The chemical compound known as glyphosate (formula: C3H8NO5P) kills many of the weeds and grasses that directly compete with major crops. It appears in hundreds of products and is perhaps best known as an ingredient in the popular herbicide RoundUp. Yet glyphosate is mired in controversy because of credible scientific evidence linking it to mass deaths among wildlife like bees, as well as to health issues in humans. Indeed, earlier this week the Supreme Court rejected a claim by German company Bayer to throw out thousands of lawsuits that alleged RoundUp had caused cancer among gardeners and landscapers.
Just as significantly, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed with the non-profit group Center for Food Safety that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broke the law when it decided under President Donald Trump that glyphosate is safe for humans. In the process, the group has forced an official reopening of a conversation about glyphosate, one that Big Agriculture has tried to keep closed.
