How can Mexico keep Roundup out of its food supply?

We are society open to giving each other cancer just so we don't have weeds in our yard. Think about that. "Roundup lawsuit: Bayer ordered to pay Pa. man $2.25B after jury finds weed killer caused cancer." https://t.co/sXhngE42Iy

— Anthony Bradley (@drantbradley) February 10, 2024

Glyphosate . . .  is the most widely used herbicide in the world. It can persist in the environment for days or months, and its intensive and large-scale use can constitute a major environmental and health problem. In this systematic review, we investigate the current state of our knowledge related to the effects of this pesticide on the nervous system of various animal species and humans. The information provided indicates that exposure to glyphosate or its commercial formulations induces several neurotoxic effects. It has been shown that exposure to this pesticide during the early stages of life can seriously affect normal cell development by deregulating some of the signaling pathways involved in this process, leading to alterations in differentiation, neuronal growth, and myelination. Glyphosate also seems to exert a significant toxic effect on neurotransmission and to induce oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction, processes that lead to neuronal death due to autophagy, necrosis, or apoptosis, as well as the appearance of behavioral and motor disorders. The doses of glyphosate that produce these neurotoxic effects vary widely but are lower than the limits set by regulatory agencies. Although there are important discrepancies between the analyzed findings, it is unequivocal that exposure to glyphosate produces important alterations in the structure and function of the nervous system of humans, rodents, fish, and invertebrates.

Mexico's fight with the U.S. to keep its food supply safe

The ubiquitous Roundup weedkiller developed by Monsanto has been used by farmers and homeowners alike to keep weeds away A February 2021 article in Ecowatch revealed the duplicity of the U.S. government and the biotech industry in pushing Roundup-treated crops. In the article titled “Emails Reveal: U.S. Officials Sided With Agrochemical Giant Bayer to Overturn Mexico’s Glyphosate Ban,” author Kenny Stancil reported that Bayer was busy settling lawsuits for claims by people in the U.S. who said that its glyphosate weed killer, Roundup, caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma, while simultaneously working with the U.S. government to pressure Mexico to continue importing its glyphosate past the country's 2024 import deadline:[fn]Stancil, Kenny. “Emails Reveal: U.S. Officials Sided with Agrochemical Giant Bayer to Overturn Mexico’s Glyphosate Ban.” EcoWatch, 21 Feb. 2021, www.ecowatch.com/us-bayer-mexico-glyphosate-ban-2650597018.html.[/fn]

The corporate and U.S.-backed attempt to coerce Mexico into maintaining its glyphosate imports past 2024 has unfolded, as journalist Carey Gillam detailed in the newspaper, “over the last 18 months, a period in which Bayer was negotiating an billion settlement of legal claims brought by people in the U.S. who say they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma due to exposure” to glyphosate-based products, such as Roundup. (Emphasis added.)

The U.S.-Mexico "tug-of-war" over glyphosate is part of a long-standing dispute between the two countries over the terms of the USMCA (United States, Mexico, and Canada) trade agreement with Mexico. Mexico has been arguing that it has the necessary scientific evidence of harm to justify refusing to import glyphosate. The U.S. “corporatocracy” has been insisting that its GMO corn and glyphosate are safe while Mexico, the “birthplace of corn,” has fought back against those demands. (Mexico has also banned GMO soy.) The stand-off is to be adjudicated by a special panel expected to convene in March 2024; Mexico plans to provide evidence that GMO corn is harmful with studies from its large GMO database. some of which Frontline News has previously discussed, and that glyphosate is harmful with studies from its large glyphosate database, some of which will be reviewed below.

What is Mexico’s evidence against glyphosate?

CONAHCYT, the Mexican government’s leading scientific body, has a large studies database backing up its claim that glyphosate is harmful to animals and humans.[fn]“Efectos Nocivos Del Herbicida Glifosato.” CONAHCYT, Gobierno de Mexico, https://conahcyt.mx/cibiogem/index.php/sistema-nacional-de-informacion/documentos-y-actividades-en-bioseguridad/repositorio-glifosato [/fn] The following, from study abstracts listed in the database, demonstrate how the Canadian government is complicit in promoting industry interests over the health and welfare of its citizens; adverse effects include liver and cardiometabolic disorders in young adults; and is responsible for multiple cancers and other serious chronic illnesses. The study number is in parentheses. 

The study “Poisoning Regulation, Research, Health, and the Environment: The Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Case in Canada” shows regulatory capture in Canada is inimical to public health. (356)

While the independent scientific literature on the harmful health and environmental impacts of pesticides such as GBHs is overwhelming, Canada has only banned 32 “active” pesticide ingredients out of 531 banned in 168 countries, and reapproved GBHs [Glyphosate-Based Herbicides] in 2017 until 2032. . . [This article] will show how, by embracing industry narratives and biased evidence, by being receptive to industry demands, and by opaque decision making and lack of transparency, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) promotes commercial interests over the imperatives of public health and environmental protection. (Emphasis added.)

