The Last Roundup: How the world's best selling pesticide is heading for a fall

[womanofthehills]

Roundup, the herbicide whose active ingredient is glyphosate – currently the most widely sold pesticide in the world – has just been put on life support.

The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, after months of struggling to decide whether it will keep it, or throw it out from the entire land mass of Europe, has finally decided to give it a year and a half of last-ditch existence, before a potentially final removal from the food we eat. The current brouhaha has hinged on whether the regulators would go with independent scientific evidence of hazards, or go with political and economic expediency which says there cannot be any such hazards, because Monsanto says so.

Riding implicitly on this and any future actions by world leaders, is humanity’s opinion about the safety and effectiveness of all chemical pesticides – the belief that we can chemically kill off the “pests” we don’t want, while having little or no impact on other life forms, including ourselves.

Whatever the Commission decides in 18 months, I believe that one day Roundup/glyphosate will join other egregiously wrong-headed myths, like the harmlessness of cigarettes, or the unbreachable security of all nuclear reactors.

http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/07/04/opinion/last-roundup

[JonathanRackham]

1. Title correction: Pesticide or Herbicide?

I won't miss Round-Up one bit. People overdose their yards with that crap then let their pets/children play in it.

I love my wild flowers and weeds! Clover, dandelions and honey bees!

Elbow grease is the worlds best herbicide!

[womanofthehills]

2. The headline of the article uses pesticide

I often see herbicides referred to as pesticides

[tonyt53]

3. Not the same thing by any means.

[womanofthehills]

4. Pesticide definition

The term pesticide includes all of the following: herbicide, insecticide, insect growth regulator, nematicide, termiticide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, predacide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, antimicrobial, fungicide, disinfectant (antimicrobial), and sanitizer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide

[PatSeg]

8. I didn't realize that

I was about to point out the article's error as well. Learned something new yet again!!!

[Nitram]

17. The headline suggests, hillwoman, that the article is not likely to be accurate.

[womanofthehills]

5. Argentina: 30,000 doctors and health professionals demand ban on glyphosate

"Health authorities, including the National Ministry of Health and the political powers, can no longer look away. Agribusiness cannot keep growing at the expense of the health of the Argentine people. The 30,000 health professionals in Argentina in the FESPROSA ask that glyphosate is now prohibited in our country and that a debate on the necessary restructuring of agribusiness is opened, focusing on the application of technologies that do not endanger human life.”

http://www.gmwatch.org/news/latest-news/16087-argentina-30-000-doctors-and-health-professionals-demand-ban-on-glyphosate

[villager]

27. Why do these doctors hate science!!??

[Major Nikon]

6. Seralini Rule

If you favorably cite the 2012 Séralini rats fed on Roundup ready maize study, you just lost the argument.

http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2013/06/the-seralini-rule-gmo-bogus-study.html

[Scientific]

7. Courts rule in favor of Seralini. He was defamed by GMO corporations. His studies valid.

Why do the True Believers in Corporate Industrial GMO Chemical 'Science' ignore facts so relentlessly? And why do they repeat over and over phony Talking Points that have been debunked?

No wonder no one trusts the Corporate Industrial GMO Chemical 'Science.' It has been undermined by its own relentless well-funded Inet misinformation campaigns.

The courts have said twice the GMO corporations and their trolls have defamed Seralini, and forged "evidence" that seems to contradict his findings, which were accurate: GMOS can cause tumors.

SCIENTIST WHO DISCOVERED GMOS CAUSE TUMORS WINS LAWSUIT - twice

"A court has ruled that French Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini was correct when he concluded that GMO food, when fed to rats, caused serious health problems including tumors.

"Now, Prof. Séralini is in the news again – this time for winning a major court victory in a libel trial that represents the second court victory for Séralini and his team in less than a month."

http://globaljusticeecology.org/scientist-who-discovered-that-gmos-cause-tumors-wins-lawsuit/

[PatSeg]

9. Thank you!

That will make the second new thing I've learned today.

Was he actually saying it was GMO foods or glyphosate that caused the tumors?

[Scientific]

10. GMOs caused tumors in the rats he tested

[PatSeg]

12. I remember seeing the photos

but had heard that his studies had been discredited. Thanks for the update.

