Glyphosate Ruling Could Threaten the Global Agricultural Industry

An August 10 ruling by a U.S. court over the use of the popular herbicide glyphosate has the potential to throw the agricultural industry into a tailspin. In the first case of its kind, a former groundskeeper, Dewayne Johnson, was awarded damages of almost $290M for his cancer diagnosis, which surprised observers and even fellow judges, who had described the evidence linking glyphosate to cancer as “shaky.” While any chemical that is truly detrimental to human health should be dealt with accordingly, there is no evidence we have seen that links glyphosate to cancer. On the contrary, the popular weed killer has helped to lower food prices, increase food production, and help developing countries export more food across the world. The economic effects of the shock verdict have been felt worldwide: Bayer, the German firm that recently purchased Monsanto for $63 billion, has seen its shares fall to their lowest level in five years, while other herbicide manufacturers’ shares have rapidly shed as much as 15% of their value. The verdict isn’t only wiping billions of dollars of market value off of major international corporations, it has also unleashed a wave of hysteria that risks provoking both consumers and governments to make rash decisions...MORE