It appears that we are getting closer to a smoking gun with glyphosate--a herbicide that is commonly used in Great Plains agriculture to kill weeds. Scientific American has published an article that shows that an ingredient of glyphosate (Monsanto's "Round-up")kills human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells.
For decades we have had to listen to the experts claiming that glyphosate is harmless, but a couple of years ago it was shown that amphibians are vulnerable to the surfactant used in the formulation. No matter, what's a few frogs and amphibians? Let's just carry on business as usual. Well now that there is evidence that it contains something that kills human cells--and likely therefore is affecting the reproductivity of other organisms in ecosystems where it is applied--are we going to re-visit its registration as an acceptable herbicide in Canada and the United States? What does it take to get a chemical like glyphosate banned or at least severely restricted?
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Glyfos has become a cornerstone of zero-till
ReplyDeletefarming practices on the prairies. Elimination or restriction of its use will result in a significant change in farming practices if no other substitue "chem burn-off" product is available.
It will take a very brave bureaucrat to even reopen the file on glyfos registration....knowing that Monsanto and all the "zero-till" suppliers will be loading the howitzers!
If there is enough public concern, the cowardly bureaurats will have to join the fray on the side of human health protection. Not to mention other mammals, birds, and the neglected amphibians.
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