This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience while browsing it. By clicking 'Got It' you're accepting these terms.
Most recent
Trending
The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!
Monsanto Bullies EPA on Glyphosate Ruling
By Violet Batcha
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA) is seeking public input on the health impacts of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. But despite mounting evidence, the EPA continues to ignore glyphosate's hazards, and it looks like Monsanto's under-the-table influence may be a reason why.
Monsanto has launched a campaign to pressure the EPA into declaring glyphosate safe. It is terrified of losing the profits from selling this ubiquitous herbicide.
The use of glyphosate on U.S. farmland has exploded in recent years. A recent study found that Americans' exposure to the pesticide has increased fivefold since it was first introduced more than 20 years ago.
As use of glyphosate has increased, so have concerns about its health hazards.
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. Earlier this year, California added glyphosate to the state's Proposition 65 registry as a chemical known to cause cancer. A 2018 study out of Indiana University linked glyphosate to shorter pregnancy, which can increase a child's risk of chronic diseases later in life.
California's Proposition 65 listing would require cancer warning labels on Roundup. A group of Big Ag lobbyists, backed by Monsanto, has taken action to stop the labeling rule from taking effect.
Meanwhile, unsealed court documents have revealed Monsanto's efforts to collude with the EPA to cover up glyphosate's cancer risks. In lawsuits against Monsanto by cancer victims, an EPA official who was in charge of evaluating the herbicide's cancer risk has been accused of aiding the company's efforts to kill the agency's investigation.
But now we have a chance to make our voices heard. We can urge the EPA not to cave to Monsanto's pressure and to review all the science linking glyphosate to cancer. But we only have until April 30 to flood the EPA with comments.
Make sure EPA chief Scott Pruitt knows you're watching. Tell him to stand up to Monsanto and protect public health.
Reposted with permission from our media associate Environmental Working Group.
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
By Jeff Turrentine
To celebrate the 50th birthday of one of America's most important environmental laws, President Trump has decided to make a mockery out of it.
In 2018, there were about 5 million electric cars on the road globally. It sounds like a large number, but with well over a billion cars worldwide, electric vehicles are still only a small percentage.
Nestlé, the world's largest food company, said it will invest up to $2 billion to address the plastic waste crisis that it is largely responsible for.
Trending
Screen Time: Conclusions About Effects of Digital Media Are Often Incomplete, Irrelevant or Wrong
By Byron Reeves, Nilam Ram and Thomas N. Robinson
There's a lot of talk about digital media. Increasing screen time has created worries about media's impacts on democracy, addiction, depression, relationships, learning, health, privacy and much more. The effects are frequently assumed to be huge, even apocalyptic.