With the recent news that the World Health Organization's (WHO's) International Agency for Research on Cancer has labeled glyphosate -- the active ingredient in the world's most widely used weedkiller, Roundup -- as "probably carcinogenic to humans," those of us who oppose GMOs and the rampant overuse of glyphosate that goes with them finally have a ray of hope.
The announcement was accompanied by the usual shenanigans from Roundup's creator, Monsanto -- in this instance, a demand for a retraction to the WHO report.
The WHO is the health arm of the United Nations, which as you probably know, represents a majority of world's countries -- countries that have resisted GMOs and countries that have embraced them. The fact that this report comes from the WHO is significant in that many of the countries represented have seen the deleterious effects of Roundup up close and personal.
While listening to discussion of this issue on the radio, I heard an interview with a Native American woman who said that because of how her culture reveres corn, the contamination of her corn crops with GMO seeds and chemicals is the equivalent of someone destroying a church.
Listening to her interview gave me the strong feeling that 50 years from now we will look back on this chemical era of agriculture as the Dark Ages of farming. We will view this time as we view other moments in history that cause us to wonder why it took so long for people to "get it."
Just as we got that women should have the right to vote and realized that smoking causes cancer, we'll one day "get it" about chemical farming. We'll realize that it's an inhumane practice, one that's damaging not just to our environment, but also to our future, our children, and our very souls.
I believe we learn, grow, change and adapt when enough of us (yes, there will always be stragglers) understand the consequences of our behavior. More of us are learning now.
Let's hope this report is the beginning of the end of Roundup. And more importantly, let's hope that we can all see that the solution to our agricultural problems is already right before us: regenerative organic agriculture. It can help reverse climate change. It can help our planet heal. It can feed us, safely, and without harm to our farmers and families.
It is the more enlightened, evolved, and modern way to feed the world.
Really, regenerative organic farming is the only way to feed the world.
For more from Maria Rodale, visit www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com