A piece of news coming from California has huge implications for India. A Jury in California who heard a case against the use of glyphosate-based weed-killers by the company Monsanto, has ordered the company to pay $289 million in damages to a person who said weed-killers caused him cancer, reports Money Control.
Indian farmers use glyphosate on HT Bt cottonseeds cotton crop. It kills the weeds, while allowing the resistant plants to grow. According to the Indian government, glyphosate is registered for use on tea and in non-crop areas.
Monsanto’s weed-killer Roundup is primarily used in agriculture and places like roadsides, public spaces, railway tracks and gardens. It’s not just Monsanto that markets glyphosate-based weed-killers, there are 30-35 glyphosate-based herbicides sold in India under different brand names by domestic and foreign companies.
Monsanto, a unit of Bayer following a $62.5 billion acquisition by the German conglomerate, faces more than 5,000 similar lawsuits across the United States.
Its high time Indian govt focused its attention on the issue and did the needful without delay.