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OpEd by Zen Honeycutt

I intended to write this article and title it ”How Monsanto Has Ruined Our Lives.” But then I realized it is not just Monsanto who has done these things. They led the way by developing GMOs that can tolerate herbicides and have pesticides built in, but they should not get all the credit. US companies Dow/Dupont, and EU companies Syngenta/ChemChina, BASF, and Bayer/Monsanto have had numerous lawsuits against them as well for egregious crimes against humanity. For now however, because I am not European, I am going to focus on what’s happening in the Good Ol’ US of A.

At Moms Across America we have always known that the health of people is directly related to the health of the planet. This is no surprise. However, every day there is some new fact or figure or reality that comes to light about how our unhealthy actions create disharmony and ill health for the planet -- and for mankind. The two go hand in hand. In fact as early as the 5th century BC, the ancient Greeks believed that the human body was a miniature universe animated by its own soul. And that theory has been carried forward in time to the present in both philosophy and science -- but it is not always taken into account with our actions.  

March 30th is officially National Doctor’s Day. It was created in 1933 by Eudora Brown Almond of Winder, Georgia, the wife of a local doctor. Eudora chose that day because, on March 30, 1842, Dr. Crawford W. Long used an ether anesthetic for the first time during surgery. In 1991 Congress passed Proclamation 6253 making this unofficial holiday an actual national holiday.

Hallelujah!

Six years ago, in July of 2013, when I learned about the fact that glyphosate was not only sprayed on GMOs, but on many grains and food crops as a drying agent, I knew we must not only raise awareness about the risks of GMOs, but glyphosate as well. I was told not to go after Roundup. That is was "too big." That it was the most widely used herbicide in the world and we would never stop the chemical companies. Many saw me and our mom's group as irrational and perhaps even naive. But we were determined and we initiated glyphosate testing in water, urine, and our breast milk. The results were shocking and the public realized that their families were being contaminated by this dangerous weedkiller. Many other groups began to test for glyphosate in foods, beer, snacks, sanitary products (all positive) and eventually the media picked up the results. New scientific studies were conducted and lawyers began to take interest.

Today for the second time over the past eight months a jury has unanimously found Monsanto guilty of hiding the fact that they knew their glyphosate-based herbicide product, Roundup, could cause cancer. This time, the plaintiff, Edwin Hardeman, in a federal trial, was awarded $80 million dollars. $5 million was in compensatory and $75 million in punitive damages. In the first trial, Johnson v. Monsanto the jury awarded the plaintiff $289 million dollars and the judge reduces the award to $79 million. At this rate, with thousands of other cases filed against Monsanto, Bayer may be facing payments of $880 billion dollars. Bayer purchased Monsanto for $63 billion just last year.

First published on the Associated Press by Sudhin Thanawala

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Roundup weed killer was a substantial factor in a California man’s cancer, a jury determined Tuesday in the first phase of a trial that attorneys said could help determine the fate of hundreds of similar lawsuits.

The unanimous verdict by the six-person jury in federal court in San Francisco came in a lawsuit filed against Roundup’s manufacturer, agribusiness giant Monsanto. Edwin Hardeman, 70, was the second plaintiff to go to trial out of thousands around the country who claim the weed killer causes cancer.

Monsanto says studies have established that Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, is safe.

A San Francisco jury in August awarded another man $289 million after determining Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A judge later slashed the award to $78 million, and Monsanto has appealed.

Hardeman’s trial is before a different judge and may be more significant. U.S. Judge Vince Chhabria is overseeing hundreds of Roundup lawsuits and has deemed Hardeman’s case and two others “bellwether trials.”

DeLauro Introduces Keep Food Safe from Glyphosate Act

March 15, 2019 

Press Release

https://delauro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/delauro-introduces-keep-food-safe-glyphosate-act 

WASHINGTON, DC — This week, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) introduced the Keep Food Safe from Glyphosate Act, new legislation that would overturn the Trump Administration’s decision to ignore glyphosate residues in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) annual pesticide residue monitoring survey. Exposure to glyphosate—the weed killer made popular by Monsanto—was recently found to increase the risk of cancer by 41%.

“American families deserve to know that the food they are eating and feeding to their children is safe,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “But that is not the case because the Trump Administration refuses to test our food for dangerous chemicals like glyphosate—an herbicide linked to increased risk of cancer. That is unconscionable. Congress needs to pass the Keep Food Safe from Glyphosate Act to ensure corporations are not profiting at the expense of Americans’ health.”

Today is the deadline to ask our legislators to support this bill!

The California Guild has introduced Assembly Bill 468 authored by Assemblyman Muratsuchi (D-Torrance). We should be proud of this landmark legislation that will require California school
sites and day care centers to utilize organic landscape management practices at school sites, playgrounds and athletic fields, replacing harmful pesticide and herbicides.  The bill is co-sponsored by Non-Toxic Communities and Beyond Pesticides.

Send in your letters of support!

AB 468 will begin its long journey into becoming law in front of the Assembly Education Committee on March 27.  We need your letters of support – DUE MARCH 19 by 5 pm. 

One day Natalie, a mom and nurse who lives in my town, called me, furious, and said that a truck with a tank had just sprayed her street with Rodeo (a glyphosate-based herbicide). She had a picture of the truck spraying that day, so we filed a complaint with the county agricultural commissioner and went to the Orange County Public Works with a binder of studies.

After one meeting and a few calls and emails, the manager agreed to propose alternatives. Since then, after a few meetings, our city has agreed to stop spraying glyphosate-based herbicides in residential neighborhoods. We are told that by July 2019 our city will have organic land care. Due to the efforts of many committed parents, my son’s entire school district has also agreed to use alternatives such as safer chemicals, mulch, and weed whacking. This was especially important to me because we noticed that he would have trouble breathing, and had asthma symptoms, after the city workers had sprayed Roundup on the hillsides by his school. It is terrifying to see your child having difficulty breathing. I am so grateful that his school district has discontinued the use of glyphosate herbicides.

March 8, 2019 – Oakland, California - - The trial of Pilliod v. Monsanto Company (now Bayer) begins with jury selection on Monday, March 25, 2019, in Superior Court of California for the County of Alameda before Judge Winifred Smith. Attorneys for the plaintiffs anticipate the trial will last about a month.

Pilliod v. Monsanto is the first case in the California Roundup Judicial Council Coordination Proceedings (JCCP) and the third Roundup cancer case to proceed to trial.

More than 250 Roundup cancer cases are consolidated before Judge Smith as part of the California Roundup JCCP. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

More and more we are all hearing about the huge role our genetics play in our health. It is the age-old question of nature vs nurture or another way to phrase it is genetics vs lifestyle.