France Bans Glyphosate aka RoundUp

It’s great to see a country take action on toxic chemicals–even if it’s not our own. After the United Nations called it a “probable human carcinogen,” France banned the sale of glyphosate–aka Roundup–at garden centers nationwide. The most widely sprayed herbicide on the planet, glyphosate is used in tandem with genetically modified “Roundup Ready” crops like corn and soybeans. According to Newsweek, as of 2012 Roundup was also the herbicide of choice for New York City parks.

But the tide may be turning in America, too.

On July 2nd, President Obama released a memorandum calling on the USDA, EPA and FDA to review the regulations that govern genetically engineered crops, the Pesticide Action Network reported. These regulations haven’t been updated since the 1990s, when Roundup was first introduced to the market. The herbicide has been key to GMO crop domination of American farms.

And recently, the Center for Environmental Health, Beyond Pesticides and Physicians for Social Responsibility sued the EPA and Administrator Gina McCarthy for endangering “public health by refusing to require disclosure of falsely characterized ‘inert’ ingredients in pesticides,” Courthouse News reported.

Lead attorney Yana Garcia was quoted as saying, “What we’re challenging is EPA’s inaction despite a body of evidence [that] chemicals listed as inert are not inert. Consumers think the inert ingredients are water or other benign substances used to mix the chemicals, but many are carcinogenic and others have acute impacts and still others have impacts that are currently unknown.”

Obviously the wheels of justice turn slowly. But at least we now have Roundup in our sights.