North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["kieran or donna" <redherring@tnaccess.com>]

Well, I am finally getting around to reading all this discussion.  I note
with interest comments that it is the surfactants in Roundup that kill
amphibians.  They say the stuff is safe, but I have never trusted it.  About
20 years ago we had some rabbits in two wood floored pens in an old barn.
We kept a couple or 3 does and raised several litters each per year, plus a
buck.  One day I found a mature doe and a young rabbit with her dead,
rabbits that had been perfectly healthy the day before.  As I looked for
clues, I noted that something had splashed on the wooden floor from above.
I climbed up into the loft and found a container of Roundup had fallen off a
beam and broken when it hit the floor of the loft.  We'd had a strong wind
the previous night, and it had apparently blown the thing down.  I called
the number on the container, and told them about my dead rabbits and the
dripping Roundup.  The guy I talked to said that they had never been able to
feed any animals enough Roundup to kill them.  I was doubtful, but who was I
to argue with the expert?  He did say that the detergent like ingredients
would tend to give them some digestive upset.  (There was no sign of that,
and they hadn't had time to die of diarrhea anyway)  In the 6 or so years we
kept rabbits we had only 3 die of unknown causes, and these were two of the
three.  It is of note also that the rabbits in the adjoining pen, who did
not have Roundup drip into their pen, stayed perfectly healthy.  To me, the
contrast between dead rabbits plus Roundup, and perfectly healthy rabbits
without it, seems a bit striking.  No inbetween, slightly unhealthy animals
to mess up the conclusions in this case.  And a pretty short exposure time
as well.     Donna