Some weeks ago, we promised you a report on what’s happening at the federal level, in Canada and in the US. In Canada, we want to report on what the government is intending to do regarding the so-called Chemicals Management Process (CMP) report, filed last June in the context of a larger review of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) and Bill-C69, now in process through the House of Commons. In the U.S., we’re planning to address the roller coaster ride that is the EPA under its anti-environmentalist czar, Scott Pruitt.
We’ve been held up on the Canadian reporting by – surprise! – thick opacity and non-responsiveness to our queries in various locations within Environment Canada and Health Canada. We have launched several more queries, and, answers or no answers (a form of answer in itself), we’ll write about this soon. We have learned that the CMP has been severed from the CEPA reform proposed legislation, Bill C-69, and that a government response to the report made by the Standing Committee on the CMP last June is forthcoming for this coming June.
Legislation to follow? That’s the big, unanswered question.
So, as we continue to probe the government sphere, in the next little while, we’ll be posting some comments on important developments within the chemicals/toxics sector.
The Monsanto-Bayer merger is going forward: In a field strewn with disasters, this is in a class of its own
Monsanto is the corporate proprietor of the pesticide Round-up, with its active ingredient glyphosate, used both generally and with genetically-modified crops. Monsanto began as a U.S.- based corporation and is now global. For some time now, environmentalists and sane politicians have been fighting a proposed merger between it and German chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer, and the tug of war over approval has gone on across Europe. But last week, Bayer and Monsanto won. Now a new agrichemical supergiant, worth about $62.5 billion, will take it’s aggressive place on the world stage, in a sector of agri-corporations that is growing more concentrated and monopolized by the month, with very adverse consequences for farmers.
Modern Farmer reported on the comments of Alicia Harvie; the advocacy and issues director of Farm Aid.
“The first thing to understand about the Monsanto-Bayer merger is that you really have to look beyond this particular merger. Though consolidation isn’t exactly new, things have been accelerating like crazy in the past two decades, and even more so in the past few years. Dow and DuPont (chemicals), Agrium and Potash (fertilizers), China National Chemical Corp and Syngenta (chemicals), and now Monsanto and Bayer (seeds and chemicals): These are the big boys in the agribusiness field, and they’re slowly shrinking and consolidating. “Across food and agriculture, the amount of pending mergers and mergers that got green-lighted last year and this year is phenomenal, it’s in the hundreds. … that’s had some pretty dramatic consequences for input costs and costs of production for the availability of who they can market their goods to.” According to Harvie, Modern Farmer wrote, there’s been a 52 percent spike in seed costs for corn from 2012 to 2015, and if you go back further, prices in both soy and corn have increased more than 300 percent since 1995—the year patented genetically modified cotton seeds first hit the market.
And Monsanto has been the world leader in genetically modified crops and pesticides. Which bring us back to the new Monsanto-Bayer juggernaut and the aggressive tactics we can expect from it. How aggressive? Judging by the behavior of Monsanto to date, very, very aggressive. The list of environmental disasters it has spawned, and the nefarious tactics it has deployed with government, with environmentalists (please see its latest attack against opponents of the merger and please help out), and with farmers, live in the hall of infamy.
Do you doubt that Monsanto – now hand in hand with Bayer, of course – wants to rule the world? (And no, that’s not just a manner of speaking.) Check this out…
Like wine? Like Beer? Roundup’s toxic chemical Glyphosate found In 100% Of California wines tested, even organic & 14 German Beers
Roundup (read more about it here) is everywhere. Literally, everywhere. This herbicide uses glyphosate, an incredibly toxic chemical on its own, along with adjutants that are also toxic, to effectively kill various invading plants, drastically decreasing biodiversity, promoting the growth of “superweeds”, and monopolizing seed sales for vast fields of mono-culture that are spread across the world. And it doesn’t just stay on the places where it’s sprayed. Take, for instance, this excerpt, just in, on California wines. You can read the rest at Healthy, Holistic Living:
Glyphosate [the active ingredient in Roundup] usage has gotten so out of control that it’s seemingly taken on a life of its own and is now showing up even in foods that haven’t been directly sprayed, namely the grapes used to make organic wine.
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, is the most used agricultural chemical in history. It’s used in a number of different herbicides (700 in all), but Roundup is by far the most widely used.
Since glyphosate was introduced in 1974, 1.8 million tons have been applied to U.S. fields, and two-thirds of that volume has been sprayed in the last 10 years.
A recent analysis showed that farmers sprayed enough glyphosate in 2014 to apply 0.8 pounds of the chemical to every acre of cultivated cropland in the U.S., and nearly 0.5 a pound of glyphosate to all cropland worldwide. [1]
If you purchase organic foods or beverages, you should theoretically be safe from glyphosate exposure, as this chemical is not allowed in organic farming. But a new analysis revealed glyphosate has now infiltrated not only wine but also organic wine.
10/10 Wines Tested Contained Glyphosate
An anonymous supporter of advocacy group Moms Across America sent 10 wine samples to be tested for glyphosate. All of the samples tested positive for glyphosate — even organic wines, although their levels were significantly lower. [2]…
Dispatches from The Chemical Edge 