Communities are waking up to the hidden threats of pesticide use and building momentum to do something about it.

Instructions on the packaging of Monsanto’s biggest-selling weed killers Roundup and RangerPro tell you to wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, shoes, and socks. They tell you to wash your hands before “eating, drinking, chewing gum, using tobacco, or using the toilet.” But there is no warning that exposure to even trace amounts of these pesticides may cause terminal cancer. Nor will you be told that the World Health Organization ruled in 2015 that glyphosate, the active ingredient in these weed killers, is a probable human carcinogen.

But in the wake of the first successful legal case tying these products to health risks, more people are becoming aware of their toxicity. In August 2018, a jury in San Francisco Superior Court found Monsanto responsible for its failure to warn users about the risk of RangerPro and Roundup, and determined the company knew or should have known about these risks.