Why Does the United States Use So Much Glyphosate?

Calley Means argues that the United States uses large amounts of glyphosate and other agricultural chemicals because its food system prioritizes the cheapest possible calories. He contrasts about 4 percent of the world's population with, by some measures, about 20 percent of glyphosate, herbicide and pesticide use.

He compares spending patterns as part of that argument: Europe, he says, spends roughly twice the share of national income on food, while the United States spends roughly three times as much on health care. He also cites a Tony Fabrizio poll in which 92 percent of Republicans wanted pesticide regulation and recalls Trump's promise to investigate pesticides during the Kennedy endorsement. The figures are Means's claims in the interview; the passage does not itself establish a causal medical link between pesticide exposure and disease.