Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Roundup May Be Damaging Soil and Reducing Yields, Says USDA
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=5817

(Beyond Pesticides, August 22, 2011) A US Department of Agriculture (USDA) 
official speaking at an agricultural conference said that the heavy use of 
Roundup, an herbicide manufactured by Monsanto and used heavily on “Roundup 
Ready” genetically engineered (GE) crops, appears to be causing harmful 
changes in soil and potentially hindering yields of crops that farmers are 
cultivating. Reuters reported that Robert Kremer, PhD, a microbiologist with 
the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, told the audience at the August 12, 
2011 conference sponsored by the Organization for Competitive Markets that 
repeated use of the herbicide glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup 
herbicide, impacts the root structure of plants, and 15 years of research 
indicates that the chemical could be causing fungal root disease.

Dr. Kremer first warned us about his research and questioned the government’s 
response last year. “This could be something quite big. We might be setting 
up a huge problem,” Dr. Kremer told Reuters last year. “Science is not being 
considered in policy setting and deregulation. This research is important. We 
need to be vigilant.”

Monsanto created “Roundup Ready” crops to withstand its Roundup herbicide 
(with the active ingredient glyphosate). Growing previous Roundup Ready crops 
such as soy, cotton, and corn have led to greater use of herbicides. It has 
also led to the spread of herbicide resistant weeds on millions of acres 
throughout the U.S. and other countries where such crops are grown, as well 
as contamination of conventional and organic crops, which has been costly to 
U.S. farmers. Because of GE crops, Roundup has become the most popular 
pesticide ever.

Problems with Roundup Ready GE crops don’t stop with soil problems and 
superweeds. Researchers are finding impacts on livestock that eat GE feed as 
well. Michael McNeill, PhD, an agronomist with Ag Advisory Ltd. in Algona, 
IA, told Boulder Weekly that he and his colleagues are seeing a higher 
incidence of infertility and early-term abortion in cattle and hogs that are 
fed on GMO crops. He adds that poultry fed on the suspect crops have been 
exhibiting reduced fertility rates too.

Glyphosate is a general herbicide used for eradication of broadleaf weeds. It 
has been linked to a number of serious human health effects, including 
increased cancer risk and neurotoxicity, as well as eye, skin, and 
respiratory irritation. One of the inert ingredients in product formulations 
of Roundup, polyoxyethyleneamine (POEA), kills human embryonic cells. It is 
also of particular concern due to its toxicity to aquatic species as well as 
instances of serious human health effects from acute exposure.

Beyond Pesticides is currently involved in multiple lawsuits involving 
Roundup Ready and other GE crops. The first lawsuit is filed against the U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and seeks to end cultivation of GE crops on 
twenty-five national wildlife refuges across the U.S. Southeast. The suit is 
the latest step in a campaign to banish GE crops from all refuges. Filed in 
the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on August 12, 2011 by 
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Center for Food 
Safety (CFS), and Beyond Pesticides, the federal suit charges that FWS 
unlawfully entered into cooperative farming agreements and approved planting 
of GE crops in eight states without the environmental review required by the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and in violation of FWS policy. This 
is the third in a series of lawsuits filed by CFS and PEER challenging FWS’s 
practice of permitting GE crops on wildlife refuges. In 2009 and 2010, the 
groups successfully challenged approval of GE plantings on two wildlife 
refuges in Delaware – Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge and Bombay Hook 
National Wildlife Refuge – which forced FWS to end GE planting in the entire 
12-state Northeastern region.

In another case involving GE crops, attorneys for CFS, Earthjustice, Beyond 
Pesticides, and others filed a lawsuit against USDA in March 2011, arguing 
that the agency’s unrestricted approval of GE “Roundup Ready” alfalfa 
violates the Endangered Species Act. USDA announced plans to fully deregulate 
GE alfalfa in January, despite contamination risks it poses to both organic 
and conventional farmers.

For more news and information on “Roundup Ready” and other GE crops, see 
Beyond Pesticides’ genetic engineering page.