Thousands of lawsuits against Monsanto are pending in state and federal courts alleging the company failed to warn consumers that glyphosate causes cancer. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the most widely used herbicide in the world. Source: Corey Templeton, Flickr Monsanto continues to cite statements from the EPA that glyphosate poses “no risk to public… Read more »

St. Louis Post Dispatch By Georgina Gustin A coalition of farmers is asking federal regulators to further scrutinize Monsanto Co.’s new soybean and cotton offerings, saying they could pose environmental threats to nearby crops. The Indiana-based Save our Crops Coalition, a group of farmers who grow conventional and organic crops, filed a comment with the… Read more »

Reuters By Carey Gillam WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A fast-spreading plague of “super weeds” taking over U.S. farmland will not be stopped easily, and farmers and government officials need to change existing practices if food production is to be protected, industry experts said on Thursday. “This is a complex problem,” said weed scientist David Shaw in… Read more »

AgWeb (link no longer available) Charles Johnson, Farm Journal National Editor Neither side had a clear edge when the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, the case involving GMO alfalfa (read the background on the case). In fact, the justices seemed to wonder why the case wound up before… Read more »

IdahoStatesman Author: JOHN MILLER,Associated Press Writer BOISE, IDAHO — Federal regulators said Thursday an Idaho mine that Monsanto Co. depends on to make its Roundup weed killer has violated federal and state water quality laws almost since it opened, sending selenium and other heavy metals into the region’s waterways. The Environmental Protection Agency said problems… Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: Conventional grocery items made with oats, wheat, and legumes are very likely to contain glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s (now Bayer’s) Roundup. Conventional farmers frequently use Roundup as a desiccant on crops, killing the entire field at once and allowing for speedy drying and efficient processing. Glyphosate lingers on the crop and… Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: Non Hodgkin lymphoma sufferers have sued Monsanto for covering up evidence concerning Roundup’s relationship to cancer. The plaintiff’s attorneys have submitted a 2013 letter from an EPA scientist to a top-ranking EPA official, accusing the official of favoring the industry and intimidating staff.  All too often, the regulated control what the regulators do…. Read more »

Reuters by Carey Gillam Source: USDA (Reuters) – An environmental activist group has filed a legal petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeking new rules that would enhance job protection for government scientists whose research questions the safety of farm chemicals. The action filed on Thursday by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an… Read more »

Philly.com by Sandy Bauers, Inquirer GreenSpace Columnist In a little less than 20 years, monarch butterflies — those orange icons of the garden — have declined more than 90 percent. On Tuesday, several groups and long-time monarch scientist Lincoln Brower filed a legal petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking Endangered Species Act… Read more »

USDA approval of genetically engineered alfalfa is vacated, seed sales halted San Francisco, CA: A Federal judge ruled today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) 2005 approval of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa is vacated and ordered an immediate halt to sales of the GE seed. The ruling follows a hearing last week in the… Read more »