Glyphosate poisoning – fact or BS?

By
Susan_Kirk
– April 12, 2011Posted in: Facts, Farming, Horticultural Science, Organic
life in a test tube

life in a test tube

First view the video:

What were your initial thoughts? I thought I wish they were speaking English and then I wondered who the cross-eyed guy was in the field of soy with the purple shirt, who started talking like an expert.  I was concerned and worried about the fleeting photos of abnormal children.

So: FACT or BS

Fact 1: Squirting glyphosate into a test tube with an organism is not a controlled study.  What would happen if he squirted nail polish in there?  Or hair dye or any number of chemicals?

Fact 2: Who can speak Spanish (or whatever language) to verify the contents of the video?

Fact 3: The guy in the field with the purple shirt is talking about studies for oestrogen production in humans consuming the soy.  This is unrelated so I assume they are bringing it up to confuse what actual studies have been done on glyphosate and birth abnormalities.  What is concerning is, if this nation believes in the danger of soy for children, it is in dire straits as it has a [eats it]cultural and economic reliance on soy.

Fact 4:  There have been studies done about concerns of oestrogen from consuming soy. I believe those studies may still be ongoing? Or inconclusive or ??

Fact 5:  At this stage the last review done by APVMA (1996) was due to EPA concern that glyphosate was poisonous to aquatic animals.  It was found that surfactant chemicals were of concern and it ordered a label update for no spraying around water, with any future registrations being able to prove safety of any surfactant chemicals in products.

Fact 6: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) have recently commenced routine re-registration reviews of glyphosate. Both these regulators have indicated that they will use these reviews to consider new research about glyphosate, including new studies relating to potential environment and health risks.

APVMA’s usual policy will be to review the results of these studies and if it is deemed appropriate take the appropriate action.

If you’re interested in finding out the list of new products with safer surfactant chemicals. You can search the APVMA database of registered products (PUBCRIS) Enter ‘glyphosate’ into the active constituent 1 field and ‘water’ into the host animal/crop field and then click search.  You will get a list of 71 products.  Make sure you read the chemical safety sheet.  If this indicates no spraying around water then this is not a new formulation.

Imagine the chaos if glyphosate was banned?


Get Social About Me
[Facebook] [LinkedIn] [StumbleUpon] [Twitter] More »
Powered by Bookmarkify™

Did you find this information helpful? If you did, consider donating.

Tags: , , , , ,

About Susan_Kirk

Susan Kirk is a nationally published science writer, with a degree in journalism. She writes extensively for Rural Press publications including Good Fruit and Vegetables and Australian Horticulture. She has TAFE qualifications in horticulture which leads to her interests in crop and horticultural science, with its spinoff to food, organic vs GM. She is a member of the Media Alliance, Queensland Writers Centre, Horticulture Media Association and the Australian Science Communicators. She writes from Kureelpa on the Sunshine Coast hinterland (Australia).