May 10, 2025 10:41 PM
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2025/...oing-well/
EXCERPTS: It’s the world’s most popular weedkiller by far. Since its introduction in the 1970s, glyphosate has become the farmers most important weedkiller, praised for its effectiveness and broad-spectrum weed control capabilities. It fulfills many agricultural and regulatory requirements—it’s effective, relatively inexpensive, boosts crop yields, and is safe for humans as well as plants engineered to avoid its herbicidal functions.
About 90 chemical companies across the globe produce it, more than 50 of them in China. One company still dominates the market with a 40% share—Bayer, which acquired its original patent holder, Monsanto, in 2018, although the patent for its original formulation, known as Roundup, expired in 2000.
Although the global regularly community has unanimously concluded glyphosate is safe as used [more on that below], it’s been under relentless attack from environmental activist groups. And because of the casino-like U.S. tort system, Bayer has paid out more than $11 billion so far with another $1.2 billion allocated for potential future adverse verdicts or settlements.
These legal issues—with 67,000 pending suits, there is no end in site to its courtroom challenges—have led Bayer to consider ceasing production of Roundup unless it receives legal protections against future litigation. Bayer recently informed farmers, suppliers and retailers that it may stop selling Roundup, which would leave U.S. farmers reliant on imported glyphosate from China.
“We’re pretty much reaching the end of the road,” Bayer Chief Executive Bill Anderson said in an interview. “We’re talking months, not years.”
What could replace it if Bayer pulls the plug?
[...] Glyphosate has been under environmental activist attack for more than fifteen years. The original criticism focused on its alleged role as a superweed creator. That’s not unique to glyphosate, however. [...] The increased use of glyphosate tied to herbicide-resistant GMO crops gradually emerged as a proxy used by advocacy groups to turn the public against the crop biotechnology revolution. When some farmers did not rotate herbicides as part of an Integrated Weed Management program, activists raised a storm as weed problems escalated...
[...] Weed resistance is not unique to glyphosate or genetically engineered crops; it is a widespread agronomic challenge affecting nearly all forms of weed control... The lesson is clear: weed resistance is an evolutionary inevitability across all farming systems when control methods are not diversified.
[...] Glyphosate is not only the world’s most popular herbicide, it’s the most effective. It’s the most studied herbicide by far with a relatively small environmental footprint per treatment. Organic herbicides are safer in perception but underperform in real-world efficacy, require frequent applications, and often have higher indirect environmental costs due to energy and labor inputs.
[...] Glyphosate remains the most practical, scientifically validated, and environmentally balanced tool available—its elimination would not enhance safety or sustainability but would instead drive up costs, increase carbon emissions, and force reliance on less effective or less understood alternatives... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: It’s the world’s most popular weedkiller by far. Since its introduction in the 1970s, glyphosate has become the farmers most important weedkiller, praised for its effectiveness and broad-spectrum weed control capabilities. It fulfills many agricultural and regulatory requirements—it’s effective, relatively inexpensive, boosts crop yields, and is safe for humans as well as plants engineered to avoid its herbicidal functions.
About 90 chemical companies across the globe produce it, more than 50 of them in China. One company still dominates the market with a 40% share—Bayer, which acquired its original patent holder, Monsanto, in 2018, although the patent for its original formulation, known as Roundup, expired in 2000.
Although the global regularly community has unanimously concluded glyphosate is safe as used [more on that below], it’s been under relentless attack from environmental activist groups. And because of the casino-like U.S. tort system, Bayer has paid out more than $11 billion so far with another $1.2 billion allocated for potential future adverse verdicts or settlements.
These legal issues—with 67,000 pending suits, there is no end in site to its courtroom challenges—have led Bayer to consider ceasing production of Roundup unless it receives legal protections against future litigation. Bayer recently informed farmers, suppliers and retailers that it may stop selling Roundup, which would leave U.S. farmers reliant on imported glyphosate from China.
“We’re pretty much reaching the end of the road,” Bayer Chief Executive Bill Anderson said in an interview. “We’re talking months, not years.”
What could replace it if Bayer pulls the plug?
[...] Glyphosate has been under environmental activist attack for more than fifteen years. The original criticism focused on its alleged role as a superweed creator. That’s not unique to glyphosate, however. [...] The increased use of glyphosate tied to herbicide-resistant GMO crops gradually emerged as a proxy used by advocacy groups to turn the public against the crop biotechnology revolution. When some farmers did not rotate herbicides as part of an Integrated Weed Management program, activists raised a storm as weed problems escalated...
[...] Weed resistance is not unique to glyphosate or genetically engineered crops; it is a widespread agronomic challenge affecting nearly all forms of weed control... The lesson is clear: weed resistance is an evolutionary inevitability across all farming systems when control methods are not diversified.
[...] Glyphosate is not only the world’s most popular herbicide, it’s the most effective. It’s the most studied herbicide by far with a relatively small environmental footprint per treatment. Organic herbicides are safer in perception but underperform in real-world efficacy, require frequent applications, and often have higher indirect environmental costs due to energy and labor inputs.
[...] Glyphosate remains the most practical, scientifically validated, and environmentally balanced tool available—its elimination would not enhance safety or sustainability but would instead drive up costs, increase carbon emissions, and force reliance on less effective or less understood alternatives... (MORE - missing details)