Pesticide News - November 2018

MONSANTO RESISTANCE CONTINUES TO BUILD FOLLOWING LANDMARK VERDICT

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, gives an insider's perspective on the Monsanto trial.

Every day for five weeks, I sat in a San Francisco courtroom. I listened as Dewayne “Lee” Johnson described, in excruciating detail, how non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a painful and potentially terminal cancer, robbed him of his health.

Dewayne Johnson wearing a protective mask and suit while applying Roundup.

I watched Monsanto’s lawyers try to deny that Roundup weed killer caused Lee’s cancer. I watched Monsanto’s experts dance around the company’s herculean 40-year campaign to hide the truth about Roundup’s deadly cancer-causing properties.

Thankfully, the jury didn’t buy it.

THE RISE OF ORGANIC AGRICULTURE IN ETHIOPIA

The Ecological Organic Agriculture initiative, led by the African Union, aims to establish an African platform to develop sustainable organic farming systems.

AN ALTERNATIVE TO GLYPHOSATE WHEN DEALING WITH JAPANESE KNOTWEED

Japanese knotweed is a non-native invader, introduced in the 19th Century as an ornamental plant. The spread of this species across the UK has been astonishing. Thanks to its ability to regenerate from tiny fragments of rhizome, its root system, it is now thought to be present in every 10km 2 of the UK and causes problems across a range of sectors.

JKSL has developed MeshTech, an altogether different strategy for Japanese knotweed treatment.

DECISION TIME FOR UK AGRICULTURE

The Agriculture Bill currently going through parliament is the first chance the UK has had since 1947 to fundamentally reshape how we grow our food. It offers us the opportunity to usher in a new era of sustainable agriculture which better protects both human health and our natural environment.

A TRIBUTE TO PETER MELCHETT

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Peter Melchett, a towering figure in the environmental movement, passionate campaigner for organic agriculture and good friend of PAN UK.