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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Round-up Ready Sudden Death Syndrome
  • Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 20:58:14 -0700


The Institute of Science in Society
Science Society Sustainability
http://www.i-sis.org.uk

General Enquiries sam@i-sis.org.uk
Website/Mailing List press-release@i-sis.org.uk
ISIS Director m.w.ho@i-sis.org.uk
===================================================

ISIS Press Release 30/11/03
Round-up Ready Sudden Death Syndrome
************************************
Prof. Joe Cummins finds evidence that Roundup Ready causes sudden death and
other diseases by boosting fusarium in the soil.

Sources for this report are available in the ISIS members site
(http://www.i-sis.org.uk/full/RRSDFull.php). Full details here
(http://www.i-sis.org.uk/membership.php)

For several years, scientists have investigated the impact of herbicides,
particularly glyphosate (Round-up) on soil microbial communities. These
investigations revealed increased colonization of the roots of Round-up Ready
(RR) soya with the fungus Fusarium in midwestern fields during 1997 to 2000.
At the same time, large scale cropping with herbicide-tolerant cultivars was
found to increase soil-borne plant pathogens; Brazilian soils showed
increased microbial activity for several seasons. There is clear evidence
that repeated glyphosate applications over several seasons increases
soil-borne pathogens.

During the first year of glyphosate application on RR soya, a severe sudden
death syndrome epidemic occurred in several RR cultivars. The RR cultivars
were susceptible to sudden death from infection by the fungus Fusarium
solani. Sudden death syndrome of soya is a disease of economic importance in
North America. Follow-up studies showed that different cultivars of soya
showed different levels of resistance to the sudden death fungus and suggest
that glyphosate tolerant and non-tolerant cultivars responded similarly to
infection by Fusarium solani.

According to Jeremy Bigwood (www.mycoherbicide.net), a scientist from
Agriculture Canada, Myriam Fernadez, had reported as yet unpublished studies
showing that wheat fields that had been treated with glyphosate had elevated
levels fusarium head blight, a serious disease of wheat.

Andy Coghlan of the New Scientist further reported:

"The potential problem was spotted a few years ago by Myriam Fernandez of the
Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre run by Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. She noticed that in some
fields where glyphosate had been applied the previous year, wheat appeared to
be worse affected by fusarium head blight - a devastating fungal disease that
damages grain and turns it pink. In Europe alone, fusarium head blight
destroys a fifth of wheat harvests. The fungi that cause the disease also
produce toxins that can kill humans and animals. In a follow-up study,
Fernandez measured levels of the blight in wheat fields. "We found higher
levels of blight within each tillage category when glyphosate had been used
in the previous year," says her colleague Keith Hanson. And his lab study
showed that Fusarium graminearum and F. avenaceum, the fungi that cause head
blight, grow faster when glyphosate-based weedkillers are added to the
nutrient medium."

Unfortunately, Agriculture Canada has not fast tracked publication of such
important results when they are advocating registration of RR wheat.

In conclusion, there seems to be a clear link between the use of herbicide
and accumulation of pathogenic fungi in the soil. The RR soya cultivars fared
poorly under the impact of the sudden death fungus. Wheat fields treated with
Round-up appear to be sensitive to the head blight disease. Such findings
should have triggered prompt and extensive reviews on the use of Roundup and
Roundup tolerant GM crops by our North American regulators. Instead of which,
the two governments of North America appear to be advocating registration of
RR wheat.




  • [Livingontheland] Round-up Ready Sudden Death Syndrome, Tradingpost, 11/30/2003

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