Thousands of acres of US forests have been sprayed with a notorious chemical linked to cancer, as outrage and fear grow that the money-making scheme will lead to a booming health crisis.
The US Forest Service (USFS) has been actively spraying the herbicide glyphosate over national forests in California and throughout the South for years, wiping out native shrubs, wildflowers, grasses and plants that naturally regrow after wildfires.
Government officials have been doing this to clear space for commercially valuable conifer trees such as Douglas fir and sugar pine, which grow fast and are used to make timber and lumber for construction, furniture, paper and other products.
However, glyphosate is the main ingredient in Roundup, a popular weed and grass killer heavily scrutinized for its alleged impact on human health. The World Health Organization (WHO) has even called glyphosate a ‘probable human carcinogen.’
Public backlash has been severe, with one person saying: ‘Glyphosate is absolute s*** that needs to be removed from the market and never used ever again. Cancer-causing madness.’
‘Humans are evil to the core! They will destroy anything beautiful for a dollar!’ another person claimed.
Government records also show spraying has occurred in Maine, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon and multiple southern states tied to the timber industry, with the practice becoming common over 40 years ago.
Now, the White House’s plans to expand the chemical spraying include adding another 10,000 acres in California’s Lassen National Forest, with that number reportedly growing to 75,000 acres in some fire zones.
‘The US Forest Service is literally not taking care of the forests, they are literally destroying it,’ a social media user wrote.
A helicopter carries our chemical spraying over a wooded area. The White House recently increased this practice throughout national forests to make space for timber trees
The chemical used to clear forests, glyphosate, is at the center a current Supreme Court case, where plaintiffs claim the chemical causes cancers like non-Hodgkin lymphoma
While the practice of spraying this alleged cancer-causing chemical over the US has been taking place since the 1980s, the Trump Administration recently gave special protections to companies producing glyphosate and ramped up the government’s forest-clearing efforts.
In February, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring glyphosate ‘critical to national security.’
The order uses the Defense Production Act to boost domestic production and gives manufacturers legal cover from certain liabilities.
The USFS plan has been carrying this spraying out across California’s forests, specifically in areas devastated by local wildfires.
In 2023 alone, federal records revealed that over 266,000 pounds of glyphosate were dropped on California forests.
USFS sprays the key Roundup ingredient from helicopters flying low and releasing a fine mist of glyphosate over the local vegetation. The chemical kills almost any broad-leaf or competing plants it touches, but is designed to spare the conifer trees.
However, these native plants support insects, birds, small mammals and endangered species such as Pacific salmon and rare foxes. This creates large ‘dead zones’ with sharply declining biodiversity.
Moreover, scientists have also voiced concerns that the countless tons of weed killer being dropped across the US are now seeping into the surrounding environment and potentially increasing cancer risks for anyone exposed to glyphosate runoff.
Spraying glyphosate over native plant life in US forests destroys shrubs, wildflowers, grasses and plants that grow after large wildfires
Glyphosate is the main ingredient in Roundup, the weed killer at the heart of thousands of lawsuits, claiming the chemical caused cancers in users (Stock Image)
The US Geological Survey released a report in 2020 warning that glyphosate had been detected in 66 of 70 streams and rivers near land that had been treated with the chemical.
As of May 5, 2026, the US Environmental Protection Agency has maintained that: ‘Glyphosate products used according to label directions do not result in risks to children or adults.’
The agency added that they disagreed with other health agencies, which have listed the Roundup ingredient as a likely carcinogen, claiming EPA officials found ‘no evidence that glyphosate causes cancer in humans.’
Despite those claims, Monsanto has reached legal settlements in approximately 100,000 Roundup lawsuits, paying roughly $11 billion in damages to plaintiffs who claimed they suffered severe health issues from being exposed to or using the weed killer.
Pennsylvania landscaper John McKivison won a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against Bayer after he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2020, which he and attorneys successfully argued was a result of using Roundup for two decades.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on Monsanto v. Durnell in June or July 2026. The outcome will determine if federal law overrides state lawsuits that have accused Monsanto of failing to warn users about Roundup’s cancer risks, despite EPA regulations.