[Scientific]

13. And after the GMO corps had his study pulled from a peer-reviewed journal

he was subjected to an ongoing campaign of vilification, defamation, and corporate forgery because the GMO - Chemical corporations could not abide the ugly truth.

As you can see, the corporate campaign continues to attempt to destroy him and the solid independent science he performed (not Corporate PR 'Science', Inc.) , and the damning evidence in his peer reviewed work, even after the courts have slapped the PERPS, Inc. down twice.

His story shows us how big corporate money can and often does run roughshod over real science in pursuit of greater profit.

[Nitram]

16. The court did not rule that "the study was valid."

It ruled that the author of the study had been defamed. It will be the scientific community that decides if the GMOs cause tumors, not a court. The level of much of the "scientific" discussion on DU is sadly wanting.

[PatSeg]

20. How insidious

I remember old movies about Madame Curie or Louie Pasteur, scientists who believed in pure science and were not particularly motivated by fame and fortune. If they wanted money, it was for their research.

When asked by Edward R. Murrow, who owns the patent on the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk replied, "No one. Could you patent the sun?" Had it been patented, it is calculated to be worth $7 billion. Just imagine if Monsanto or Bayer had gotten a hold of it.

"The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more." Jonas Salk. It seems we've have lost our way.

[GaYellowDawg]

25. Have you ever actually been a part of the scientific community?

I have. And I can tell you that the vast majority of scientists are motivated by science and not by profit.

People like "Scientific" who attribute any facts that they don't like to a conspiracy or cabal amongst the scientific community are the actual antithesis of scientific. Don't buy into his bullshit. He has no clue how science works, or how scientists think. His kind of person never does research. He only indulges in confirmation bias. He is aggressively scientifically illiterate. Naming himself "Scientific" would about as accurate as Dick Cheney calling himself "Humanitarian."

Science has not lost its way. It's a shame that so many people work so hard to convince you of that lie.

[Major Nikon]

31. Just sayin'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=109787

[Major Nikon]

34. Seralini makes his money from Big-Organic® who finances his pseudoscience

Which is kinda ironic because those who parrot out his junk science also whine incessantly about industry influencing science on the subject while providing zero evidence about why the science is wrong while conveniently ignoring Seralini's direct and insidious ties to Big-Organic® and the overwhelming scientific consensus that his research is complete shit.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Seralini#CRIIGEN

His studies are published in journals that will literally publish anything for money and are solely intended to provide a thin veil of "science" intended for the consumption by people who don't know any better rather than actual scientists who do.

[Major Nikon]

32. So why did the IARC specifically reject his study for being shit?

Do you think they are part of the creative speculation conspiracy theory you are alleging?

[Major Nikon]

22. Bullshit. Seralini sued a magazine and a journalist not a corporation.

Why would anyone keep repeating a lie repeated by your nutbag sources that is so easily debunked over and over again unless they were deliberately trying to spew complete and utter nonsense?

Nothing in the court case had anything to do with Seralini's pseudoscience. Even the IARC rejected Seralini's study because it was complete shit.

[GaYellowDawg]

24. Court rulings do not equal scientific validity.

And you seem to have trouble with even reporting their rulings correctly.

Pathetic.

[Squinch]

28. And why do they only seem to show up in posts on GMOs and never on anything else?

[Humanist_Activist]

30. Was there ever any peer-review verification of his studies, at all? n/t

[Major Nikon]

33. They are published in journals that will literally publish anything for money

[PatSeg]

11. I just saw this article this morning

I will probably post it later as its own separate post.

Glyphosate Sprayed on GMO Crops Linked to Lake Erie's Toxic Algae Bloom

Glyphosate, the controversial main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup and other herbicides, is being connected to Lake Erie’s troubling algae blooms, which has fouled drinking water and suffocated and killed marine life in recent years.

Phosphorus—attributed to farm runoff carried by the Maumee River—has long been identified as a leading culprit feeding the excessive blooms in the western Lake Erie basin. Now, according to a new study from chemistry professor Christopher Spiese, a significant correlation has been established between the increased use of glyphosate to the percentage of dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) in the runoff.

As No-Till Farmer observed from the study, DRP loads in Lake Erie increased in the mid-1990s at the same time that farmers began the widespread cultivation of crops genetically engineered to withstand multiple applications of Roundup.

“For every acre of Roundup Ready soybeans and corn that you plant, it works out to be about one-third of a pound of P [phosphorus] coming down the Maumee,” Spiese told the agricultural publication.

