Mon$anto vs. Mother Earth
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Dale, let me understand. You sprayed weed killer on a patch of ground and the weeds died and nothing grew there for five years because you didn't plant anything there. Finally some weeds grew on their own. OK
Too many details of the events are missing for me to draw any conclusions.
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(Reuters)
Heavy use of the world’s most popular herbicide, Roundup, could be linked to a range of health problems and diseases, including Parkinson’s, infertility and cancers, according to a new study.
The peer-reviewed report, published last week in the scientific journal Entropy, said evidence indicates that residues of “glyphosate,” the chief ingredient in Roundup weed killer, which is sprayed over millions of acres of crops, has been found in food.
Those residues enhance the damaging effects of other food-borne chemical residues and toxins in the environment to disrupt normal body functions and induce disease, according to the report, authored by Stephanie Seneff, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Anthony Samsel, a retired science consultant from Arthur D. Little, Inc. Samsel is a former private environmental government contractor as well as a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body,” the study says.
We “have hit upon something very important that needs to be taken seriously and further investigated,” Seneff said.
Environmentalists, consumer groups and plant scientists from several countries have warned that heavy use of glyphosate is causing problems for plants, people and animals.
The EPA is conducting a standard registration review of glyphosate and has set a deadline of 2015 for determining if glyphosate use should be limited. The study is among many comments submitted to the agency.
Monsanto is the developer of both Roundup herbicide and a suite of crops that are genetically altered to withstand being sprayed with the Roundup weed killer.
These biotech crops, including corn, soybeans, canola and sugarbeets, are planted on millions of acres in the United States annually. Farmers like them because they can spray Roundup weed killer directly on the crops to kill weeds in the fields without harming the crops.
Roundup is also popularly used on lawns, gardens and golf courses.
Monsanto and other leading industry experts have said for years that glyphosate is proven safe, and has a less damaging impact on the environment than other commonly used chemicals.
Jerry Steiner, Monsanto’s executive vice president of sustainability, reiterated that in a recent interview when questioned about the study.
“We are very confident in the long track record that glyphosate has. It has been very, very extensively studied,” he said.
Of the more than two dozen top herbicides on the market, glyphosate is the most popular. In 2007, as much as 185 million pounds of glyphosate was used by U.S. farmers, double the amount used six years ago, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data.
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Nigella sativa -- more commonly known as fennel flower -- has been used as a cure-all remedy for over a thousand years. It treats everything from vomiting to fevers to skin diseases, and has been widely available in impoverished communities across the Middle East and Asia.
But now Nestlé is claiming to own it, and filing patent claims around the world to try and take control over the natural cure of the fennel flower and turn it into a costly private drug.
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Both articles are good.
Nestles doesn't have a prayer in patenting that.The glyphosate article indicates the study is rather inconclusive.
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Mmmmm. its the mind set of these companies that worries me. Their wallets are fat and I imagine persuasive!
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That must cause some cognitive dissonance when you consider some of the good things they do.
I guess it's never enough. -
Well, I suppose 'Business is Business' and commercial companies will do what they have been set up to do! I'm happy enough that there are plenty of 'watchdogs' that will bring to light any possibly questionable proposals / actions.
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One 'broader' issue not yet mentioned is that it only needs one or two nitwits in the process-chain to do something unexpectedly idiotic [people can always be guaranteed to be more stupid than you might ever have expected!] OR for some rare and unanticipated natural event to occur etc... Then you are screwed.
The nuclear industry is strictly regulated worldwide - but.... we still had Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Seascale, Fukashima...
The EU food-supply is probably the most strictly regulated in the world - but... anyone like a horse-meat burger, kosher/halal burger with added pork etc ?
Fracking has to be safe, doesn't it? - after all we get lots of low cost energy through it... there might we toxic-gas emissions, ground-water pollution, minor earthquakes etc... but...
FEMA will help out in disasters - but see New Orleans and then the recent East coast storm...
