Reject Roundup

Pollinator Health

Glyphosate, historically the main active ingredient in Roundup, is a primary driver of monarch butterfly declines because its use has wiped out the only plant monarch young feed on, milkweed, along their migration route. It is also associated with harm to honeybees including negative impacts on larval development, cognitive abilities, colony parasite load, and gut microbiota. The active ingredients in new Roundup formulations are also associated with harm to biodiversity, including negative impacts on birds, bees, earthworms, fish, and other aquatic organisms. They are also significantly more persistent in the environment than glyphosate, on average, and more likely to leach down into groundwater, increasing the risk of contaminating waterways and drinking water. 

Human Health

Glyphosate is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the World Health Organization. Over 165,000 people have sued Roundup manufacturer Bayer-Monsanto, linking their cancer to exposure to the hazardous weedkiller. Bayer is paying billions to settle the lawsuits, but Roundup continues to be sold for use on yards, school grounds, public parks, and farms without any safety warning. Glyphosate has also been linked to high rates of kidney disease in farming communities and to shortened pregnancy in a cohort of women in the Midwest. Animal studies and bioassays link glyphosate and its formulations to Parkinson’s, endocrine disruption, DNA damage, decreased sperm function, disruption of the gut microbiome, and fatty liver disease. 

New active ingredients in Roundup that have begun to replace glyphosate are even more toxic to human health. The chemicals in new Roundup formulations have been linked to birth and developmental abnormalities, reproductive dysfunction, kidney or liver damage, and irritation and inflammation affecting the skin, eyes, or respiratory system. The worst offender is diquat dibromide, now present in all the new Roundup lawn and garden formulations. Diquat dibromide is 200 times more toxic than glyphosate in terms of long-term, chronic exposure, is classified as a highly hazardous pesticide. Diquat dibromide and imazapic are banned in the EU. 

Learn more about how glyphosate and other toxic pesticides affect your health.

Organic Alternatives

We need Home Depot and Lowe’s to replace Roundup with organic and safer alternatives, not other toxic products. According to our analysis, half of the weedkillers sold by Home Depot and Lowe’s contain highly hazardous chemicals. The good news is, both companies already offer organic and other least-toxic products. Now, we need them to phase out the most hazardous products and increase safer options.

Calling out Home Depot and Lowe’s

We demanded change in the companies’ hometown newspapers. Check out the Home Depot ad in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Lowe’s ad in the Charlotte Observer.