Roundup is being pulled from Costco shelves, but its replacement may be even more toxic. Photo via GMO Free USA
Consumers, organic advocates and grassroots activists alike rejoiced when Costco’s plans to ban Monsanto and Bayer’s cancer-linked Roundup were revealed recently.
But the question of what to replace it with is one that has been mostly lost in the news cycle.
Original reports from Costco employees stated that organic alternatives would hit store shelves after the removal of Roundup, the active ingredient of which, glyphosate, was deemed a “probable human carcinogen” by the World Health Organization’s IARC in spring 2015.
Now, however, it appears as if Costco may be replacing it (at least initially) with a chemical cocktail that may be just as damaging to the health of humans, pollinators and the environment.
It’s a chemical weedkiller that contains not only a main component of Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War, but also one of the most environmentally destructive substances known to man, and it is a strong bet that science will eventually prove it to be even more toxic than glyphosate itself.
“We can’t keep playing this game with chemical companies”
According to a new post from the Facebook page GMO Free USA, one of the leading non-GMO activist organizations, Costco has been spotted selling “All in One,” a toxic weedkiller containing both 2,4-D and dicamba, in place of Roundup on store shelves.
These chemicals are far from safe, and may be even worse than Roundup itself.
The first chemical, 2,4-D, constituted half of the formula of Agent Orange, the devastatingly destructive chemical that destroyed both jungles and human lives in Vietnam.
Dicamba, another controversial Monsanto chemical, has been the subject of bans in some places including Arkansas, where it has been known to unintentionally destroy crops on neighboring farms due to wind drift. It has caused millions of dollars in damages to several different food crops while also destroying beneficial insects and plants.
In other words, this new weedkiller is no better Roundup itself, and may actually be worse for human health and the environment.
In response to the news, GMO Free USA made the following statement on social media, urging customers to be cautious on their next trip to the retailer:
“Let’s have a heart to heart here. While we fully support the fact that everyone has been campaigning to get Roundup off the shelves, there is a flaw in this strategy. It will forever be chemical whack-a-mole. There will always be something equally or more toxic waiting in the wings. Both 2,4-D and dicamba are toxic. We will bet that it’s only a matter of time until studies find that those chemicals are equally or more likely, MORE TOXIC than Roundup.”
“We can’t keep playing this game with chemical companies that profit from poisoning us, our children, our pets and our planet.
“Portland, Maine banned ALL synthetic weedkillers and pesticides and guess what? The sky didn’t fall. This is the path we must focus our efforts on or sadly, we will all be dead and gone but these chemical companies will live on. Ok, we’ll get off the soapbox now. BUYER BEWARE!”
For more information, plus to see how Zen Honeycutt from the Moms Across America organization (which first broke the Roundup news) responded, read the full post here.
Thanks for reading! For more articles like these in your inbox, click here.
You can also learn how to make a natural Roundup alternative from organic vinegar by clicking on this link. And if you want to know the true, sordid history of the GMO experiment, you may want to pick up a copy of this book on Amazon.com for less than 10 bucks.
Thanks for installing the Bottom of every post plugin by Corey Salzano. Contact me if you need custom WordPress plugins or website design.
About Nick Meyer
