Viewpoint: The MAHA movement’s wrongheaded war on glyphosate is part of a misplaced broader attack on modern agriculture

Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The MAHA movement’s war on glyphosate is part of a broader war on modern farming — not only herbicides and other pesticides but synthetic fertilizers, genetic engineering and factory feedlots. … Many liberals repulsed by Mr. Kennedy’s unscientific bias against vaccines and Tylenol share his unscientific bias against agri-chemicals, genetically modified organisms and industrial agriculture.

Glyphosate is a convenient target because it’s the most widely used herbicide, and because “Roundup ready” GMO crops engineered to tolerate weed-killing doses of glyphosate are the ultimate symbol of the GMO revolution. There’s overwhelming evidence that GMOs are safe, and glyphosate happens to be one of the most benign forms of weed control. 

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The Environmental Protection Agency, the European Food Safety Authority and regulators in Canada, Japan and Australia have all concluded it’s safe for humans. Even the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which campaigns against unsafe chemicals, noted that glyphosate has “significantly lower acute and chronic toxicity than many other herbicides on the market.”

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