Consumer pressure led Waitrose supermarket to stops selling RoundUp herbicide

A Care2 petition, which was signed by over 90 000 people, has led to Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide being removed from Waitrose stores across the UK, the supermarket confirmed on Friday the 18th of March, according to Sustainable Pulse. Waitrose Customer Service sent the Barbara G.’s petition stating: “On visiting my local Waitrose, I was shocked to see that they were selling Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer. RoundUp causes bees to starve and is a probable carcinogen.

RoundUp has been scientifically proven to produce negative effects on foraging bees. When honeybees come into contact with glyphosate, the primary active ingredient in Roundup, they lose their ability to eat and have a much harder time learning how to forage properly. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, of the 100 crops that provide 90% of the world’s food supply, 71 are pollinated by bees. In addition to its effects on bees, frighteningly, RoundUp has been deemed a ‘probable’ carcinogen by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Waitrose is not the first retail giant in the EU to have stopped selling glyphosate herbicides in the last year. The 350 ‘toom Baumarkt DIY’ stores belonging to the German REWE Group announced in May 2015 that they would no longer carry glyphosate-containing products. Swiss supermarket giants Coop and Migros also announced in June 2015 that they would no longer sell products that contain glyphosate.