The study “Cocktails of pesticide residues in Prochilodus lineatus fish of the Salado River (South America): First record of high concentrations of polar herbicides” shows glyphosate residue was found in the muscles, gills, and liver of a freshwater fish (357)

Muscle and viscera (gills-liver) of the fish Prochilodus lineatus were obtained from four sites of lower course of Salado river and one site at Santa Fe river near to its confluence with Salado river from Santa Fe (Argentina) between December 2021 and February 2022. Overall, muscle fish tissue showed very high concentrations (maximum concentrations detected) of the insecticide cypermethrin (204 μg/kg), polar herbicides (glyphosate; 187 μg/kg and its degradation product (aminomethylphosphonic acid) AMPA; . . . The results of this study highlight the need for periodic monitoring due to the high concentration of pesticides and its potential risk in a very important commercial freshwater fish from Argentina, which is consumed locally and exported to other countries for human consumption. (Enphasis added.)

The study "Association of Lifetime Exposure to Glyphosate and Aminomethylphosphonic Acid (AMPA) with Liver Inflammation and Metabolic Syndrome at Young Adulthood: Findings from the CHAMACOS Study" shows exposure in childhood leads to liver and cardiometabolic health issues as early as young adulthood. (354) The paper concludes:

Metabolic and liver diseases are increasing among youth and young adults.93 Our study suggests that glyphosate, the most commonly used herbicide worldwide, and AMPA, a degradation product of glyphosate and amino-phosphonates, may increase risk of liver inflammation and/or cardiometabolic disease in young adulthood. Although previous research on glyphosate in humans has largely focused on its potential carcinogenicity, this study indicates the need for further investigation of its association with metabolic and liver outcomes. (Emphasis added.)

The study “Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases IV: cancer and related pathologies” shows that glyphosate used on crops affects many biological systems and is associated with multiple cancers (131). Studies show that the weed killer causes DNA damage, disrupts glycine balance [glyphosate is a glycine analog], removes manganese from the body, upsets fructose metabolism, and more, leading to many different types of cancers:

The World Health Organization recently labelled glyphosate as . . . probably carcinogenic.  In this paper, we review the research literature, with the goal of evaluating the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate. Glyphosate has a large number of tumorigenic effects on biological systems, including direct damage to DNA in sensitive cells, disruption of glycine homeostasis, succinate dehydrogenase inhibition, chelation of manganese, modification to more carcinogenic molecules such as N-nitrosoglyphosate and glyoxylate, disruption of fructose metabolism, etc. Epidemiological evidence supports strong temporal correlations between glyphosate usage on crops and a multitude of cancers that are reaching epidemic proportions, including breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, thyroid cancer, liver cancer, bladder cancer and myeloid leukaemia. . . .  We believe that the available evidence warrants a reconsideration of the risk/benefit trade-off with respect to glyphosate usage to control weeds, and we advocate much stricter regulation of glyphosate.

The study “Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America” shows that glyphosate and GE (genetically engineered) crops, associated with multiple chronic diseases and cancers, may be responsible for America's declining health. (111)

A strong correlation has been found between the percentage of GE corn and soy planted in the U.S. and hypertension, stroke, diabetes, obesity, lipoprotein metabolism disorder, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C, end stage renal disease, acute kidney failure, cancers of the thyroid, liver, bladder, pancreas, kidney, and myeloid leukaemia. The significance and strength of the correlations show that the effects of glyphosate and GE crops on human health should be further investigated.

A win or loss for Mexico is a win or loss for citizens everywhere

If Mexico wins its dispute with the U.S., it will be a victory against corporatism and U.S. bullying. If not, then we will likely become a GM world (if we are not already) dominated by industry, even more than we are now. IATP (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy) Director of Trade and International Strategies Karen Hansen-Kuhn put it into very clear perspective when she stated that 

this case is important to the U.S. not only because of the export market, but also because it is a precedent the U.S. could assert in other negotiations. While the current talks for an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the U.S.-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership and perhaps similar talks in the Americas will not include discussions of market access, they all include agriculture as a priority sector. If they can’t negotiate tariffs, that means they could very well be discussing the rules around agricultural biotechnology, food safety and labeling (as well as the bigger prize of rules around the digital economy). So, the outcome of the GM corn case in Mexico sets a standard that will be asserted in those other talks too.  (Emphasis added.)

She concludes:

The U.S. should accept Mexico’s right to establish new polices based on ensuring people’s access to healthy food that respects the environment, culture and biodiversity. Trade rules should provide a forum for those rights rather than a tool to block them.[fn]Hansen-Kuhn, Karen. “U.S. Trade Dispute on Genetically Modified Corn on Shaky Ground.” Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 6 Sept. 2023, https://www.iatp.org/us-trade-dispute-genetically-modified-corn-shaky-ground [/fn] (Emphasis added.)