The end justifies the means. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last Feb. 18 to define the pesticide Roundup and white phosphorus used in munitions-two products of the German giant Bayer- “a matter of national security” under the Defense Production Act, and guarantee their production and continued use. Protecting American agricultural production and ensuring that the operational capabilities of the U.S. military are worth more than concerns for the health, environment, and rights of civilian populations during a conflict.
The executive order
“Elemental phosphorus,” Trump writes, “is pervasive in defense supply chains and is therefore crucial to military readiness and national defense. It is a key input in smoke, illumination and incendiary devices and is a key component in the production of semiconductors that are central to many defense technologies, such as radar, solar cells, sensors and optoelectronics. Elemental phosphorus is also a key precursor element in the production of glyphosate-based herbicides, which play a key role in maintaining America’s agricultural advantage by enabling farmers to efficiently and economically produce feed for food and livestock. As the most widely used crop protection tools in U.S. agriculture, glyphosate-based herbicides are a cornerstone of this nation’s agricultural productivity and rural economy.”
Ergo, “ensuring an adequate supply of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate herbicides is critical to national security and defense, including food supply security, which is essential to protect the health and safety of Americans. Our nation’s inadequate production of elemental phosphorus, which must support both defense production and our significant agricultural needs, and the threat of increased domestic shortages leave us vulnerable to hostile foreign actors and pose an imminent threat to military readiness. Consistent with these findings, I find that ensuring robust domestic elemental phosphorus extraction and U.S.-based herbicide production is central to U.S. economic and national security.” And so it will be.
Green light for white phosphorus
Bayer, the manufacturer of glyphosate, is also the only company in the United States to produce a form of elemental phosphorus called white phosphorus, which it uses in the production of the herbicide but also in the manufacture of munitions used as smoke screens and incendiary devices capable of causing serious harm to people or property. Bayer supplies through middlemen some of the white phosphorus it needs to the U.S. military, which uses it to load white phosphorus munitions at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas.
White phosphorus is a very insidious compound that spontaneously ignites on contact with oxygen. It produces a dense white smoke and can reach temperatures high enough to burn metal. Its use is not illegal, although deliberately employing it against civilians or in a civilian context violates the laws of war.
“It has terrible humanitarian consequences,” Bonnie Docherty, senior adviser at Human Rights Watch and director of the Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative at Harvard Law School, told the New York Times. “It causes really deep burns,” she added. “It’s notorious because it burns when it comes in contact with oxygen, and wounds often flare up when the dressings are removed.” But the military considers it essential for ground actions, and concerns about the availability of phosphorus for defense purposes played a significant role in Trump’s decision to make Bayer’s activities a national security priority.
Stop billion-dollar compensation?
Bayer, which has faced strong criticism for its use of Roundup ever since the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared it a “probable carcinogen” in 2015, prompting a harsh reaction from the multinational company, which has always denied the toxicity of its product. Bayer has faced nearly 200,000 lawsuits since 2018 from cancer victims linked to the use of glyphosate in agriculture and gardening. The lawsuits allege that Monsanto (acquired by Bayer in 2018) knew about the high risk of glyphosate, but concealed the facts and failed to warn consumers about its labels.
Bayer announced Feb. 17, the day before the executive order, that it had reached a settlement involving the payment of $7.25 billion to plaintiffs to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits accusing the herbicide Roundup of causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The settlement was presented to a Missouri district court judge in St. Louis and its approval is not guaranteed. In fact, a previous $10 billion settlement had failed in 2020 because of a judge’s objection to how future claims would be handled.
The company, however, is working on multiple levels by employing a formidable team of lobbyists: according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that monitors data on lobbying and campaign finance, it spent more than $9 million last year to pay 53 registered lobbyists to represent the company’s interests at the White House, several federal agencies and Congress. Bayer has also promoted measures in Congress, as well as in state legislatures across the country, to protect itself from such lawsuits. Bayer has also petitioned the Supreme Court to rule on a case that could limit the company’s liability. The court is expected to hear arguments on the matter in April. And the executive order could play a decisive role in its favor. After all, that could be his argument: if the president of the United States says these products are essential to the security of the country, what do you want from us?
