Roundup is an herbicide product of Monasto company. Farmers and other people who plant any vegetation in their field use roundup to stop the growth of weeds in their field. Glyphosate is one of the active ingredients in the roundup, it was patented in the 1970s. Till 2009, the roundup brought 10% revenue to Monsanto. Here, let’s know Who Owns Roundup?
The recent controversy about glyphosate as the main ingredient of Roundup has made people curious about it, and its ingredients, and the position of the company.
Owner of Monsanto
Roundup is a brand of Monsanto and Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018. Bayer paid $68 billion to Monsanto to acquire it. Bayer is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. It is headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany. Bayer also produces human and veterinarian pharmaceutical products, agricultural seeds, and other agricultural chemicals.
The company’s CEO is Werner Baumann. According to Wikipedia, he has been handling the position of CEO since 2016. Aspirin is the first product of Bayer.
Roundup
The roundup is made up of two main ingredients: one is isopropylamine of glyphosate, and the second is surfactant POEA (polyethoxylated tallow amine).
Glyphosate was patented in the 1970s, and the company used it to make its herbicide Roundup. The roundup was first sold in 1973. Roundup’s sales increased after 1996 when Roundup-ready crops were introduced in the market.
What does roundup do?
Roundup kills weeds when it is sprayed directly on them. The spray is absorbed by the leaves of the plant, and as it moves in different parts of the plant, it acts as a poison and kills the entire plant.
Because of this, the roundup is directly sprayed on the plant instead of pouring it into the soil. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that the half-life of glyphosate is between 3 and 249 days, which means it can remain in the soil for up to a year. However, its retention in the soil also depends upon the amount of spray and the environmental conditions of the area where it is used.
A 2016 analysis found that the use of glyphosate has increased by 15% within 18 years. And its use was more between 2004 and 2014.
Roundup-ready crops
Roundup-ready crops are genetically modified crops patented by Monsanto. When farmers use Roundup-ready seeds and use roundup herbicide, then the crop remains unaffected from the effect of herbicide, and weed gets killed.
Roundup Ready crops include soybeans, maize, wheat, Canola, sugar beets, cotton, and alfalfa, and others that are under development. Soybeans were developed as the first roundup ready crops in 1996.
Rising concern about the use of roundup to treat weeds surrounding roundup ready crops is that what if weeds develop resistance to the roundup. That’s why herbicide manufacturers should work on preparing other efficient herbicides.
Is it safe to use a roundup?
There are differences of opinions on the safety of Roundup and glyphosate, its main ingredient. The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) suggests there is no harm in using roundup according to the instructions and suggestions on its label. While the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggests that glyphosate is a carcinogen for humans. That’s why many countries, including some districts of the U.S., have banned its use.
Exposure to glyphosate
Glyphosate is the main content of the roundup, and it is the reason for all the buzz. On one hand, this chemical is an excellent weed killer and on the other hand, some people have to say that their exposure to glyphosate caused them non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cancer).
Some other studies accuse that glyphosate also changes the structure of a person’s DNA, and it can also cause some liver disease. Some of the studies inspect roundups to cause neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disorder.
Other studies accuse glyphosate exposure of causing congenital diseases, and it can also harm future generations.
According to EPA, while glyphosate is harmless, it can harm other chemicals present in glyphosate-based herbicides.
EPA instructs that one should not enter the sprayed fields till 12 hours and use eye wears for safety as a few versions of glyphosate can cause eye irritation.
Consumption of roundup ready crops
The EPA (Environment Protection Agency) suggests that an optimum concentration of roundup does not cause any harm to the human body, while the use of roundup in the majority of crops raises concerns about the high intake of glyphosate in the human body.
Through roundup ready crops a new DNA is introduced into the food supply chain, and this admission of new DNA might bring new allergens. A recent example of this is genetically engineered soybeans made by administering Brazil-nut genes. These soybeans caused allergies to people allergic to Brazil nuts. It can cause a problem when a person is unaware of the genetic basis of the crop.
