Mexico Bans Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide

Roundup and Glyphosate

One of the most famous brands of herbicides is Monsanto’s Roundup. Monsanto is an agricultural chemical company based in America. Its Roundup herbicide contains glyphosate and it was first sold commercially in 1974. As of 2018, Monsanto was bought out by the German drug and chemical giant Bayer. Since then, Monsanto’s company name started to phase out but Roundup was still being produced.

A United Nations agency stated that glyphosate in Roundup can be carcinogenic. However, in 2017, the United States Environmental Protection Agency stated that glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer in humans.

Glyphosate-based products are one of the most used garden herbicides in the world. The active chemical in the products will kill almost any plant that it contacts.

The EPA released a statement saying that glyphosate can be toxic to humans at low levels, meaning that a person needs to be exposed to large amounts of glyphosate for it to harm. However, other ingredients in the glyphosate-based herbicides can be more toxic to human contact.

Mexico Ban on Roundup

With so much backlash on the glyphosate compound and Roundup, Mexico decided to ban Monsanto’s product from its country. The Environment Ministry of Mexico announced that farmers will gradually reduce the use of glyphosate. By 2024, the ministry hopes that it will put an end to the harmful chemical.

As one of the most controversial chemicals with thousands of lawsuits to its name, the glyphosate compound is thought to create a risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

The people that are exposed to the most by the chemical are landscapers and farmers. However, all of us can consume trace amounts of glyphosate residue which is left over on our fruits, grains, or vegetables. This is the main reason why Mexico decided to remove the chemical from its use. Additionally, the state of California as well as the World Health Organization recognizes the chemical as a probable carcinogen. It’s also very bad for ecological health because it can wipe out an entire ecosystem of living organisms (soil bacteria, pollinators, birds, plants, etc.)

Aside from banning glyphosate, the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico is figuring out alternatives to the herbicide.

Sources: www.consumernotice.org