On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, award-winning journalist Nate Halverson discusses the environmental and health impacts of the herbicide Roundup.
Last month, seven Justices on the US Supreme Court ruled to limit thousands of lawsuits claiming that Bayer, Monsanto's parent company, failed to warn consumers about Roundup's cancer risks. Recent studies suggest the herbicide could also contribute to metabolic disorders, brain inflammation, and damage to the gut microbiome.
Halverson’s yearlong investigation reveals that the US Forest Service and timber companies are spraying glyphosate in record amounts in California’s forests in an effort to regrow timberland that’s been decimated by years of megafires.
The Mother Jones investigation analyzed more than five million California pesticide records and found glyphosate use in the state’s forests reached approximately 266,000 pounds in 2023 — nearly five times the amount used two decades ago.
Guest:
Nate Halverson, Emmy Award-winning senior reporter and producer at The Center for Investigative Reporting
Resources:
Mother Jones: We Are Bombarding America’s Forests With Roundup
Glypho State, a map of glyphosate spraying in California’s forests (Mother Jones via Google Maps)
The New York Times: A Study Is Retracted, Renewing Concerns About the Weedkiller Roundup
Los Angeles Times: ‘I’d rather my house burn down than get cancer’: Two California communities fight to save their forests
