Glyphosate Most Heavily Used Herbicide In History

Although biotech proponents insist that planting genetically engineered crops decreases the need for herbicides, the introduction of Roundup Ready crops in 1996 resulted in farmers spraying 20 times more glyphosate on U.S. fields, and 15 times more glyphosate worldwide. Between 1974 and 2014, over 3.5 billion pounds of glyphosate was applied in the U.S., two-thirds of it between 2004 and 2014. These statistics from a study by Charles Benbrook, published in Environmental Sciences Europe, are especially poignant in light of the World Health Organization’s 2015 finding that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen. Benbrook hopes his work will stimulate more research and assist with early detection of problems from glyphosate exposure.

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