Only one roundup ready crop is considered unsafe for the consumption of humans, i.e., alfalfa. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is responsible for the evaluation and regulation of genetically engineered crops in the U.S. market. Without the permission of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, genetically engineered crops can’t enter the U.S. market.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), glyphosate on food can’t cause cancer.
Other effects of the roundup on the crop
Farmers using Roundup herbicide to kill weeds are now facing new problems like dependence on the herbicide, contamination with GMOs, weeds developing resistance to roundup.
Only spraying the same herbicide can push weeds to an extent where they mutate and develop resistance to it. If the resistant weed reproduces, then the next progeny of weeds will remain unaffected by the roundup spraying. This will bring farmers to square one, before the introduction of roundup in their agricultural land.
The preventive measure for this problem is changing herbicides periodically. Another option to avoid this situation is changing the plantation every time, it will make the environment less stable and less habitable for weeds.
Law suites on roundup
Glyphosate which is the main active ingredient of the roundup has been linked to the cases of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Bayer, the manufacturer of the roundup, has agreed to pay $10 billion to do the settlement.
There were thousands of claims that roundup can cause NHL. And to settle these cases, Bayer paid more than $10 billion on 24, June 2020. This deal is among the largest U.S. settlements in civil litigations. For the settlement, Bayer has to pay various amounts to 25 law firms in the U.S. This settlement covers 95,000 cases as estimated. And still, 30,000 cases are remaining whose plaintiffs didn’t agree to join the settlement. An amount of $1.25 billion is set aside for future claims of roundup causing cancer.
It all started in 2018 after the acquisition of Monsanto. A school groundskeeper, Dewayne Johnson, concluded that glyphosate caused his cancer, and he was awarded $289 million by the California state court for this. The jury said that Monsanto had not informed about the safety risk of their product.
After that case, several similar claims started rising from different places of the U.S. leading to making this case so large after this Bayer is constantly saying that there is no link between the use of glyphosate and non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cancer through different studies.
Will Bayer stop selling roundup?
Bayer announced on the 29th of July 2021 that it would stop selling Roundup and other glyphosate-based products for residential use after the start of 2023. For residential purposes Bayer plan to reformulate the roundup.
But Bayer will continue to use glyphosate in the roundup for commercial agricultural purposes. As farmers depend on roundup for their agricultural activities.
Other Monsanto litigations
Bayer will be paying $400 million to settle the claims over dicamba, a Monsanto chemical product. Dicamba can harm other crops after it is sprayed.
There’s another lawsuit on another product of Monsanto, i.e., polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs). The PCBs were banned in the U.S. almost 40 years ago because it was accused of releasing toxicants into the water supply. Bayer will spend $820 million on this case.
Other choices than the roundup
One can also use other options than a roundup. These things also do the same work, their efficiency varies from one another. These products are vinegar, manual removal, Flame, Steam, Hot-foam Weeding, other commercial herbicides, mechanical farming (plow, no-till methods).
Other commercially available alternatives are not effective as roundups. Using vinegar in sunlight is a very effective herbicide, but it burns every plant it touches. Additionally, the North California State Extension Service states that vinegar and other plant herbicides are more toxic than glyphosate. Selecting the right herbicide for a plant becomes a task in itself.
Conclusion
Since there are differences of opinions within the scientific community over the use of roundup or Glyphosate, it’s difficult for us to conclude whether roundup is good or bad. However, Bayer, its owner, is continuously fighting the lawsuits and trying to modify its products so those people who need them can be benefitted.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q.1: What is the use of roundup?
Round is a herbicide used to kill weeds.
Q.2: Who is the owner of the roundup?
Bayer, a German pharmaceutical and life science company, acquired Monsanto (producer of roundup) in 2018.
Q.3: What is the cost of Roundup?
A 1.25-L gallon of the roundup is priced at $34.58 on Amazon.
Q.4: Which is the first roundup ready crop?
Roundup-ready soybeans are the first genetically engineered crops, they entered the U.S. market in 1996.
