A California jury has awarded a couple claiming their cancer was caused by long-term exposure to Roundup a record $2 billion in damages.

This is the third consecutive US jury verdict against Monsanto, with more than 13,000 cases to follow. 

Alva and Alberta Pilliod have been living with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma for more than nine years. They used Roundup regularly on their three properties for more than 30 years, and say they would not have used the product had it carried a warning label. 

The jury found that Roundup had been defectively designed and that Monsanto acted negligently in failing to warn of the herbicide's cancer risk. 

In other big news this week, two New York City council members have introduced legislation to ban the spraying of glyphosate-based herbicides and other toxic pesticides in parks and other public spaces. 

“Parks should be for playing not pesticides,” a co-sponsor of the measure, New York City council member Ben Kallos, told Environmental Health News.  

“All families should be able to enjoy our city parks without having to worry that they are being exposed to toxic pesticides that could give them and their families cancer.” [Source: reuters]

With the federal election this weekend, it is incredibly disappointing that the glyphosate issue is not being addressed by our political parties. 

I have had promising discussions with Dr Kerryn Phelps AM MP and her policy advisor, both are incredibly supportive of this petition, but with only a limited number of sitting days in parliament ahead of this election, it wasn't possible to get it tabled in parliament before the election. However, Dr Phelps and her policy advisor have indicated their willingness to discuss how they may be able to support the petition if she is re-elected. 

Don't underestimate the power you have to help bring about much needed changes for the sake of our planet, and our health, with your vote this Saturday. 

Degradation of soil caused by pesticides is a bigger cause of climate change than burning fossil fuels, because they impact the ability of soil to store carbon [source: 2040 documentary].

More than 80 per cent of Australians want our government to take more action on climate change, but our government is in denial about the climate crisis [Source: Vote Compass]. 

If you want to vote climate but aren't sure how, Sarah Wilson has put together a really handy guide on how to vote climate. 

We're just a few signatures shy of 40,000. Please keep sharing this petition to help us reach our next goal of 50,000.

We can be the change.