Dear John,
|
Take Action: Ask Home Depot & Lowe’s to remove glyphosate -- a.k.a. Monsanto’s Roundup® -- from store shelves!
|
Glyphosate -- a.k.a. the active ingredient in Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup® -- is a probable carcinogen. It’s linked to increased risk of cancer. Last year, a jury ordered Bayer to pay $2 billion to a couple who used glyphosate on their lawn for decades and who both suffered from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Over 52,000 additional court cases are pending from others with this deadly blood cancer.
But instead of removing this product from store shelves, Bayer-Monsanto is trying to settle the lawsuits and keep selling this toxic pesticide. Under the terms of the deals, Roundup® would continue to be sold in the U.S. without any safety warning.
Right now, Roundup® is sold at garden centers like Home Depot and Lowe’s. These retailers can play a vital role in ending the use of this toxic weed-killer in our backyards and across the country. But they won’t do it unless they hear from you!
Tell Home Depot and Lowe's: Put our health first, stop selling Roundup®!
Glyphosate doesn’t just harm people. It also wipes out milkweed, the only food source for monarch caterpillars. This has contributed to monarchs declining by 90% in the past 20 years alone.
The numbers are in from this season’s butterfly count: once in the millions, barely 29,000 western monarch butterflies were found in California last year. They could vanish within our lifetimes.
Researchers have also found that glyphosate may impede the growth of bee larvae, impact bees’ ability to navigate and find food and disrupt their gut microbiome, which could make them more vulnerable to diseases.
Tell Home Depot and Lowe’s to get Roundup® off their shelves and help save the monarchs!
Companies like Lowe’s & Home Depot could be leaders by removing products containing glyphosate from their stores and online -- following the example of their competitor, Costco. This would send a powerful message to Bayer-Monsanto that it must phase out this harmful chemical.
Instead of replacing Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup® with other toxic products, garden retailers can increase offerings of organic and other safer alternatives.
We need garden retailers to act -- because the Trump Administration is failing to. Despite plummeting monarch populations, Trump’s Fish and Wildlife Service failed to list them as endangered, a move that protects Bayer’s profits and leaves these iconic butterflies vulnerable.
Friends of the Earth members like you played a key role in convincing Home Depot and Lowe’s to protect pollinators by committing to stop selling plants grown with bee-killing neonic pesticides. Now, you can push them to take another vital step in pollinator protection.
Use your power as a consumer -- Urge Home Depot and Lowe’s to remove Roundup® from their shelves!
Standing with you,
Kendra Klein, PhD,
Senior staff scientist,
Friends of the Earth