Homeland Security, FBI, CIA, NIS, SS, 'the police' and a myriad of other agencies, continue to erode everyone's constitutional rights whilst they say they are trying to protect them, but the bombs still go off and lunatics still mow down the innocents - no change there then.So... do we really trust that 'our' best interests are served by:
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The 'commercial companies' [that includes the manufacturers AND the farmers - everyone in the process that stops with 'us'], whose prime motive is profit.
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The 'politicians', who have forgotten what their job actually is [they now serve themselves not their country].
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The 'lobbyists', who on all sides are biased in favor of their own limited view points [that includes pro-GM and anti-GM groups].
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The 'scientists' who come up with these ideas, devoid of moral compunction.
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The 'designers', 'technologists', 'engineers' etc who realize the scientists' concepts into day-to-day objects for us to use/fret-over...
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The 'government agencies' who seem increasingly unaccountable to their 'bosses' [politicians/us]...
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.None of the above..
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OK then it's settled...people suck!
seriously, well said TIG. Each move must be weighed, a cost benefit analysis done.
but Audentes fortuna iuvat
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how's this for a coinkydink
Monsanto buys Beeologics, working to save pollinating bees.
http://current.com/1e85ikc -
Yeah, 'working to save bees'
. From what I can see, bees are quite capable of minding themselves if their environment is not screwed up by corporations that 'force' nature in unnatural directions.I found this interesting, http://www.gmwatch.org/component/content/article/11621-gm-crops-and-honey-bee-research
I also posted elsewhere on the Corner Bar about the good news from the EU that certain pesticides are to be banned for a two year period until their effects on the bee population is further investigated.
The 'dots are joining up'!!!
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Clearly the solution is GMbees that are resistant to pesticides.
Your GMwatch link says they cant prove their assertions...they say the have no evidence. As usual. I have a problem with banning things till more research is done.
Are they going to ban cars because all the bees in California are smeared all over the windshields of automobiles speeding along the highways next to those huge almond groves?
Probably not.
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Well, I suppose cars could be banned AND as far as I'm concerned BIG hungry 4x4s with no tow hitch should be banned immediately if the owner has no practical reason to use one other than arguing that they offer more protection to the occupants in a crash.
Cars could be taken out of the equation and their effects on the environment would fade after a while to some extent. However GM products are a different matter from what I can see. Better to be safe than sorry when it comes to bees.
As you say, it looks like we are going to have 'GMbees that are resistant to pesticides'! I suppose the next step would then be GM people that are resistant to GM foods
At the end of the day Nature will level things out as she always does!
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mics_24
It's a fallacy that glyphosate breaks down in soils (it may break down in some soil types - but not all soils). If glyphosate is applied where the soil is high in phosphate the glyphosate and its breakdown products can remain in that soil for some time seehttp://www.charcoalfinland.fi/Helander%20et%20al.%20Trends%20in%20Plant%20Science%202012.pdf
Also put phosphate glyphosate soil into google scholar - you'll find plenty of concern over this issue.
Certainly many publishers are outside the university/academic spectrum but then Monsanto sponsors many universities and labs so you can't expect researchers to bite the hand that feeds.
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@unearthed said:
Certainly many publishers are outside the university/academic spectrum but then Monsanto sponsors many universities and labs so you can't expect researchers to bite the hand that feeds.
Nigel, thinking about the above, I did a quick search to see what Greenpeace has to say about Monsanto ..... not good news! BTW, I'd consider to be fairly independent by any measure
Monsanto files patent for new invention: the pig
Greenpeace researcher uncovers chilling patent plans
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/monsanto-pig-patent-111/ -
oh we wouldn't want people resistant to diseases caused by GMfoods now would we...
Oh wait...they already are. -
@mics_54 said:
oh we wouldn't want people resistant to diseases caused by GMfoods now would we...
Oh wait...they already are.What? that makes no sense, what are you saying?
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I recognize anti-GMO protestations as an attack on capitalism and nothing more.
Let's just say that I believe Forbes before GMOWatch.org.
Science can fix natures failings.
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/me waits for the domed cities needed to survive potentially catastrophic climate swings.
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