Chemical Industry - weed killer - a small amount of poison won't harm, say manufacturers : Lists of Cereals, Breakfast Snacks Where Weed Killer Was Allegedly Found - by Maria Perez

A controversial herbicide has been found in more than two dozen popular breakfast cereals, snack bars and oats, according to a report released by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) on Wednesday.

Glyphosate was found in 26 out of the 28 products EWG tested, with levels “higher than what EWG scientists consider protective of children’s health,” according to the report. Glyphosate is known as the most widely used herbicide in the world, according to the report. More than 250 million pounds of glyphosate is sprayed on American crops, according to EWG.

“How many bowls of cereal and oatmeal have American kids have eaten that came with a dose of weed killer? That’s a question only General Mills, PepsiCo and other food companies can answer,” said EWG President Ken Cook in the report. “But if those companies would just switch to oats that aren’t sprayed with glyphosate, parents wouldn’t have to wonder if their kids’ breakfasts contained a chemical linked to cancer."

Quaker and General Mills have said their products are safe for consumption. In a statement to CNN, General Mills said the levels of glyphosate in the products are “extremely low.”

"The extremely low levels of pesticide residue cited in recent news reports is a tiny fraction of the amount the government allows," the company said in a statement to CNN. "Consumers are regularly bombarded with alarming headlines, but rarely have the time to weigh the information for themselves. We feel this is an important context that consumers should be aware of when considering this topic." 

Note EU-Digest: When you read this statement it is if these companies are saying: "Don't worry a little poison can't be bad for you" ? 

Here is a list of products that were tested and reportedly have Glyphosate in them: 

Instant Oats:

• Quaker Simply Granola Oats, Honey & Almonds Instant Oats
• Quaker Instant Oatmeal Cinnamon & Spice Instant Oats
• Quaker Instant Oatmeal Apples & Cinnamon Instant Oats  

Overnight Oats:

• Quaker Real Medleys Super Grains Banana Walnut Overnight oats
• Quaker Overnight Oats Raisin Walnut & Honey Heaven
• Quaker Overnight Oats Unsweetened with Chia Seeds
   

Cereal:

• Quaker Oatmeal Squares Brown Sugar Oat 
• Quaker Oatmeal Squares Honey Nut Oat 
• Apple Cinnamon Cheerios
• Very Berry Cheerios
• Chocolate Cheerios
• Frosted Cheerios
• Fruity Cheerios
• Honey Nut Cheerios
• Cheerios Oat Crunch Cinnamon

Snack Bars:

• Quaker Chewy S’mores
• Quaker Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
• Quaker Breakfast Squares Soft Baked Bars Peanut Butter
• Quaker Breakfast Flats Crispy Snack Bars Cranberry Almond

Key manufacturers of this "herbicide" include Anhui Huaxing Chemical Industry Company, BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, Jiangsu Good Harvest-Weien Agrochemical Company, Monsanto, Nantong Jiangshan Agrochemical & Chemicals Co., Nufarm Limited, SinoHarvest, Syngenta, and Zhejiang Xinan Chemical Industrial Group Company.

 
Read more: Lists of Cereals, Breakfast Snacks Where Weed Killer Was Allegedly Found

USA - Chemical Industry: Monsanto's Glyphosate "Roundup weed-killer" goes on trial in US with billions at stake - by Aimee Picchi

After it was introduced in the 1970s, Roundup was promoted as an "herbicide that gets to the root of the problem."

Now, four decades later, manufacturer Monsanto will face a lawsuit that seeks to get to the root of another problem: whether the active ingredient in the weed-killer is to blame for a California man's terminal cancer. If Monsanto fails to persuade the court that its product isn't to blame, the agricultural company's flagship product could take a hefty hit.

Billions in revenue could be at stake for Monsanto and its new corporate parent, German chemical giant Bayer, which closed its $60 billion acquisition earlier this month. While Monsanto doesn't break out sales of glyphosate -- the active ingredient in Roundup -- the product delivered $4.8 billion in revenue in 2015. In its latest fiscal year, Monsanto cited higher global sales of glyphosate for helping lift total revenue by 8 percent.

Monsanto declined to comment on the potential sales impact, citing the trial proceedings. In a statement earlier this month, it told CBS News it denied the allegations.

"We have empathy for anyone suffering from cancer, but the scientific evidence clearly shows that glyphosate was not the cause. We look forward to presenting this evidence to the court," it said.

