Bayer Confirms End of Sale of Glyphosate-Based Herbicides for US Lawn & Garden Market
Bayer have announced that they will no longer sell glyphosate-based herbicides to U.S. gardeners as of 2023, following the costly litigation battle over their cancer causing weedkiller Roundup.
Bayer Monsanto stated Thursday that “the company and its partners will replace its glyphosate-based products in the U.S. residential Lawn & Garden market with new formulations that rely on alternative active ingredients beginning in 2023, subject to a timely review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state counterparts…..”
“As the vast majority of claims in the litigation come from Lawn & Garden market users, this action largely eliminates the primary source of future claims beyond an assumed latency period. There will be no change in the availability of the company’s glyphosate formulations in the U.S. professional and agricultural markets,” Bayer continued.
Sustainable Pulse and Detox Project Director, Henry Rowlands, commented on Bayer’s announcement; “It is a great victory in a small battle for the removal of glyphosate from the Lawn & Garden market, however this is just part of a much larger War. We must all remember that this will not stop glyphosate being sprayed in parks, schools and on our food crops in ever greater amounts across the U.S. and the world. It is time to phase the chemical out globally and to replace it with safe alternatives.”
In the company’s announcement on Thursday they also revealed an extra provision of $4.5 Billion adding on to their previous agreement of $10.9 Billion to sufferers of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is caused by the use of their Roundup weedkiller; “Bayer is also prepared …….to manage anticipated claims, through settlement and litigation, to ultimately bring an end to this litigation. For this second scenario, the company posts an additional provision of a gross amount of 4.5 billion U.S. dollars (3.8 billion euros), i.e. before tax and discounting in the second quarter 2021, reflecting the company’s potential long-term exposure.”
“Moreover, the company will engage in discussions with EPA about Roundup™ labels with the goal of providing more information to users about the science as an additional element towards ensuring even more informed purchasing and application decisions,” Bayer concluded.
UPDATE: It’s 2023, & the world is experiencing –as predicted by Science 50+ years ago– worsening effects of Climate change. The global response to IPCC’s urgent calls for transformative changes in all sectors (i.e. from ecocidal/ polluting/ wasteful industries to–> renewable-powered, sustainable ops in circular economies) has been mostly performative/ rhetorical.. VS. Reality: stuck on status-quo’s ROAD TO RUIN, like lemmings..
(& ‘Round-up’ exemplifies the end-game of polluting industry leaders desperate to keep profiting by the billion$ from Biz As Usual, co-opting ‘Climate Action’ by ramping up PR ‘greenwashing’ to keep the masses placated..)
That Bayer’s toxic weedkiller CAUSES CANCER IN INDIV. USERS elicits barely a blip –just cold detachment from the ‘offending’ market & keep supplying the rest, the industry big-boys like logging co’s that use the lethal chemical freely in our forests & wildlife habitats.. & our govts let them..
As Henry Rowlands says, “this will not stop glyphosate being sprayed in parks, schools and on our food crops in ever greater amounts across the U.S. and the world.” (incl. Canada’s globally-rare & threatened old-growth forests, to aid untenable clearcutting)
Why would Bayer care, as long as it rakes in the big buck$? (A distressing reminder of last-century mindset, still prevalent today)
But responsibility for upgrading ethics/rules falls to Govts. Herein lies our key roadblock to success @ this ‘Challenge Of Our Times’: Govts cannot be trusted to act in good faith & protect our best interests, as long as they let corps like Bayer destroy the landscapes that sustain us..
(In ReaL democracies, we the people have power — & govts are our ‘public servants’) As distasteful as the prospect of fulfilling our role as ‘Boss’ may seem to spoiled westerners, the alternative (accepting govt’s Climate INaction, like victims) will be much, much worse!
As Rowlands said, “It is time to phase the chemical out globally and to replace it with safe alternatives”. That’s the ONLY fair choice — which we (the ‘Lawn & Garden’ crowd) need to implement ASAP, as responsible citizens who care.