07/February/20

 

Canadian Agriculture Ministry officials worried that their government's position on the health risks of Canada's most widely used herbicide were "contradictory", following a landmark court ruling blaming glyphosate for causing cancer. The US litigation also triggered a series of emails among Agriculture Canada officials who outlined plans to defend the chemical, according to government records released under access to information laws. GMWatch comments on how Canada reached its conclusion that glyphosate is non-carcinogenic, in contradiction to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which said it is probably carcinogenic. CBC News; comment by GMWatch

 

 

The air in parts of the Midwest and South has become so contaminated with the weedkiller dicamba that it has caused widespread damage to soybeans and other crops in recent summers, testified Dr Ford Baldwin, a professor emeritus of weed science at the University of Arkansas in federal court. Amid the pollution, thousands of farmers have filed complaints about cupping leaves, stunted growth and lower yields. Among those is Bill Bader, the owner of the largest peach farm in Missouri, who is suing Bayer and BASF, alleging they created the situation with the release of their dicamba-tolerant GMO cropping system. Baldwin said the contamination is occurring because so many farmers are spraying so much of the weedkiller at the same time that it builds up in the air to high enough levels that it is unable to dissipate. Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting