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Texas AG Launches Investigation Into Glyphosate In Food

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has initiated an investigation into glyphosate contamination in food, with major manufacturers such as PepsiCo and Bayer being subjected to the probe.

Workers spray for insects and weeds at a fruit farm in Mesa, Calif., on March 27, 2020. Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Glyphosate is a commonly used herbicide applied to genetically engineered crops and is the main ingredient in Roundup weed killer, Paxton's office said in a June 2 statement. In 2015, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans." The organization also concluded that the herbicide showed "strong" evidence for genotoxicity, which refers to the ability to damage a cell's genetic information.

"Since then, extensive human and animal research has shown that glyphosate contributes to endocrine disruption, infertility, kidney disease, and autoimmune diseases, in addition to its cancer-causing properties," the attorney general's statement read.

"More than 250 million pounds of glyphosate are sprayed in the United States each year. Research has found that over 70 percent of American adults have detectable traces of glyphosate in their bodies compared to a mere 12 percent in 1993. Scientists attribute much of this dramatic increase to the widespread use of glyphosate as a desiccant."

Desiccation is the process of applying herbicides to crops prior to harvest to ensure they uniformly dry down, a practice responsible for more than 90 percent of glyphosate found in food.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deems glyphosate as an effective way to manage noxious and invasive weeds, the agency said in a May 5 update.

In agriculture, glyphosate is used in a wide range of crops, including corn, soybean, leafy vegetables, legumes, cereal grains, citrus, herbs and spices, nuts, oilseed crops, and sugarcane. The herbicide is also used for the conservation of pastures, forests, turf grass, rangeland, aquatic areas, parks, wildlife management areas, and paved areas.

The EPA said there are "no risks of concern to human health from current uses of glyphosate" and that there is "no indication that children are more sensitive to glyphosate."

However, Paxton's office said in its recent statement that children are "particularly vulnerable to glyphosate's harms" due to the widespread use of oats in cereals, cookies, and breakfast bars. While the EPA bans the use of glyphosate as a desiccant on oats in the United States, major companies import oats from nations where desiccation is allowed.

Children are exposed to food products that are "some of the most glyphosate-contaminated" food items sold in the United States, including those that are marketed as "healthy."

Paxton's office has sent Civil Investigative Demands to major pesticide and food manufacturers, such as Bayer and PepsiCo. A Civil Investigative Demand is an administrative subpoena allowing government agencies to request private entities to submit significant information without having to first go through court procedures.

"If any corporation is using regulatory loopholes to poison our kids with glyphosate, we will find out and we will secure justice," Paxton said.

"My office is also investigating whether major food companies are complying with Texas law and whether consumers, especially parents, have been misled about the health claims of common food products marketed to their families. No corporation is above the law, and no illegal action will go unpunished."

The Epoch Times reached out to Bayer and PepsiCo for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Glyphosate Necessity In Farms

A major controversy erupted in February when President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring America's supply of glyphosate a critical component of national and food security.

"Lack of access to glyphosate-based herbicides would critically jeopardize agricultural productivity, adding pressure to the domestic food system, and may result in a transition of cropland to other uses due to low productivity," the executive order said.

"Glyphosate-based herbicides are a cornerstone of this Nation's agricultural productivity and rural economy."

The herbicide has faced criticism from the Make America Healthy Again movement, and thousands of lawsuits have been filed across the United States claiming that exposure to glyphosate is linked to several types of cancer.

Last month, a group of lawmakers introduced the No Immunity for Glyphosate Act, which seeks to ensure that glyphosate manufacturers can be held liable under state and federal law if it is proven that the herbicide causes cancer, according to an April 29 statement from the office of Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).

The bill also seeks to ban the use of federal funds to enforce Trump's glyphosate order.

"Exposure to glyphosate can cause cancer. The Supreme Court cannot and should not allow these verdicts to be overturned," Heinrich said.

"My constituents' health and safety comes first. And I will not stand by while President Trump gives immunity to those who put my constituents' health and safety at risk."

In February, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a social media post that pesticides and herbicides were toxic.

However, if the use of these chemicals were prohibited, "crop yields would fall, food prices would surge, and America would experience a massive loss of farms," Kennedy said, while describing Trump's glyphosate order as aiming to protect the country's food supply.

Moreover, the Trump administration is looking at shifting from the current agricultural system without harming food supply, such as by transitioning to regenerative agriculture, Kennedy said.

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The Media Wants To Know Why Men Are Walking Away From Liberal Society?

Recent surveys paint what might seem like an apocalyptic picture:  In the US, around 45% of men ages 18-25 do not approach women anymore to engage in dating or relationships.  Over 42% of all men have no interest in seeking out women for relationships or casual dates.  Around 30% of men over 40 years old have never been married and are not necessarily seeking marriage.  

In light of ongoing concerns about population decline around the world, the first thing most people might say is that men need to "step up" and fulfill their role in order to save the human species from a "Children Of Men" movie scenario.  However, this suggests that it's men's fault and that checking out of the current system is a bad thing.  It's a narrow minded view.  

To be clear, the narrative of the "male loneliness epidemic" is a propaganda fantasy designed to shame men into returning to the liberal fold.  The truth is, men are not lonely, they are deliberately refusing to participate in order to make a point.  What we are witnessing is perhaps the most substantial mass boycott of liberal ideology in history as men go more conservative.  It's a boycott the establishment media does not want to acknowledge. 

In a recent expose by The Guardian, the outlet dares to ask the forbidden question - Is the "Me Too" movement the reason men are opting out of relationships and liberal society?  Sadly, they barely delve into the truth of the matter and instead regurgitate the old standby excuses:  Men are afraid of women because of lack of emotional intelligence.  Men are having trouble navigating the new world of fluid gender roles and women's independence.  Men are being lured into "toxic masculinity" by conservative movements, etc. 

Not surprisingly, the media rarely engages with straight men who study these changes from the male perspective.   If they did, they might get a better insight into what men today want want from life, from their careers or from relationships.  They talk often in dismay about the rush of young men into conservative ideals, but they never ask those men what it is about conservatism that attracts them. 

Why?  Because they don't want to hear the answer.  They don't care what men have to say.  So instead, they gather up a gaggle of female psychologists, jilted women and woke beta male activists and ask them "What is going on with men these days?" 

The idea of self improvement and striving for success has become the rallying cry for many men lost in the sea of the post "Me Too" world.  It makes perfect sense.  After a decade of feminist militancy and narratives painting men as walking time bombs on the verge of exploding into a deadly rage, men are no longer asking for validation from society or from women. 

Instead, they have set their own goals and measure their achievements according to their own peace of mind.  The power of the woke movement and feminists is in their ability to insert themselves into the role of judge and jury.  They do this by claiming constant victimhood, which they say earns them access to the halls of power and influence.  When the media talks about masculinity from an anthropological standpoint, they talk to the self-appointed woke experts (mostly women).    

When they do ask men, it's usually from a liberal standpoint.  When they ask conservative men, they ignore the answers and attack the honest responses.   Last week a New York Times podcast set out to explore what they call the American Masculinity Crisis; not to understand why men and masculinity have been so demonized, but to complain about men returning to masculinity despite the political left's best efforts to destroy it.  

"I think that we are in an abysmal state.  I think the reality is that we’ve always had patriarchy at the intersection of capitalism and white supremacy, and how those things feast on one another and lift one another. But I think right now, more times than not, the role models that these young boys and young men have are not only divisive and toxic but insidious and heinous, disgusting. Truly, I mean, the president of the United States is an alleged rapist. What does that mean? You know, the popular thing that boys are watching is largely M.M.A., right? So I think we’re in a horrible place..."

The idea of "toxic masculinity" is a woke feminist fallacy; a creation meant to shame men for their natural behaviors, their normal biological roles and the inherent ways they deal with the world.  The important thing to remember is that feminism has not been about equality for decades.  Women have had social equality and legal superiority over men in the west for some time now. 

Rather, feminism is about keeping men in line and under control to prevent any rebellion against the liberal epoch.  After all, women have no inherent power.  They gain power by convincing men to give their power away through government.  By convincing men to behave in the name of modern civility.  From the New York Times:

"I think, when we talk about masculinity, we have to talk about the patriarchy. And I think we see this as this system which harms everyone, including men..."

"I think if we can see ourselves as part of a system of patriarchy that harms all of us, and we are allies in this fight rather than men versus women, men oppressing women, then I think we can have a more productive conversation..."

In other words, masculinity and patriarchy is the left-wing version of "original sin"; a great crime against humanity that can only be defeated when men and women come together...and submit to feminism.  Which means, men have to hand over all their power as the source of this great evil.  Men have to accept proper "management" to avoid falling into their darker ways.  If only these men would prostrate themselves before the benevolent woke gods and beg for forgiveness, then the world would be a much better place.

But why would they?  The idea that they get something in return is a proven lie.  They get no redemption, no peace.  Why not simply step on the neck of feminism, destroy it and take control?  It would be easy.  The only thing stopping this from happening is the hope most men have for a logical and reasonable discourse - The hope of honest reconciliation.  As long as feminism exists, however, this is never going to happen.

When the left-wing media opines on the lost generation of men, what they're really doing is pretending to have empathy while scrambling to circumvent a full blown male rebellion against the liberal order. 

The "Me Too" movement was presented as a reckoning over abuse against women in professional spaces, but it ultimately became a power grab in which liberal women leveraged fake outrage to elevate the idea of "guilty until proven innocent."  It weaponized mob justice against men as a way to steal jobs women didn't earn or deserve, and steal political power they had no moral capacity to handle. 

It's no mistake that the Me Too motto was "Believe all women."  That's a radioactive level of power.  

The real reckoning is going to be in the aftermath of Me Too.  There is a quiet but simmering movement of young men who are about to reassert their dominance in the society that cast them as monsters.  What progressives and feminists still don't realize is that their actions have set an unstoppable freight train in motion.  By alienating men in the pursuit of political gain, they have created a juggernaut with little empathy for self proclaimed "victims".

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DOJ Opens Investigation Into Suspected Race-Based Practices At Arizona State University

Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times,

The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has launched a Title VI investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices at Arizona State University (ASU), one of the country's largest public universities.

View of the campus of Arizona State University, a public research university located in Phoenix, Arizona. Shutterstock

Wednesday's announcement comes after recent viral videos that appear to show university personnel participating in or concealing the handling of distinguishing students by race, color, or national origin. Federal officials noted the videos raised the prospect that ASU may have violated civil rights protections while benefiting from considerable taxpayer support.

"No student should be denied access to opportunities or resources because of race, color, or national origin," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's (DOJ's) Civil Rights Division said. "The United States is committed to keeping universities free of unlawful discrimination - especially when they try to hide illegal conduct to avoid oversight and compliance."

Federal law does not allow discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin at institutions that receive federal funding. ASU has 194,000 students enrolled across its campuses as of the 2024-2025 school year and receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants and aid annually, public records from the U.S. Department of Education show.

The Civil Rights Division's investigation will determine whether ASU's DEI-related policies result in illegal discrimination in areas including admissions, recruitment, scholarships, tutoring, and educational support services. Officials underscored that the investigation is underway.

This action comes amid a broader national effort to examine university practices following changes to federal policy and public outcry over race-conscious programs. Many colleges and universities changed or repackaged DEI initiatives in the wake of executive actions and legal challenges.

The Department of Education indicates that Arizona's major universities, including ASU, have contended with state-level restrictions on certain diversity initiatives while ensuring federal compliance. Universities nationwide have quietly adjusted DEI programs as a result of potential funding cuts and investigations.

The viral videos leading to the DOJ announcement recorded interactions in which university staff deliberated continuing parts of DEI programming under alternative names such as "inclusive excellence."

Accuracy in Media and other watchdogs have noted similar efforts at public universities.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandates equal opportunity without regard to protected characteristics. Past DOJ inquiries into higher education have looked at legacy admissions, athletic recruiting, and targeted scholarships. This investigation joins a growing list of reviews examining programs thought to circumvent race-neutral standards.

Places of higher learning, from Ivy League schools to state flagships, have faced pressure to get rid of race-based preferences after Supreme Court rulings and administrative changes.

ASU officials have not formally responded to the allegations. Public university records detail numerous outreach programs targeting underrepresented groups.

Federal databases show that ASU receives considerable taxpayer funds, including research grants, Pell Grants, and other aid that require nondiscriminatory practices.

The federal government has also investigated medical school admissions and PhD recruitment initiatives at other public universities that allegedly applied different standards based on race.

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