Compiled by Caroline Cox, Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to
Pesticides- (NCAP)
Roundup, and related herbicides with glyphosate as an active ingredient,
are advertised as products that can "eradicate weeds and unwanted
grasses effectively with a high level of environmental safety." However,
an independent, accurate evaluation of their health and environmental
hazards can draw conclusions very different from those presented in the
ads. Consider these facts:
1. Glyphosate can be persistent. In tests conducted by Monsanto,
manufacturer of glyphosate-containing herbicides, up to 140 days were
required for half of the applied glyphosate to break down or disappear
from agricultural soils. At harvest, residues of glyphosate were found
in lettuce, carrots, and barley planted one year after glyphosate
treatment.
2. Glyphosate can drift. Test conducted by the University of California,
Davis, found that glyphosate drifted up to 400 meters (1300 feet) durng
ground applications and 800 meters 12600 feet) during aerial applications.
3. Glyphosate is acutely toxic to humans. Ingesting about 3/4 of a cup
can be lethal. Symptoms include eye and skin irritation, lung
congestion, and erosion of the intestinal tract. Between 1984 and 1990
in California, glyphosate was the third most frequently reported cause
of illness related to agricultural pesticide use.
4. Glyphosate has shown a wide spectrum of chronic toxicity in
laboratory tests. The National Toxicology Program found that chronic
feeding of glyphosate caused salivary gland lesions, reduced sperm
counts, and a lengthened estrous cycle (how often an individual comes
into heat). Other chronic effects found in laboratory tests include an
increase in the frequency of lethal mutations in fruit flies, an
increase in frequency of pancreas and liver tumors in male rats along
with an increase in the frequency of thyroid tumors in females, and
cataracts. (ne fruit fly study used Roundup; the other studies used
glyphosate.)
5. Roundup contains toxic trade secret ingredients. These include
polyethoxylated tallowamines, causing nausea and diarrhea, and
isopropylamine, causing chemical pneumonia, laryngitis, headache, and bums.
6. Roundup kills beneficial insects. Tests conducted by The
International Organization for Biological Control showed that Roundup
caused mortality of live beneficial species: a Thrichgramma, a predatory
mite, a lacewing, a ladybug, and a predatory beetle.
7. Glyphosate is hazardous to earthworms, Tests using New Zealand's most
common earthworm showed that glyphosate, in amounts as low as 1/20 of
standard application rates, reduced its growth and slowed its development.
8. Roundup inhibits mycorrhizal fungi. Canadian studies have shown that
as little as 1 part per million of Roundup can reduce the growth or
colonization of mycorrhizal fungi.
9. Glyphosate reduces nitrogen fixation. Amounts as small as 2 parts per
million have had significant effects, and effects have been measured up
to 120 days after treatment. Nitrogen- fixing bacteria shown to be
impacted by glyphosate include a species found on soybeans and several
species found on clover.
10. Roundup can increase the spread or severity of plant diseases.
Treatment with roundup increased the severity of Rhizoctonia root rot in
barley, increased the amount and growth of take-all fungus, a wheat
disease), and reduced the ability of bean plants to defend themselves
against anthracnose.
--
Keith Johnson
"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47408
(812) 335-0383 http://www.permacultureactivist.net
also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting
also Association for Regenerative Culture
also APPLE-Bloomington (Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy) It's a
small world after oil. http://www.relocalize.net/groups/applebloomington
also Bloomington Permaculture Guild
[permaculture] roundup - glyphosate,
Keith Johnson, 12/20/2006