Our reckless chemical dependence

[nosmokes]

original

Our reckless chemical dependence

Julia Olmstead - Prairie Writers Circle

08.24.05 - 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.
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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.
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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.

(c) 2005, Prairie Writers Circle

[wli]

1. Monsanto = I.G. Farben business partner

Yes, *THAT* I.G. Farben.

[KT2000]

2. My Silent Summer

My RW neighbor returned from his winter in the south to turn his yard into the "best in the neighborhood." He wanted it done before his family reunion that he had in the backyard.

Blind to the ecology that existed before he arrived, he applied gallons of Roundup and other awful lawn chemicals. Just the day before the reunion he was busy spraying Roundup everywhere. He had his party where young families, babies and small children played in the yard. (Roundup has also been implicated in learning disabilities in children)

Saddest of all, his yard had been home to hundreds of tree and other frogs. Their croaking was a comforting sound to many of us. It is common for people to comment in the spring "The frogs are awake again!"
He has no more frogs in his yard - it is quiet.
There is now one frog who must have survived and made its way into my yard.

This man blames environmentalists for eveything. He does not have a clue about other living things. He was a superintendent of schools in CA. He is a fool who cannot even learn.

[salin]

3. supt of a district in cali or state supt?

there was a guy who was state supt in the early nineties who was a real gem. IIRC soon as he was out of office, he and his wife started a business to sell some educational product/service - that just happened to coincide with policies put in place by his administration of the state dept of ed. It would crack me up if this is the same guy.

[KT2000]

4. District

in the LA area - total idiot

[salin]

6. sounds like it

but it did make me think of Bill Honig (sp)

[bemildred]

5. I remember that. nt