Killing Weeds, Killing People
THIS WEEK: Cancer Clusters Near You
If you cover a rural community, you likely have a cancer cluster near you.
And if the makers of Roundup — the most widely-used weedkiller in the world, which is believed by many researchers to be connected to those cancers — gets its way, Roundup will be blamed for making thousands of Americans sick for years to come, with little or no repercussions.
How is this possible?
Bayer, the parent company of Monsanto which makes Roundup, is drowning in lawsuits that are hurting its bottom line and its reputation.
Meanwhile, it is doing everything it can to keep the product on the market and shut down future lawsuits.
Where?
In the Supreme Court where it is trying to beat back countless lower court suits that are seeking to hold the company responsible for cancer cases.
In state legislatures where it is writing bills that will give it immunity from tens of thousands of Roundup cancer claims. (Find more on that HERE.)
In communities where it is propping up the Modern Ag Alliance, a fake grassroots org it leads, controls, and funds — to mislead the public about the safety of Roundup.
In the 2026 farm bill where a pro-pesticide provision sought to grant Bayer immunity from lawsuits. The bill has since passed in the House, without the measure.
In a Trump executive order that declared the use of the chemicals in Roundup “critical to national security.” The chemicals are also used in U.S. Military ammunition.
Here are five things you need to know.
What is in Roundup and why are the ingredients inside it thought by many scientists to be harmful?
Check THIS out.
What does the EPA, the federal agency funded to protect Americans from harmful products, say about Roundup’s ingredients?
Why is that?
Where is RFK Jr. and MAHA on this?
RFK JR has ABANDONED his original convictions about the pesticide.
Many MAHA members are MAD.
How can journalists address/correct pesticide science denial?
Where is info on the SCOTUS case?
How does Monsanto go after journalists?
What are foes of the weed-killer doing?
Also in the News
The Substack-ification of American religion
We’re Reading:
Whitewash: The Story of a Weed-Killer Cancer, and the Corruption of Science
by Carey Gillam
Comic Relief
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Isaac Kamola, associate professor of political science at Trinity College, founder of Faculty First Responders and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe distinguished professor of history and public policy at Duke University and author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America
Ralph Wilson, founder of the Corporate Genome Project and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
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