More at link: http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/37861-glyphosate-sprayed-on-gmo-crops-linked-to-lake-eries-toxic-algae-bloom

[Nitram]

15. I saw this earlier. It appears to be a rather preliminary study clouded by a multitude of variables.

I'm looking forward to more studies on this aspect of glyphosate use.

[Nitram]

14. UM, I hate to break it to you, but Roundup isn't a pesticide.

Great way to start an attempt at a serious scientific report on the dangers of glyphosate. As is the suggestion that it is the European Commission is the biggest influence on "humanity’s opinion about the safety and effectiveness of all chemical pesticides." Have China and India weighed in? A rather Euro-centric view of "humanity" wouldn't you say?

[PatSeg]

18. "pesticide"

noun A substance or agent used to kill pests, such as unwanted or harmful insects, rodents, or weeds.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pesticide

I didn't realize that weeds are often defined as "pests" as well as insects. The Cambridge dictionary has a similar definition.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/pesticide
a chemical substance used to kill harmful insects, small animals, wild plants, and other unwanted organisms

[Nitram]

19. Point well taken, PatSeg. I work with farmers and people who apply these agents.

They make a distinction between herbicides and pesticides that the wider community perhaps does not make. I would posit that the distinction is meaningful and that glyphosate should be referred to as an herbicide.

[PatSeg]

21. I had always thought

that pesticides were just about insects and rodents. I thought the author of the article had made a mistake, but now I see that many people refer to glyphosate as a pesticide. womanofthehills clarified the definition earlier in the thread. I can see that farmers would want to be a distinction between the two.

[Major Nikon]

23. Insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides, etc. are all pesticides

[kimbutgar]

26. A Dr. on Thom Hartmann's show said today that it might be the cause of autism

Dr. Stephanie Senefi of MIT. If this is so I am so pissed this was used in my backyard to kill weeds when my son was younger. My son's autism prevents him from living a normal life. He is frustrated at 23 years and his father and I feel helpless at times there's nothing we can do to help him. IF this is true I want to join a class action lawsuit.

[Humanist_Activist]

29. Yeah, it doesn't cause autism and Dr. Stephanie Senff is NOT a medical doctor, but a computer...

scientist.

[PatSeg]

35. The statistics on autism are alarming

How on earth did we go from 1 in 5000 in 1975 to 1 in 110 in 2009? I believe now it is 1 in 45!

There is something terribly wrong and we cannot ignore it anymore. We are right to ask why.

""

[kimbutgar]

36. I work as a substitute teacher in special Ed classes and I see more of these kids than when

My son was in school.

As a parent I am heartbroken and as a teacher I am so sad at times seeing these little children struggling.

Something is going on that is insidious. I really think the powers to be know the cause but if the truth comes out the lawsuits will be flying.

[PatSeg]

37. And according to the statistics,

it is just getting worse. I have to wonder how much worse can it get? Will autism some day be the norm? This is such a far cry from the world I was raised in. So many illnesses have become commonplace that used to be very rare. I can count on one hand the people I knew as a child who had asthma or diabetes. Never knew a single person with a peanut allergy or Celiac disease or autoimmune disease.

The statistics are as alarming as climate change figures. When do we admit that this is a crisis?

[kimbutgar]

38. Yikes

This last school year I took over a special Ed class. One boy was so sickly, had horrible food allergies and very slow. I had never seen a kid like this before and I felt helpless to help him keep up with the class because his mother kept him home so much. I looked at his IEP for a diagnosis he had none. One other boy was so bipolar I never knew what could set him off. Another girl was 6 and not potty trained ( though I suspect parental neglect) but she was very moody. These kids were so different from my other special Ed classes. And they all had poor diets. I pushed a lot of water and healthy snacks on them.

[PatSeg]

39. It feels like we are living

in some futuristic post-apocalyptic world like I've seen in movies. In those science fiction movies, the world is usually run by some large, faceless corporation (ironically I suppose).

When you see so many children who are presumably well fed in such horrible condition, it feels like we are being poisoned. The children are the most vulnerable because this is the world they came into, whereas many adults had decades of eating and drinking unadulterated food and water, which would give them an edge.

[HuckleB]

40. Your anecdotes are meaningless.

Your are promoting anti-science nonsense.