Why the world can't avoid Monsanto's pesticides despite cancer verdict

Glyphosate is the world's most popular and widely used weedkiller for a reason

It may seem like Judgment Day has come for glyphosate, with a California jury slapping $289 million in damages on Monsanto Co. in a cancer trial, and a federal judge in Brazil halting use of the herbicide over health concerns -- all in the space of a week.

Dramatic headlines are par for the course for Monsanto, a company that activists have targeted for decades and which Germany’s Bayer AG just bought for $66 billion. Bayer shares tumbled Monday on concerns over a protracted legal battle, but Monsanto has weathered these kinds of storms ever since its herbicide and the genetically