You would think Roundup was some kind of party drink. The latest mass market TV commercial for it features a yard warrior wielding a spray wand of this herbicide like a gunslinger shooting at bad guys. Instead, the suburabn stud is shooting jets of Roundup poison at dandelions emerging from cracks in his driveway.
On March 30 & 31 of 2013, I wrote two blog entries about the absence of any songbirds in the community where we live just a few miles west of downtown Portland, Oregon. I raised the issue of toxic herbicides and pesticides being used on lawns and gardens as a cause for the lack of any birds other than crows and blackbirds.
The article below comes from the Common Dreams website. It provides some very unsettling perspective on the impact of using Roundup, the most widely used herbicide on Earth. Yes, it kills weeds, but it is also highly toxic to humans as well as birds and other animal life. As I mentioned earlier, the TV commercials for Roundup feature a guy spraying this poison around his garden like it's water.
Why aren't these poisons regulated? In fact, there are laws that regulate the use, labeling, etc. of these very dangerous chemicals. The problem is the regulatory process has been captured by the chemical industry. The government people in charge of protecting the public welfare are instead looking out for the interests of Monsanto and other chemical giants. Thus, there is no effective regulation, and this deadly poison is hocked to the public like a softdrink.
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Study: Monsanto's Roundup Herbicide Linked to Cancer, Autism, Parkinson's
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, may be "the most biologically disruptive chemical in our environment," say authors
The active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide may be "the most biologically disruptive chemical in our environment," being responsible for a litany of health disorders and diseases including Parkinson’s, cancer and autism, according to a new study.
"Negative impact on the body" from glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, "is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body," according to a new study. (Photo: astridmn/flickr)
It's "the most popular herbicide on the planet," widely used on crops like corn and soy genetically engineered to be "Roundup Ready," and sprayed on weeds in lawns across the US. But in the peer-reviewed study published last Thursday in the journal Entropy, authors Anthony Samsel, an independent scientist and consultant, and Stephanie Seneff, a senior research scientist at MIT, crush the industry's claims that the herbicide glyphosate is non-toxic and as safe as aspirin.
Looking at the impacts of glyphosate on gut bacteria, Samsel and Seneff found that the herbicide "enhances the damaging effects of other food borne chemical residues and environmental toxins," and is a “textbook example” of "the disruption of homeostasis by environmental toxins."
The researchers point to a potential long list of disorders that glyphosate, in combination with other environmental toxins, could contribute to, including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, depression, ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, multiple sclerosis, cancer, cachexia, infertility, and developmental malformations.
The herbicide's "Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body," they write.
The authors conclude:
The new findings may add further momentum to concerns from food safety and food sovereignty advocates who have challenged Monsanto's grip on corporate agriculture and its genetically engineered crops.
In a "March Against Monsanto" in cities in the US and beyond, activists plan to gather on May 25 to highlight environmental and health concerns from genetically engineered crops and call out the corporatism that allows "Organic and small farmers [to] suffer losses while Monsanto continues to forge its monopoly over the world’s food supply, including exclusive patenting rights over seeds and genetic makeup.
"Negative impact on the body" from glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, "is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body," according to a new study. (Photo: astridmn/flickr)
It's "the most popular herbicide on the planet," widely used on crops like corn and soy genetically engineered to be "Roundup Ready," and sprayed on weeds in lawns across the US. But in the peer-reviewed study published last Thursday in the journal Entropy, authors Anthony Samsel, an independent scientist and consultant, and Stephanie Seneff, a senior research scientist at MIT, crush the industry's claims that the herbicide glyphosate is non-toxic and as safe as aspirin.
Looking at the impacts of glyphosate on gut bacteria, Samsel and Seneff found that the herbicide "enhances the damaging effects of other food borne chemical residues and environmental toxins," and is a “textbook example” of "the disruption of homeostasis by environmental toxins."
The researchers point to a potential long list of disorders that glyphosate, in combination with other environmental toxins, could contribute to, including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, depression, ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, multiple sclerosis, cancer, cachexia, infertility, and developmental malformations.
The herbicide's "Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body," they write.
The authors conclude:
Given the known toxic effects of glyphosate reviewed here and the plausibility that they are negatively impacting health worldwide, it is imperative for more independent research to take place to validate the ideas presented here, and to take immediate action, if they are verified, to drastically curtail the use of glyphosate in agriculture. Glyphosate is likely to be pervasive in our food supply, and, contrary to being essentially nontoxic, it may in fact be the most biologically disruptive chemical in our environment.
The new findings may add further momentum to concerns from food safety and food sovereignty advocates who have challenged Monsanto's grip on corporate agriculture and its genetically engineered crops.
In a "March Against Monsanto" in cities in the US and beyond, activists plan to gather on May 25 to highlight environmental and health concerns from genetically engineered crops and call out the corporatism that allows "Organic and small farmers [to] suffer losses while Monsanto continues to forge its monopoly over the world’s food supply, including exclusive patenting rights over seeds and genetic makeup.
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