October 30, 2017 The Nation. 41chemical companies. In August, Johnson & Johnson was
ordered to pay $417 million in damages to a woman who
developed ovarian cancer after decades of using the com-
pany’s talcum powder. In February, DuPont and another
chemical company agreed to pay more than $900 million
to settle some 3,500 lawsuits, after a federal court ruled
that Teflon production at a plant on the Ohio River in
Parkersburg, West Virginia, caused cancer in workers
and residents.
“The law requires these companies to be truthful
about what’s in their product, but they frequently don’t
submit the information; they suppress it,” said Robin
Greenwald, an attorney with the New York City–based
firm of Weitz & Luxenberg, who won multimillion-
dollar settlements for victims of the 2010 BP oil spill
and represents dozens of plaintiffs in the Roundup case.
“Fifteen, 20 years later, all these people have certain can-
cers and certain illnesses, and we ask why. Then scien-
tists connect the dots, and then litigation happens. And
in litigation, you get documents from the defendant, and
then lo and behold: They knew.”
The stakes in these cases are high—for Monsanto,
for cancer victims, for consumers, and for farmers. For
better or worse, today’s agricultural system relies on pes-
ticides, “all of which come with inherent dangers,” said
William Curran, a plant-science expert at Pennsylvania
State University who works with farmers combating
glyphosate- resistant weeds. “If Roundup is removed, we
might be left with herbicides that are far worse—if you
can’t use glyphosate, what are you going to use?”
Many agronomists are optimistic about new practices
and technologies to control weeds with fewer chemi-
cals. One promising invention involves a piece of ma-
chinery that attaches to a combine at harvest time and
pulverizes weed seeds so they won’t sprout up in spring.
Certain farming methods can reduce the need for pesti-
cides, including “integrated weed management,” which
uses a combination of herbicides with plowing and crop
rotation. Some farmers reduce the use of chemicals by
planting winter cover crops, such as legumes and grass-
es, which add nutrients to the soil, reduce erosion, and
prevent weeds from gaining a foothold. “It’s not like we
need to go back to our old agrarian ways,” Curran said,
though he acknowledged that it can be tough to per-
suade farmers to change their practices.
The federal lawsuit itself may not resolve the dispute
about glyphosate’s safety: The research is still evolving.
“Every time a product gets looked at for the first time,
this scientific debate goes on,” said Blair. “This is not un-
usual. In fact, that’s what science is. Studies are carried
out, findings occur, people evaluate them, not everybody
agrees.” Eventually, enough information is gathered to
reach some consensus—but that can take decades. Mean-
while, with every year that passes, another 300 million
pounds of glyphosate is sprayed upon the land. QILLUSTRATIONS: NURUL HANA ANWAR
KNEE-BEND
(aka the Kaepernickebein)
by David Wondrich
The Knickebein—or, roughly,
“Knee-Bend”—was a German-
American drink of the 19th
century with an egg yolk
floating in it, a whole bunch
of sweet liqueur, and a foamy
egg-white top. For this modern
tribute to principled protest,
I kept the egg white and a
splash of liqueur but replaced
everything else with good
American spirits and a touch of
lemon juice. There’s a little bit-
terness in it to remind us of the
bitter reason why we protest.É Stir together in
cocktail shaker:
½ oz fresh-squeezed
lemon juice
1 tsp white sugar
É Add:
1¼ oz well-aged
California brandy
¾ oz straight rye whiskey
1 tsp Amaro CioCiaro or other
orange-heavy Italian amaro
½ oz raw egg white*
É Shake viciously and strain
into a chilled cocktail coupe.
Dot five to six drops of
Peychaud’s Bitters on the
egg foam in a row run-
ning around the left-hand
rim of the glass and, using
a toothpick, draw them out
into parallel red stripes.
*This is much easier to measure
if you whip it lightly and
briefly with a fork first. Or
you can just say “To hell with
it” and leave it out entirely.
It’s your drink. You’ll have to
forget about the nifty red-
and-white stripes, though.David Wondrich, the James
Beard Award–winning author
of Imbibe, is the senior drinks
columnist at The Daily Beast,
after putting in a decade and a
half as Esquire’s drinks corre-
spondent. He lives in Brooklyn.COVFEFE
NEGRONI
by Naomi
Gordon-Loebl
What is “covfefe”?
It could be the
Orange One’s Reddit
password; it could
be the name of a
hideous new luxury-
condo complex
he’s planning in
Downtown Brooklyn.
For now, let’s say it’s
a cocktail: a Negroni
variation we can all
raise in a toast the
day we finally kick
him out of office
(and perhaps drink
to soothe our covfefe
woes along the way).É Add to a mixing
glass filled with ice:
1 oz dark rum
1 oz sweet vermouth
½ oz extra-strong,
freshly brewed
covfefe coffee
½ oz Campari
É Stir until thor-
oughly chilled.
Strain over fresh
ice in a rocks glass
and garnish with
an orange peel.
Naomi Gordon-Loebl is
the internship director
and research editor at
the Nation Institute.RUSSIAN
INTERFERENCE
by Megan Barnes
Three of these and
you won’t even care
that your election
was stolen. I find
vodka to be a rather
boring spirit to work
with, so I added
aquavit for that cori-
ander/caraway flavor,
St-Germain for a hint
of lychee and pear,
and citrus to balance
out the cocktail.É Add to a cocktail
shaker with ice:
1 oz vodka
½ oz aquavit
½ oz St-Germain
¾ oz lemon juice
½ oz simple syrup
É Shake, strain, and
serve in a coupe
with a mint garnish.Megan Barnes is the
beverage director of
Espita Mezcaleria in
Washington, DC.FIGHTING SPIRITS
These days, the news goes best with a stiff drink. We asked three
booze experts for concoctions to fortify the resistance.DRINKRene Ebersole is a freelance journalist who specializes in narra-
tive articles and investigative pieces about science, health, and
environmental issues. This story was produced in collaboration
with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, a nonprofit
investigative-news organization.