There have been some promising developments in relation to the use of glyphosate in Australia this week, since the recent $2 billion court ruling against Monsanto in the US. 

The first lawsuit against Monsanto in relation to Roundup has been filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria, by Melbourne gardener Michael Ogalirolo, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2011, after using Roundup three times a week for 18 years. 

Monsanto is accused of ignoring the carcinogenic impact of Roundup. 

Ogalirolo’s lawyers, Carbone lawyers, claim Roundup products are “dangerous to human health and unfit to be marketed and sold, particularly without warning labels and directions”. 

This is one of a number of positive steps in the right direction in relation to the use of glyphosate in public spaces in Australia, with the Victorian government now reviewing the safety of glyphosate, and councils across Melbourne and Sydney considering a ban on Roundup and other glyphosate based herbicides. 

This issue needs to be addressed at a national level though. Our national pesticides regulator, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Association (APVMA) maintains that glyphosate is safe when used according to label directions. 

When I contacted Bunnings two weeks to ascertain whether they were reconsidering their decision to stock Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides on their shelves (after a staff member in one of their Victorian stores told Simon from Save the Bees Australia that the product would be removed from shelves), I received this response:

"We continue to follow advice from Australia’s chemical regulator, the APVMA (Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority) in regards to this product. We apologise that the information your friend received from our local team was incorrect."

You can sign the petition to get Bunnings to stop selling Roundup here. 

Please keep sharing this petition to help send a message to Canberra that this issue needs to be addressed promptly, at a national level. 

If you or anyone you know has suffered adverse health issues as a result of exposure to Roundup or other glyphosate-based herbicides, please email me at zara@ohmygoodness.net - it is likely that there will be a class action against Monsanto. 

Thank you so much for your ongoing support of this petition. 

Zara D'Cotta.