The Phosphorus Paradox

Weeks before the Iran war started, the United States government took surprising action on a seemingly niche topic: the chemical element phosphorus. In an executive order issued on Feb. 18, President Donald Trump called for increased production of the substance, which is mined in the U.S. by the international chemical conglomerate Bayer.

Initial reactions to the executive order focused on the use of phosphorus in herbicides. But the issue goes beyond domestic environmental concerns. The phosphate industry sells fertilizers, fluoridates our drinking water, and produces weapons of war. 

In this way, phosphorus itself is a paradox. A fertilizer and an herbicide, it enables both life and death. The distinction between those purposes is chemical: how many atoms are bonded together, and what other elements are bonded to them. When phosphorus burns, it leaves behind a fertilizer. Without that fertilizer, no living being could exist. 

Now, the war in Iran is bringing this broader paradox into sharp focus. 

Glyphosate, made of elemental phosphorus and sold as Roundup, is widely believed to have carcinogenic effects, resulting in mounting liabilities for the company. In tough moments such as these, agribusinesses like Bayer have long turned to the U.S. government for validation and institutional support.

But elemental phosphorus, as the executive order noted, can also be used as a weapon of war. Ten days after the order was made, the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran. In early March, as the conflict widened, evidence emerged that the Israeli military had fired white phosphorus munitions into residential areas of Lebanon. This was notable because, if true, it violated international law.

White phosphorus ignites on contact with oxygen, producing white light and heavy smoke. It can legally be used in military contexts as a smokescreen or a source of illumination, but its use in populated areas is impermissible. In southern Lebanon, according to municipal information verified by Human Rights Watch, at least two rounds were fired over the town of Yohmor, causing rooftop fires. Such a use of phosphorus is unquestionably unlawful.

When white phosphorus munitions are shot into the sky, they arc up, spread out, and fall to the ground like fiery rain. White phosphorus can incinerate buildings, burn skin, and cause severe respiratory damage. It is hot enough to melt metal. 

For years, humanitarian organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have reported that Israel has shot white phosphorus into Gaza, burning hospitals and killing children. Evidence has also pointed to the U.S. using white phosphorus throughout the region, including in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. Both governments have denied these claims.

Elemental phosphorus is produced from phosphate rock, which is mined but is relatively rare. Although phosphate is mined across the U.S., Bayer is the only domestic producer of elemental phosphorus. It mines phosphate rock in Idaho and sells phosphorus to the ICL Group, formerly known as Israel Chemicals, which then provides phosphorus munitions to the U.S. and Israeli governments. 

Bayer has managed this supply since 2018, when it acquired Monsanto, the company known for making Roundup as well as Agent Orange. “Today is a great day,” Bayer’s chairman wrote the day the acquisition closed.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that Monsanto’s facilities in Idaho left behind radioactive elements and heavy metals, which contaminated waterways. Thousands of acres of land were stripped to produce millions of tons of phosphate, and, in 2007, 15 waterways were found to be polluted. 

In Idaho, 17 former phosphate mines have since been designated federal Superfund sites, leaving the public to manage the industry’s waste. Selenium poisoning in particular was linked to deaths of livestock throughout southeastern Idaho, and in 2011, Monsanto was fined $1.4 million by the EPA. Two months after the fine was levied, Monsanto was permitted to dig another phosphate mine in Idaho.

One outcome of an announcement like Trump's recent executive order is a loosening of the regulatory climate around a particular good.  If elemental phosphorus is a national security matter, the logic goes, then federal agencies should encourage its production, not regulate it. The Defense Production Act, invoked within the order, can provide liability protection. 

Bayer currently faces billions of dollars in claims stemming from the cancerous effects of glyphosate. Its mines in Idaho have historically been penalized by the EPA. Bayer has, in recent years, cultivated close ties to the Trump White House, which was reportedly concerned that liability claims could sink the company. The executive order, viewed within those terms, may amount to another corporate handout.

In their apparent use of phosphorus projectiles, Israel and the U.S. are not alone. Russian soldiers have been accused of using these weapons against Ukrainian civilians. Syria’s government was believed to have employed phosphorus during that country’s civil war. These accusations must be carefully made: the governments in question tend to deny the charge. As the U.S. government goes to war against rival populations, phosphorus is crucial to its plan.

But while Bayer's phosphorus wages war, most is used for glyphosate, which engages in its own kind of battle against the land. The dangers of glyphosate are widely known. It damages the soil and is likely carcinogenic. It is central to a corporate agricultural system that disenfranchises people and puts global food security at risk. 

Phosphorus fertilizers are naturally present in waste products such as manure and compost, although the agriculture industry has in recent years become reliant on mined sources instead. In moments of geopolitical tension, like the one we face today, food becomes more expensive because agribusinesses rely on industrial inputs, including phosphorus. 

So food prices are rising globally and phosphorus projectiles are raining down in Lebanon while the Trump administration approves another Idaho phosphate mine. 

Phosphorus is a life-giving substance, but the phosphorus industry makes it a deadly one.