FREEMAN, Wash. — Regional farmers are mobilizing against a potential federal ban on glyphosate, a widely-used weed killer ingredient, warning that such action could drive up grocery prices and devastate the agricultural industry.
Farmers in Eastern Washington said they’re prepared to fight tooth and nail to continue using the weed killer.
Alan Schreiber, a farmer and former Environmental Protection Agency researcher, said, “if they try and take glyphosate away, it’s going to be from my cold, dead fingers.”
The pushback comes after Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. raised concerns about glyphosate, the active chemical in Roundup and other herbicides used to protect home gardens and major crops. The Make America Healthy Again Commission’s recent report identified glyphosate as potentially dangerous to children and linked it to cancer risks.
Schreiber said the chemical is safe and warned of economic consequences if banned.
“It could be financially ruinous to some growers all the way to just putting an increased financial burden on some farmers,” Schreiber said.
Schreiber believes eliminating glyphosate would force farmers to rely on alternative weed killers that are more expensive, more dangerous and less effective than current options. The cost increases would ultimately reach consumers through higher food prices.
“Wheat and bread – it would negatively impact the price of bread and items that contain wheat and I’ll tell you, there’s a lot of products that contain wheat,” Schreiber said.
The Washington Wheat Growers Association has taken the concerns directly to federal lawmakers, sending one of its farmers to Washington, D.C., last week to meet with Congress about maintaining glyphosate’s legal status.
Gil Crosby, vice president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, pointed to extensive research supporting the chemical’s safety record.
“I think there’s over 1,500 studies on glyphosate that show it’s safe. In fact, the EU just extended last year — 10 more years that it’s okay for glyphosate to be used in the EU,” Crosby said.
The Washington Wheat Growers Association said it is waiting for the next Make America Healthy Again Commission report, expected to be published next month.
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