In article ringmay.com,
Tim Miller wrote:

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:24:53 -0400, brojack wrote:

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:45:16 GMT, "Stephen M. Henning"
wrote:

(brojack) wrote:

What I really need to know is its effect on ground water.

We have a shallow well (19') and this year the water level is only down
a couple feet below the surface. We are very carefull about what we
spray around our yard because we know we are going to end up drinking
it. We use roundup and have never had any problems and our well has
never tested showing any chemicals.

We use roundup with a hand sprayer. The roundup is rendered harmless by
the soil. As it goes through the soil it gets chemically tied up by any
clay in the soil.

It has been banned in Denmark because of its effect on ground H2O.
That's what prompted the question.

The Eros have turned into rabid, precautionary chemophobes. They have
banned common-place garden chemicals used for decades. You even have to
turn into the authorities any unused products. I guess it will get dumped
on top of all the old fridges!

Europe will soon turn into a Amish-like technogolgy-deprived backwater.
The eastern countries are stupid to want to trade in their new-found
freedom for the regulator's paradise of Europe.

Rather, Monsanto gives bags & bags of money to Congressional campaigns,
promises jobs for Americans (certainly plenty of jobs for their
lobbyists), & in general have the political might to stop EPA dead in its
tracks when they were moving to restrict glophosate a few years ago.

Apparently the Danes weren't as easily for sale.

What induced the Danish response was the discovery that glyphosate had
made it into the drinking water at a level five times that which is
regarded as safe (make that potentially safe). The finding was that of the
Denmark && Greenland Geological Research Institution. Again, they weren't
looking to cause Monsanto harm. They merely discovered that two products
in particular, Roundup & Touchdown, were ALREADY in groundwater used for
drinking purposes at unexpectedly high levels. As when this was
discovered to be true in Australia, Monsanto is arguing it's a regional
effect and in reality glyphosate breaks down so rapidly it can't possibly
be in drinking water. Which is to say, when they are caught out in a lie,
they repeat the lie more loudly. The Geological Resarch Institute was IN
NO WAY invested in promoting false findings; the findings are real; the
Danish response is minimal, since glyphosate will still be legal in some
contexts, and fact is, it should be entirely banned.

The Institute has said it point-blank, and the Danish Environmental
Ministry has repeated it point-blank: Monsanto's claims that glyphosate is
rapidly broken down by bacteria in the environment is false. False. What
is true is that this claim has never been supported by any research other
than was bought & paid for or conducted by Monsanto.

The Institute for Environment & Resources at Denmark's Technical
University concluded that regional wells in Roskilde and Storstroms cannot
be safely used for TEN YEARS.

Meanwhile an INDEPENDENT Norwegian study not paid for by Monsanto (for a
change) has found that claims of rapid degradation in the environment are
untrue. The break-down of glyphosate is unpredictable and extremely
varied, but only in rare and ideal conditions as rapid as Monsanto has
promulgated for years.

A Finish study likewise found that glyphosate lingers at toxic levels for
long periods, with an average half-life of 249 days (as opposed to the
maximum 60 day halflife claimed by Monsanto).

A half dozen studies on glyphosate's long-term destruction of beneficial
funguses in the soil credit the possibility that glyphosate usage can
render soils entirely incapable of supporting plant life for many years,
once the mycorrhizal webs are interupted.

Make no mistake. Glyphosate is dangerous stuff. If you and I were the only
two dumbass shitheads using it, then it'd be okay, but tons and tons and
tons are being dumped everywhere, and Monsanto is developing
glyphosate-tolerant crops so that they can sell three, four, TEN times the
amount of glyphosate to be dumped on the planet. Monsanto's future hinges
on their ability to sell lots of glyphosate to use on
glyophosate-resistant crops -- expect them to continue to fight with every
weapon they can to keep governments from responding rationally to a very
large threat, and to keep the public too confused by Monsanto
misinformation to be sure of anything.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/