Dozens of medicines are being sold in India regarding this chemical. The most popular of these is Roundup. It is harming the environment. It is also making the farmers seriously ill.
As summer warms in North America, gardeners are planting new plants. At the same time, we are busy removing bushes and weeds and the workers are cutting grass in the park and making the land level. Many people are using weed killers like Roundup, which are available at stores like Home Depot and Target. Over the past two years, three US jurors have handed down multimillion-dollar fines to petitioners who said glyphosate, the main ingredient in the weed killer, caused a type of cancer.
In 2018, the German company Bayer bought Monsanto, the company that discovered Roundup. He also inherited 125,000 pending cases, of which he has settled all except about 30,000.
The company may stop retailing in the US
The company is now considering ending Roundup’s retail sales in the US, to reduce the risk of further lawsuits from its users. Researchers studying global trade, food systems and their effects on the environment see a bigger picture in the matter. Generic glyphosate is used worldwide. Farmers use it in agricultural fields. Glyphosate is sprayed in the field as a weed killer.
Glyphosate was introduced in the market in 1974.
The effects of glyphosate are now visible in humans, but scientists are still debating its health effects. However, one thing is clear, since it is an effective and very cheap weed killer. Hence it is widely used. When glyphosate was introduced in 1974 under the Roundup brand name, it was widely recognized as safe.
Gradually expanded range
Monsanto scientists claimed that it would not harm people or other non-target organisms and would not survive in soil and water. Scientific reviews determined that it does not form in animal tissue. Glyphosate was more effective than any other weed killer before or since. Gradually, farmers in other places also started sprinkling it in the fields to prepare for the next crop cycle.
China’s dominance in pesticide industry
China still dominates the pesticide industry. It exported 46 percent of it worldwide in 2018, but now other countries are also joining this trade, including Malaysia and India. Pesticides were previously supplied to developing countries from Europe and North America, but now developing countries export many pesticides to wealthy countries.
Need better alternatives
Many products came in the market due to its effect on health, but its harmful consequences cannot be denied. Therefore better alternatives are needed, as weeds are slowly becoming resistant to glyphosate. Research into alternative solutions to chemical weed control should accelerate research, in the opinion of the researchers, because of growing concerns about glyphosate’s effectiveness and potential health effects.
What is the situation in india
According to a report by Down To Earth, dozens of medicines are being sold in India regarding this chemical. The most popular of these is Roundup. It is harming the environment. It is also making the farmers seriously ill. In the year 2017, a case of death of 21 farmers was reported in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra. Then the state government banned the monocrotophos pesticide responsible for these deaths for 60 days.
