The majority of people in the U.S are being exposed to a potentially cancer-causing chemical that is used in the world’s most common weedkillers. This is happening on a daily basis.
Additionally, data is showing that people in the Midwest, parts of the South, and Colorado have the highest exposure.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in many herbicides, and it has been in use for almost 50 years; however, the chemical’s health impacts have been heavily debated, with lawsuits arising over allegations that the chemical is linked to cancer.
The Environmental Protection Agency has stated over and over again that there is no risk to human health, and Bayer, the pharmaceutical company that sells the most widely used glyphosate herbicide, says it stands by the safety of the chemical.
Glyphosate’s main use is in agriculture. Weedkillers that contain it are sprayed on nearly half of all corn, cotton, and soybeans in the U.S.
The chemical giant Monsanto introduced glyphosate in their product Roundup in 1974, and Bayer later acquired Monsanto in 2018.
“Glyphosate is the most widely used chemical weedkiller in human history because of genetic engineering. It’s spread ubiquitously, and Monsanto has, for decades, just maintained that it’s the safest agricultural chemical ever made,” said Dave Murphy, the founder of Food Democracy Now, an advocacy group that tests glyphosate in food.