Note EU-Digest: Unfortunately the EU recently cleared the use of  this weed killer for the next five years, after a heated debate over whether it causes cancer or not. 

Regardless of this decision, given the legal battle Monsanto is now facing in the US, the EU Parliament, despite the obvious intense lobby by the chemical industry, should immediately halt the use of  the weed-killer glyphosate in Europe, and take another close look at the dangers this weed killer poses for European consumers. Better late than sorry.

Read more: Monsanto's Roundup weed-killer goes on trial with billions at stake - CBS News

EU Parliament - Chemical Industry - Monsanto: Glyphosate -- Crushed it!! and Avaaz made it happen

Europe just took an extraordinary vote, refusing to grant Monsanto a license for its main product and cornerstone of its empire - the cancer-linked weed killer glyphosate.

Monsanto thought renewal of glyphosate was a done deal. But now, after over 2 million of us joined the biggest global petition against glyphosate ever and massive targeted public pressure, the future of the Monsanto model is more in question than ever before.

Together we forced this from a formality for a new 15-year license into a heated political debate that ended up as a vote on an 18-month emergency extension. This week, European nations rejected even that.

Leading EU parliamentarian Pavel Poc just said: “Avaaz is indisputably the driving force of the fight for glyphosate discontinuance." Here’s what we have done together to make what seemed impossible, possible:

When it came down to the final vote, all our work paid off - leaders representing half the EU population refused to authorise glyphosate, even for the trimmed down 18-month proposal we had helped reduce the license to!

All of this effort was funded by over 86,000 Avaazers worldwide who donated generously to make this campaign mega.

Throughout this fight, Avaaz was joined by great allies and partners who played invaluable roles. Our view is only partial, but here’s our top list to express gratitude to:

• The Socialists and Democrats, and Green parties in the EU Parliament were crucial in this fight. Particularly Bart Staes and Pavel Poc who were instrumental.
• French Environment Minister Ségolène Royal, who was a central leader in this fight.
• Pesticide Action Network, a great coalition of national action networks that has long campaigned on glyphosate and provided great advice and insight to Avaaz.
• Greenpeace, always a wonderful force on these issues, which did a lot of lobbying and media work on glyphosate.
• Campact ran a brilliant campaign in Germany, and matched massive open letters, polling and bird-dogging to play a key role in flipping the German government on glyphosate.
• And many others! Like HEAL, WeMove.eu, Global 2000, and a great coalition of Italian NGOs on this.

Note EU-DigestL Once again the above result shows that people, once they can get out of their comfort zone and join together in a common cause, can still make a difference and overcome just about any hurdle that is politically, economically ,industrially, environmentally dangerous to their health or lifestyle. 

EU-Digest supports Avaaz  and recommends AVAAZ  - a global web movement to bring people-powered politics to decision-making everywhere
 
Read more: Avaaz - Glyphosate -- Crushed it!!

UN cancer agency sees a cancer risk in Roundup and other pesticides

The UN's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said Friday that three pesticides, including the popular weedkiller Roundup, were "probably" carcinogenic and two others, which have already been outlawed or restricted, were "possibly" so. IARC classified the herbicide glyphosate -- the active ingredient in Roundup -- and the insecticides malathion and diazinon as "probably carcinogenic" on the basis of "limited evidence" of cancer among humans.

The insecticides tetrachlorvinphos and parathion were classified as "possibly carcinogenic" in the light of "convincing evidence" from lab animals, it said.

The classification, made by an expert panel, is not binding, said IARC, an agency based in Lyon, southeastern France, that comes under the aegis of the World Health Organization (WHO). "It remains the responsibility of individual governments and other international organisations to recommend regulations, legislation or public health intervention," it said.

Glyphosate -- introduced in the 1970s under the brand Roundup but now manufactured generically -- is the most-produced weedkiller in the world, the IARC said.

Agricultural use of it has surged since the introduction of crops genetically modified to be resistant to the chemical, enabling farmers to douse a field in one go to kill weeds.

"The general population is exposed (to glyphosate) primarily through residence near sprayed areas, home use and diet, and the level that has been observed is generally low," the IARC statement said.

The evaluation of glyphosate saw "limited evidence" of a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as seen in studies in the United States, Sweden and Canada conducted among farm workers since 2001.

In 1985, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified glyphosate as "possibly carcinogenic for humans" on the basis of experiments on lab mice.

UN cancer agency sees a risk in Roundup and other pesticides - Yahoo News