{"id":59630,"date":"2015-06-15T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T11:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=59630"},"modified":"2015-06-15T12:59:54","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T11:59:54","slug":"german-companies-stop-sales-of-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/06\/german-companies-stop-sales-of-roundup\/","title":{"rendered":"German Companies Stop Sales of \u201cRoundup\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/a>

Photo: Studioshots – Alamy<\/p><\/div>\n

12 Jun 2015 – According to Swiss supermarkets,\u00a0German companies have announced halting sales of\u00a0Monsanto\u2019s\u00a0glyphosate herbicide.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1971, Monsanto patented glyphosate. Today its glyphosate (\u201cRoundup\u201d) constitutes two billion US dollars in annual sales.<\/p>\n

[Note from Zuesse:\u00a0Glypohosate or \u201cRoundup\u201d sells well especially because it kills weeds while not killing Monsanto\u2019s GMO crops, which are genetically modified so as to survive the application of this weedkiller. The U.S. Government allows GMO foods to sell though there is no scientific evidence that they are safe. So: not only is Roundup toxic, but all independent scientific studies also find GMO foods to be harmful to health.<\/a>\u00a0Furthermore, part of glyphosate\u2019s profitability is its enabling Monsanto\u2019s patented crop-seeds to dominate U.S. agriculture. In the future, that is even more important to Monsanto than are the current profits from the weedkiller. The Obama USDA is staffed with former Monsanto executives, who are revolving-door with Big Ag, so that their \u2018public service\u2019 will make them rich. For examples: Obama made Tom\u00a0Vilsack the Secretary of\u00a0Agriculture, and Vilsack was a huge cheerleader for\u00a0Monsanto Corporation. Then, on 24\u00a0September 2009, Tom Philpott at grist.org headlined\u00a0\u201cAnother Monsanto Man In a\u00a0Key USDA Post?\u201d\u00a0and he reported that, not only had \u201cObama plucked\u00a0Islam \u2018Isi\u2019\u00a0Siddiqui from the nation\u2019s most powerful\u00a0agrichemical lobby group and made him\u00a0our chief\u00a0negotiator on ag issues in global trade talks,\u201d but\u00a0now, Obama was\u00a0also appointing Roger Beachy to\u00a0head agricultural reasearch at the Agriculture\u00a0Department. Beachy had formerly headed one of\u00a0Monsanto\u2019s research labs. Two years after becoming USDA\u2019s research director,\u00a0Beachy quit to work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others that promote GMOs<\/a>. Obama\u2019s U.S. Trade Representative who is negotiating TPP, TTIP, and TISA is also, like Siddiqui, trying to force other nations to accept GMO foods.The U.S. is still the only major country that promotes GMOs. Obama\u2019s \u2018trade\u2019 deals are essential to expanding that.]\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The registration of\u00a0glyphosate is currently being re-examined by the EU,\u00a0because the current authorization of the active\u00a0ingredient ends in December 2015.<\/p>\n

After the WHO\u00a0report in March had glyphosate classified\u00a0as \u201cprobably carcinogenic,\u201d the herbicide\u00a0is\u00a0disappearing from some stores.<\/p>\n

However, the Federal Institute for\u00a0Risk Assessment did not previously share the concerns of\u00a0the WHO and the International Agency for\u00a0Research on Cancer.<\/p>\n

Slowly some companies are rethinking\u00a0the glyphosate issue.<\/p>\n

As the\u00a0nature conservation association NABU\u00a0reported, the company plant K\u00f6lle, Knauber,\u00a0Garden Centre Holland, garden centers\u00a0Augsburg and Globus Baumarkt have declared\u00a0in writing that in the future they\u2019ll refrain from selling\u00a0glyphosate products.\u00a0In the\u00a0Toom DIY stores in\u00a0Germany\u00a0glyphosate has already been taken off\u00a0the shelves.\u00a0At last report, Swiss\u00a0supermarkets\u00a0like Migros have discontinued glyphosate.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0company Knauber\u00a0for\u00a0example stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cKnauber has opted for the complete\u00a0discontinuation of glyphosate herbicides.\u00a0Thus\u00a0Knauber responds to the reclassification of the\u00a0herbicide\u2019s active ingredient by the International\u00a0Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as\u00a0\u201cprobably carcinogenic.\u201d\u00a0With immediate effect\u00a0Knauber takes the precaution to remove all glyphosate\u00a0weedkillers completely from sale.\u00a0Knauber\u00a0has been known in its mission statement to\u00a0act responsibly towards people and the\u00a0environment.\u00a0Stopping the sale of\u00a0glyphosate on the basis of reclassification is\u00a0therefore a logical step.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGlyphosate is the herbicide most widely used in Germany,\u00a0of which still 51 different\u00a0applications for the home and garden area are\u00a0permitted,\u201d said NABU.\u00a0\u201cWe hope that finally\u00a0the other DIY stores like Bauhaus, Hornbach or\u00a0Obi fulfill their responsibilities and remove glyphosate as\u00a0quickly as possible from the shelves,\u201d\u00a0said national director Leif Miller.<\/p>\n

Just recently,\u00a0the consumer protection Ministerial\u00a0Conference of the countries asked the\u00a0federal government to ban the delivery of\u00a0glyphosate to individuals for home gardening.\u00a0NABU calls for a suspension of the\u00a0authorization for glyphosate and an extensive\u00a0risk assessment of the active substance.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of May the Consumer Protection\u00a0Ministerial Conference asked the federal\u00a0government to \u201cprohibit the supply of\u00a0glyphosate herbicides to individuals for\u00a0precautionary reasons,\u201d\u00a0it said in a statement.\u00a0In addition, there should be a temporary ban on the use\u00a0of it in open spaces, which are not used for\u00a0agriculture or forestry, until a\u00a0final re-evaluation.<\/p>\n

On Monday [8 Jun 2015], the\u00a0Institute added its statement\u00a0about glyphosate:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evaluation of the IARC is expected to be\u00a0scientifically comprehensible only if the detailed\u00a0report of the reasons for the conclusions is published. \u00a0The justifications for the conclusions of the IARC\u00a0cannot yet be fully assessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this reason, glyphosate\u00a0has not been classified in Germany\u00a0as carcinogenic.<\/p>\n

________________________________<\/p>\n

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of\u00a0 <\/em>They\u2019re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010<\/a>,<\/em> and of\u00a0<\/em>Christ\u2019s Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity<\/a>, and\u00a0of\u00a0Feudalism, Fascism, Libertarianism and Economics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Translated [and with added comments] by Eric Zuesse.<\/em><\/p>\n

Monsanto:\u00a0German\u00a0companies stop\u00a0glyphosate\u00a0sales <\/a>– http:\/\/deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de\/2015\/06\/12\/monsanto-deutsche-unternehmen-stoppen-glyphosat-verkauf\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

German Economic News\u00a0|\u00a09 Jun 2015<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 washingtonsblog.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12 Jun 2015 – According to Swiss supermarkets, German companies have announced halting sales of Monsanto\u2019s glyphosate herbicide. In 1971, Monsanto patented glyphosate. Today its glyphosate (\u201cRoundup\u201d) constitutes two billion US dollars in annual sales. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}