said than done.
You can have greener thumbs by this weekend!
3 comments
Isn’t glyphosate an herbicide? I’m confused, because the linked article repeatedly refers to it as a pesticide. Do they have any idea what they’re talking about?
I cringe every time I see all the glyphosate products in the gardening section. And I seethe with anger when I think about how they spew the false line about how it quickly breaks down into innocuous parts. “It’s totally safe!” And I bought that B.S. for a time. Before I started realizing that the world is rife with bloody liars. (BTW, check the spelling in your headline: Glyphosate)
Related to this is the fact that so many people on “the right” who have otherwise wisened up (i.e. red-pilled) still reflexively react to things like this with scorn and mockery (along with many others like organic foods, vaccines, other environmental issues, etc.) without a bit of humility or skepticism. Much of it is the typical knee jerk reaction of: “If they (lefties) believe this stuff then there’s no way I’m buying it. They’ve got to be wrong.” It’s maddening.
i have a hard time believing that the states growing Roundup ready corn and soy in the midwest, don’t use far more Glyphosate, and Dicamba, than anywhere on the West Coast.
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