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Herbicide:Drink Up!
I spoke with the Superintendent of Maintenance at the Nature Center where I walk almost daily. He told me that the herbicide they use to kill weeds, Monsanto's Roundup, is "safe enough to drink"!
Date: 10/8/2005 1:14:46 AM ( 19 y ) ... viewed 2638 times I contacted the Long Beach Parks, Recreation, and Marine Dept. to file a complaint about the Roundup herbicide used in the Nature Center (see blog "Broken Hearted": http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=180 and spoke to Ken Herbage, Superintendent of Maintenance. He told me that the Park maintenance employee should not have been using Roundup during hours the park is open to the public, but should have used it only on the day the park is closed, Mondays.
I was incredulous that the Nature Center uses Roundup at all, as the Center has many volunteers that regularly pull weeds and do routine maintenance of the trails. Mr. Herbage (I find his name to be so ironic) stated that, and I quote: "Roundup is a saline solution that works by disrupting the photosynthesis of the weeds it is sprayed on; that's how it kills them. It's very safe. You can drink a glass of it and all you'd get is diarrhea.(!) It's not like the old herbicides they used to use. This is basically salt and tap water. It's less toxic than the stuff you buy at Home Depot for your yard, the Roundup we use is only 1% solution."
I asked Mr. Herbage if he'd ever had a glass of Roundup to drink; he replied "no". I asked him what the active ingredient was in the Roundup, saying it had to be more that "salt"; he didn't know. I told him I was concerned not only for human health, but for the animals, plants and trees that live at the nature center. I told him of the coyote I saw yesterday, walking through the foliage that the worker was spraying this morning, and the aquatic birds that frequent the ponds, and how I was certain that the Roundup leached into the water. He wasn't listening, but kept saying the herbicide was safe. I was so incredulous of what he was telling me I laughed out loud while he was talking to me. How ABSOLUTELY ABSURD!
I got off the phone and spoke about this with my father, a retired chemist. He said that Mr. Herbage didn't know what he was talking about. I've spent a good part of the day researching Roundup on the Internet. I'm going to write a letter to Phil Hestor, Director of Parks and Marine for the City of Long Beach, telling him about the Roundup and what his employee, Mr. Herbage, told me, and what I found out about Roundup from my Internet search. Below is one full article about Roundup and excerpts from other articles I have read so far.
If you have ever walked at the Long Beach El Dorado Park Nature Center, or live in the City of Long Beach, or consider yourself to be a concerned consumer or environmental activist, I ask that you join me in writing letters of protest to Mr. Hestor. The address is:
Department of Parks, Recreation, and Marine
City of Long Beach
2760 Studebaker Rd.
Long Beach, CA 90815
attention: Phil Hestor, Director
or call: 562-570-3100 and ask the operator to connect you to Robin Black, Mr. Hestor's secretary. Register a "concern" with her regarding the ongoing use of the herbicide Roundup at the El Dorado Park Nature Center. Volunteer to help pull weeds as an alternative to toxic herbicide use; I know I'm going to.
Thanking you for your help in advance.
Liora Leah
Roundup:
http://www.counterpunch.org/olmstead08232005.html
August 23, 2005
Would You Like Some Round-Up with Your Precautionary Principle?
Our Reckless Chemical Dependence
By JULIA OLMSTEAD
Telling people to wash their faces with DDT would be like the insult "go jump off a cliff." We all know the chemical is extremely hazardous both to humans and wildlife. But it is said that 50 years ago, in the agronomy department of my university, some faculty argued the pesticide was indeed that safe.
In the same way, a fellow student in my plant breeding graduate program hurled an unintended insult last fall when he said Roundup, one of the most commonly applied weed killers in the world, was safe enough for me to drink a glass daily. I was seven months pregnant at the time. In the past few months, two published studies showed Monsanto's herbicide kills some amphibians and might cause reproductive problems in humans.
Since its introduction in 1974, Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, often have been touted as harmless to human and ecological health. Glyphosate, most often sold under the Roundup commercial name, is now the second most commonly applied herbicide in the United States. Nearly 113 million pounds of it is used annually on farms, in parks and around homes, the Environmental Protection Agency reports. From 1990 to 2000, its use increased tenfold because of Monsanto's introduction of Roundup Ready crops: corn, soybeans and cotton genetically engineered for glyphosate resistance.
Proponents say that Roundup Ready crops reduce the need for nastier herbicides. Farmers can spray their fields, kill everything but their resistant crops and not worry about causing any harm to themselves, their children or wildlife.
Roundup might be less acutely toxic than other herbicides, but safer isn't the same thing as safe. A study published in June by Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, showed that Roundup killed human placenta cells in lab culture at one-tenth its concentration for field use. At concentrations one-hundredth of intended use, the herbicide inhibited an enzyme crucial to sex hormone regulation.
And an April paper in Ecological Applications showed that Roundup, when applied at label-recommended concentrations, was "highly lethal" to amphibians, wiping out tadpoles of two species and nearly killing off a third.
Monsanto insists that the herbicide's chemical properties make it unlikely to leach from soils into groundwater or persist in surface water, a claim that might ease fears about the real-life ramifications of these papers. But several studies have detected significant concentrations of glyphosate in streams near farm fields, some up to four months after application.
Roundup's full potential to cause health problems for humans and wildlife populations is unknown. But these studies make its unbridled use and promotion as a "safe" choice terribly reckless. We don't understand enough about the effects of pesticides on human and ecological health to claim that any chemical is completely safe. Developing an agriculture that depends on large scale chemical application, like Roundup Ready crops, means we're playing a game whose outcome we cannot predict.
