Tell the EPA to get toxic pesticides like Roundup® out of our food system!

Glyphosate is terrible for people and the planet. It's a key culprit in the decline of monarch butterflies. It's a simple formula: More Roundup® = less mikweed = fewer monarchs.

One important step we can take is getting toxic pesticides like glyphosate -- a.k.a. Monsanto's Roundup® -- out of our food system. But we need your help to push the EPA to act!

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Dear Rick Keigwin,

I urge the EPA to revoke glyphosate’s registration and pull it from use. I’m am deeply concerned that EPA has stated that glyphosate does not pose public health risks when used according to the label. Based on decades of evidence, this is inaccurate and I’m concerned that EPA is prioritizing the interests of the pesticide industry over protecting human health and the environment.

Glyphosate is widely used — nearly 300 million pounds are used in the U.S. every year, including on common crops like soy and wheat. These chemicals are likely ending up on our plates. Independent studies have found concentrations of glyphosate in human urine and breast milk. New research has found that exposure to glyphosate is linked to shorter pregnancy. Studies even indicate glyphosate has the potential to be even more harmful in combination with other chemicals.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified glyphosate as a Group 2A “probable” carcinogen. In addition, California regulators have included the chemical on the Proposition 65 list of probable carcinogens. In fact, there are over 13,000 people suing Monsanto right now because they believe their exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup® caused their cancer.

Of the four cases considered so far, a jury ordered Monsanto to pay over $2 billion to a married couple that developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  Further, a federal jury found Monsanto’s Roundup® — to be a “substantial factor” in causing Edwin Hardeman’s cancer. Monsanto must now pay him $80 million dollars in damages. Last year, a jury in San Francisco found Monsanto to also be responsible for Dewayne Johnson’s terminal non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer and was ordered to pay him $289 million in damages, which was later reduced to $78 million.

Apart from significant risks to human health, the U.S. Geological Survey routinely finds glyphosate in U.S. waterways. Ecological data also reports that glyphosate and glyphosate-formulated products are toxic to aquatic organisms and are extremely lethal to amphibians. Multiple studies show that glyphosate — widely used along the migration route for monarch butterflies — is virtually wiping out milkweed, the only food young monarchs eat. A report found monarch butterflies would need a 5-fold increase to recover from risk of quasi-extinction. Their numbers continue to decline every year and the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that because of continuous low populations there is as much as a 57% risk that the eastern monarch migration could collapse within the next 20 years.

Monsanto’s glyphosate is harming our environment and the very ecosystems we depend on for sustainable food and farming systems — and it’s likely also harming our health. The studies are clear — we need action now. I urge the EPA to protect our health and the environment by revoking glyphosate’s license and pulling it from use.

Sincerely,

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