Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom 2014 Congress
Resolution passed unanimously by voice vote.
Resolve that Earth Democracy and Corporations v Democracy Issue Groups collaborate on an educational and action campaign on the impact of glyphosate and Monsanto’s Roundup on public health and advocate that this product be restricted or banned.
Knowing that since 1993, Monsanto has been aware that even middle and low doses of glyphosate, one of the most active ingredients in Roundup, can cause malformations, such as: absent kidneys and lungs, enlarged hearts, extra ribs, and missing and abnormally formed bones of the limbs, ribs, sternum, spine and skull;
And that independent scientists in a number of countries, including in particular Argentina and other parts of Latin America where it has been heavily used on crops, have documented the teratogenic effects and the specific mechanism by which glyphosate and Roundup produce birth defects;
Recognizing that the recent report, “Roundup and Birth Defects: is the Public Being Kept in the Dark?,” authored by eight experts calls for the immediate withdrawal of Roundup and glyphosate from the European Union until a thorough scientific evaluation is done on the herbicide;
Understanding that in the United States the public has been kept in the dark by industry and regulators about the ability of glyphosate and Roundup to cause malformations;
And that the work of independent scientists has been ignored, denigrated or dismissed;
And that in the United States glyphosate is coming up for review by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in late 2014;
It is proposed that the Earth Democracy Issue Group, including the sub-committees on the Human Right to Health and on Food Democracy work with Corporations v Democracy to educate WILPF members on the issue and create an action campaign to begin September 1 to the end of the time EPA opens the review and comment period (length of time to be determined) in order to engage with the EPA process.
It is also proposed to highlight the two Earth Democracy framing initiatives: Guardianship of Future Generations and the Precautionary Principle,
And that the Corporations v Democracy frame would highlight that the illegitimate corporate person (Monsanto) has no right to harm the health of actual persons.
Submitted by Marybeth Gardam, Corporations v Democracy and Nancy Price, Earth Democracy
References: Lucia Graves, Roundup: Birth Defects Caused by World’s Top-Selling Weed Killer, Scientists Say, June 24, 2011, www.huffingtonpost.com/12011/06/24/roundup-scientists-birthdefects_n_883578.htmlRoundup and Birth Defects: Is the Public Being Kept in the Dark? , July 25,2013, www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/roundup-and-birth-defects-public-being-kept-in-dark Dr. Kelly Brogan, Monsanto’s Darkest Secret: Roundup/s Effects on the Fetus, May 17, 2014, www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/monsantos-darkest-secret-roundups-effect-fetus Jeff Ritterman, M.D. Exposing Monsanto: Herbicide Linked to Birth Defects –the Vitamin A Connection, July 28, 2014 http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/25122-exposing-monsantoherbicide-linked-to-birth-defects-the-vitamin-aconnection?tmpl=component&print=1#.U9wA5xR9Dm4.email