Rather than seek out "less harmful" pesticides, we should be making an agriculture that cuts or ends our need for such chemicals. We should look to organic agriculture and to farming techniques that use more natural systems of pest control. Crop rotations that incorporate greater diversity than just alternating between corn and soybeans are chemical-free ways to control weeds. And incorporating livestock into a farming system contributes chemical-free fertilization and can be a natural check on pests.
Our experience with DDT should have taught us long ago the fallacy of making assumptions about the safety of any agricultural chemical. And rather than spouting glib comments that discount the potential hazards of pesticides, we -- agricultural researchers, parents, consumers -- need to support safe alternatives through actions like buying organic food and promoting chemical-free farming and home landscaping.
We already have enough evidence on Roundup to be concerned about its effects on human and animal health. The time to take action is now, before the next round of studies comes out.
Julia Olmstead is a graduate student in plant breeding and sustainable agriculture at Iowa State University. She wrote this for the Land Institute's Prairie Writers Circle, Salina, Kan.
http://www.thepowerhour.com/news/glyphosate_roundup.htm
"There are three forms of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) used as weed killers; glyphosate-isopropylammonium and glyphosate-sesquiodium patented by Monsanto and glyphosate-trimesium, patented by ICI (now Zeneca). Other common brand names are Rodeo, Accord and Vision.
Glyphosate is one of the most toxic herbicides, with many species of wild plants being damaged or killed by applications of less than 10 micrograms per plant. Glyphosate can be more damaging to wild flora than many other herbicides, as aerial spraying with glyphosate can give average drifts of 1200 to 2500 feet and ground spraying with glyphosate may cause damage to sensitive plants up to 300 feet from the field sprayed. Glyphosate use is thought to affect hedgerow trees, causing die-back, and may reduce trees' winter hardiness and resistance to fungal disease.
The direct toxicity of glyphosate to mammals and birds is low. However, its effect on flora can have a damaging effect on mammals and birds through habitat destruction. The US EPA concluded that many endangered species of plants, as well as the Houston toad, may be at risk from glyphosate use.
Fish and invertebrates are more sensitive to formulations of glyphosate. As with humans, the surfactants are responsible for much of the harm . Toxicity is increased with higher water temperatures, and pH.
Glyphosate can interfere with some enzyme functions in animals but symptoms of poisoning are only seen at very high doses. However, products containing glyphosate also contain other compounds which can be toxic. In particular most contain surfactants known as polyoxyethyleneamines (POEA). Some of these are much more toxic than glyphosate. These account for problems associated with worker exposure. They are serious irritants of the respiratory tract, eyes and skin and are contaminated with dioxane (not dioxin) which is a suspected carcinogen. Some are toxic to fish.
In California, glyphosate is the third most commonly-reported cause of pesticide related illness among agricultural workers."
http://www.panna.org/resources/pestis/PESTIS.1996.129.html
"Glyphosate(the active ingredient in Roundup) residues in soil have persisted over a year. Although not expected for an herbicide, glyphosate exposure damages or reduces the population of many animals, including beneficial insects, fish, birds, and earthworms. In some cases glyphosate is directly toxic; for example, concentrations as low as 10 parts per million can kill fish and 1/20 of typical application rates caused delayed development in earthworms. In other cases, (small mammals and birds, for example) glyphosate reduces populations by damaging the vegetation that provides food and shelter for the animals."
http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20050805.dv.html
"A recent study of Roundup presents new evidence that the glyphosate-based herbicide is far more toxic than the active ingredient alone. The study, published in the June 2005 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, reports glyphosate toxicity to human placental cells within hours of exposure, at levels ten times lower than those found in agricultural use. The researchers also tested glyphosate and Roundup at lower concentrations for effects on sexua| hormones, reporting effects at very low levels. This suggests that dilution with other ingredients in Roundup may, in fact, facilitate glyphosate's hormonal impacts."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/roundup040605.cfm
"April 5, 2005 This article just out in the journal Ecological Applications:
Roundup(r) Highly Lethal to Amphibians in Natural Setting, Finds University of Pittsburgh Researcher. Some species totally eliminated. The herbicide Roundup(r) is widely used to eradicate weeds, but a study published today by a University of Pittsburgh researcher finds that the chemical may be eradicating much more than that. Pitt assistant professor of biology Rick Relyea found that Roundup(r), the second most commonly applied herbicide in the United States, is "extremely lethal" to amphibians. This field experiment is one of the most extensive studies on the effects of pesticides on nontarget organisms in a natural setting, and the results may provide a key link to global amphibian declines."
Related Blogs:
Broken Hearted: http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=180
I am heart-broken to find that my Beloved Nature Center is using Roundup, a potent herbicide, to kill weeds. Can Mother Earth forgive us? Can we forgive ourselves?
Nature Center Illusion Shattered, or was that Delusion? http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=182
Well, looky here! http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=183
I've been writing about what action I'm going to take to try and get Roundup banned from use at the Nature Center. Think I just found myself some Nature Center allies!
This writing from my other blog, Spirit Speaks, addresses my thoughts about what positive action I might take to remedy the situation at the Nature Center, where I go to re-connect with Great Mother Earth. I asked my Guides and Great Mother for some input: They told me to come from a place of Love & Integrity: http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=356&i=54
Herbicide, Round 6! http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=188
Since I wrote the original blog about the El Dorado Nature Center and the use of the herbicide Roundup, I've found out some new information: The herbicide used at the Nature Center does not contain surfactant, the inert "detergent" additive that is known to cause environmental devastation.
Volunteers Needed! http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=190 I sent an e-mail out to my physician-friend regarding the use of herbicide at the El Dorado Nature Center. I have posted her response below. She believes that the Center's use of herbicide, without the detergent additive that causes so much environmental devastation, is a step in the right direction, but more community volunteers are needed.
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