IMHO many more people are much more upset about glyphosate than they are about bees.
For the record, my position is that glyphosate is the least dangerous herbicide that is also effective, and that it’s also the most versatile weed killer.
And that will ultimately be its undoing. So many people use Roundup for so many things that weeds ultimately become resistant to it, and it isn’t effective anymore. No regulation, no court case can stop it. Be patient.
Bring back the original triox
Here’s the 2007 EPA reregistration notice on Triox. I’ll stay with Roundup.
So are all these pesticides.
That list includes 2,4-D, one of the oldest weed killers, which has been in commercial use since 1945, was a component of** Agent Orange** and is still approved for use by the EU, the U.S. and many other countries.
I’m standing firm on this.
You may have missed this part of that paper:
(Emphasis mine.)
Not saying it causes cancer, or is worse than other pesticides, just that it’s not necessarily completely harmless.
Probably because the problem with Agent Orange wasn’t the herbicides(it was a mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T), per-se, but rather impurities like dioxin that were generated as part of the manufacturing process.
It’s very, very similar to the ongoing blood pressure medication recalls we’re in the midst of- it’s not the losartan or valsartan that are the problem, it’s the NDMA and NDEA that are manufacturing process impurities that are the problem.
Name a more environmentally benign, more cost-effective alternative.
If you want more studies, I’m all for that.
If you want to restrict the use of glyphosate and make sure it’s used only by certified applicatiors under controlled conditions, I’m also fine with that. As I said upthread, glyphosate’s biggest threat is that everyone uses it everywhere with little concern for best management practices, or even without any attempt at integrated weed management.
But I’m really tired of singling out glyphosate as this generation’s DDT.
Full disclosure, again. Before I worled on the Roundup herbicide account, I worked on the Lasso herbicide account. Lasso was alachlor. Monsanto doesn’t even make that stuff anymore, although you can still buy generic stuff.
So when court cases decided that cellphones cause brain cancer and a vaccine was responsible for autism, the evidence must have been persuasive?* I don’t think so.
The suggestion that reports of glyphosate safety are all Monsanto-derived is not factual, as voluminous research including independent comprehensive reviews by governmental oversight agencies in Canada, Germany, and by the WHO reaffirm a lack of convincing data associating glyphosate with increased cancer risk. One comprehensive review from the EPA in 2016 concluded:
“there is not strong support for the “suggestive evidence of carcinogenic potential” cancer classification descriptor based on the weight-of-evidence, which includes the fact that even small, non-statistically significant changes observed in animal carcinogenicity and epidemiological studies were contradicted by studies of equal or higher quality. The strongest support is for “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans” at the doses relevant to human health.”
Those who are JAQing off about glyphosate should be embarrassed at bringing up tobacco, lead gasoline and Boeing aircraft in an effort to excuse their lack of evidence. It’s the same tactic used by antivaxers who chant “Vioxx!” or invoke Semmelweis while attacking vaccines.
Pathetic.
*Italian court judgments.
Or shady law firms are blanketing daytime TV with ads about the money to be claimed when you sue Monsanto. Never underestimate the greed of the American public. How many of those plaintiffs even have Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma? Given the number of humans exposed over how many years, if Roundup were so dangerous there should be a pandemic of it.
Personal disclosure: I have absolutely no skin in this game.