GLYPHOSATE IN OUR COFFEE-UGHH
Glyphosate is the most widely used weedkiller in the world, showing up ubiquitously in peoples blood and urine in Europe and the US. Marketed as Round Up it is widely used on “Round Up Ready” corn and soy that is genetically engineered to withstand the weedkiller. It is also used to kill oats and other crops to make them easier to harvest. But in coffee?
Glyphosate is widely used on coffee plantations to control weeds, and winds up in the crops because it drifts onto them and the soil.In 2016 a coffee plantation owner sued Monsanto for not revealing the risk of non Hodgkins lymphoma from glyphosate that she used on her Hawaiian coffee plantation, Dragon’s Lair Kona Coffee.
Glyphosate has been tied to non Hodgkins lymphoma, other cancers, and to endocrine disruption.
All of this is a good reason to start the day with organic coffee. Scott Weidensall, an ornithologist, naturalist, and author, says one of the easiest and best things we can do for birds is to buy organic shade grown coffee. Shade grown coffee provides good habitat, and if the coffee is organic the birds aren’t being killed by pesticides.
We brew our coffee with water, and the best way to keep glyphosate out of our water is not to use it on our yards and gardens.
Above are pictures of a conventional coffee plantation in Hawaii, and shade grown coffee in Guatemala.