My nephew sent me this link, and he thinks this is a big deal. If it's true, it clearly is a big deal. Problem being, for me, shikimate pathways and genetic engineering are a little after my time in school, so I'm not a very good judge of how likely it is that this is for real. It's a long vid, but if you listen to 10 minutes you'll get the drift, especially if you read the side notes and the text. There's some damned smart people on this forum that I would interested to read their opinions about whether this is the threat is seems like it could be. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/06/09/monsanto-roundup-herbicide.aspx If what they are saying is true, I hope politics can be set aside and we can all start pushing our representatives to do whatever it takes to stop feeding this stuff to us. Even if it makes Monsanto cranky. If this stuff is for real, Ed O. needs to get the class action suit going and get all of us paid! Go Blazers
I did not read the whole article and tend to be skeptical of these "alternate health" sites as they often, not always, are not based on evidence but on anecdote. That being said, Roundup is known to be very bad for the environment. Remember, "-cide" means kill, so an herbicide kills. It does not just kill your weeds. It says once it dries it won't hurt your pets, but anything a cat walks on ends up in her/his mouth when they wash - do you want to your pet to eat Roundup? Since it is sprayed, air carries it to food crops. Do you want to eat Roundup? It's known to be very bad for aquatic life and excess does run off and get into the water supply. Do you want to drink Roundup? Also, it's known to kill beneficial insects. For people with chemical sensitivities, it makes them seriously ill. People with chemical sensitivities are sometimes thought to be like the "canary in the coal mine", the ones who are aware before others that something is wrong. You are much better off pulling weeds (good exercise!) or if that's not possible, using vinegar or other less toxic weed killers.
I don't believe Roundup is linked to Autism. Autism is linked to mother obesity, both parent age, mother with auto immune disease, and a couple other things I can't remember. I think this anecdote "it's the.... fault" is refusing to admit they "caused" their child's autism.
Problem with linking anything to autism is that autism has been on the rise along with many other potential contributing factors. Everything is circumstantial at this point and many groups use autism scares as a way of getting people to notice and to further their agenda. That being said I don't use round up and I try to limit my intake of GMO food where possible. I find the round up ready GMO to be the most disturbing. I'm not sure if they are harmful or not but I try to opt out of the experiment where ever possible. The real issue with round up IMO is that Monsanto is a very dubious corporation, who's commitment is their bottom line not public health. Kind of like when the tobacco companies had "experts" proving cigarettes where not harmful. I also find Monsanto's non reproducing plants and chemically activated germination to be somewhat disturbing, but more from a food supply control standpoint than a health issue.
I forget what it was called, but 5 or 6 years ago I saw a documentary about Plan Colombia. I don't really remember it (like if it was actually good or not), but one of the main themes was that we were dumping essentially concentrated Round Up on crops in Colombia if it was suspected that they were growing Coca. The government and manufacturers claimed it was safe, didn't affect he people that it was dumped on or the drinking water, but then tons of people started developing rashes, sores and respiratory issues. Regular Round Up warns to keep your pets away from the sprayed area for a while, but some how the concentrated stuff isn't supposed to harm people it is directly dumped on. From the wiki page on Plan Colombia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Colombia#Fumigation_strategy_and_criticisms So yeah, regardless of the OP's article's validity, fuck Round Up.
The question isn't whether you want to be eating roundup. Monsanto is producing "Roundup ready" food crops. This means that they spray Roundup directly onto the crop, and it kills the weeds, but not the crop itself. Hard to imagine you are not eating it, if it is being sprayed on your food in the field. Go Blazers
I believe round up ready is engineered into the crops not sprayed into them. Which sounds worse to me.
Agree, but the question was "do you use Roundup". It implied personal use in our gardens, not corporate.
I could be wrong, but I thought they engineered the crop to be resistant to being sprayed with Roundup. Go Blazers
I think your right and that makes more sense. I think I was thinking of the pesticide engineered into crops. Yummy either way.
In a related topic: Tyson Foods Inc. says it will no longer buy cattle fed a supplement that's designed to bulk them up before slaughter, citing experts who suggest the drug may be causing animals to become lame. Tyson says this is not a food safety issue, but about animal well-being. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tyson-stop-buying-cattle-fed-merck-supplement-19917673 Good for Tyson.
Roundup isn't harmful its neutralized as soon as it touches the ground. People dump things like vinegar in soil because they think its more green but it actually causes far more damage.
Actually it's a really big deal. I deal with farmers that use it a lot. Pork is one of he biggest hit with this gmo corn. They eat the gmo corn through feed and their manure is recycled into the corn fields. Then that corn has round up in it, plus the round up left in manure. The round up actually retards nutrient uptake; which makes the corn and pigs less nutritious and adds even more salt in the soils. That salt is leached into the streams and natural habitats; which effects the entire ecosystem. Here's the real problem. The round up is actually an enzyme that isn't biodegradable. Basically the poison stays in the soils for a very long time. And remember folks. We are what we eat, so eating round up corn and gmo pork adds the round up in us; which restricts our ability to uptake nutrients.
