If you think you get lots of junk email, try being the editor of a farm magazine. Various groups flood my inbox with information I never asked for and often don’t particularly want.
Friends of the Earth is in that category. They may be “friends of the Earth,” but they’re certainly not friends of agriculture. You can count on two things when you get information from this group: First, you’ll be asked to donate. Second, you might find a few grains of truth in their email.
You owe it to yourself to know these groups exist. And here’s a disclaimer. Yes, there are groups that include the word “environment” in their name that are often supportive of mainstream agriculture. Examine each email from any group on its merit.
Fact vs. fiction
To prove the point, here are a few examples from a recent email from Friends of the Earth. The subject line says: “Urgent: Help keep glyphosate out of our environment and our food.”
• What license? The email opens with: “The Trump administration wants to hand Monsanto a license to poison our environment, wipe out monarch butterflies and pollute our communities.”
Fact or fiction? First, as of last August, “Monsanto” no longer exists. It was purchased by Bayer, which promptly changed the name.
Second, is the group talking about an actual license or a figure of speech? What “license” does a company need other than U.S. EPA registration, which often takes years, reams of data and a large amount of money in research dollars to get? Bayer’s predecessor, Monsanto, did all those things for Roundup decades ago. Glyphosate, the active ingredient, is now sold by dozens of companies.
• Broad brush. The email continues:“Last year, Trump handed Monsanto even more power by allowing it to merge with Bayer — the corporation behind bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides.”
Fact or fiction? First, Trump didn’t “hand” anybody at Monsanto or Bayer anything, as far as we know. Mergers must be approved by Congress. To acquire Monsanto, not merge, Bayer jumped through many hoops, both in the U.S. and abroad. It was forced to divest itself of some parts of its business, including Liberty herbicide, which it sold to BASF, to satisfy laws.
Second, yes, our sources indicate that neonicotinoids will kill bees upon direct exposure to a large enough dose. The broad-bush inference is that just because they sell a product, a company kills bees.
• Jump to conclusions. More from the email:“This pesticide is harming our health. A jury recently found that Roundup was responsible for a man’s terminal cancer and demanded the company pay millions in damages. And more than 8,700 people are suing Monsanto for causing their cancer.”
Fact or fiction? Who says the pesticide is harming our health? Reams of data accepted by EPA say it’s safe. The only report we know of is a vague reference in a World Health Organization report now a few years old to one study that concluded glyphosate might cause cancer.
Yes, a California jury found in favor of a plaintiff and recommended a large settlement. Words mean things. The jury doesn’t issue demands; courts do. The law also allows appeals. Expect that process to take a long time.
Meanwhile, our best advice? Know what other groups are saying — don’t bury your head in the sand. Yet don’t take what they say verbatim as truth. Help others learn to ask questions and seek the true story.
Comments? Email tom.bechman@farmprogress.com.