"Franz Heymann" wrote in message ...
"dave @ stejonda" wrote in message
...
There's a news story at

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994051

which reports that laboratory studies have suggested that glyphosate
increases the risk of fungal infections.

I have read the URL. The item is interesting, but it was quite incorrect to
publish it in New Scientist at this stage, since the work is quite
inconclusive so far, and the article contains zero quantitative information
to help the reader decide whether the effect is statistically significant or
not.. The folk involved are not making any claims yet, they are only making
suggestions.

My initial reaction is that since it is known that water also affects the
population of a number of malignant organisms, one should ban the use of
water in agriculture.

That's unfair to *New Scientist*, an entirely responsible weekly. It
would be wrong not to report initial and interim findings as they
become available. Those who have read the article properly must have
noticed that it contains clear cautionary remarks such as:

QUOTE/
But the investigators warn against jumping to conclusions. "We're
deferring judgement until we have all the data," says Hanson. His team
is now planning field and greenhouse trials.

....

The team's initial findings are likely to be seized upon by anti-GM
activists. But switching to other herbicides could be bad news for the
environment - glyphosate is one of the least harmful herbicides, as it
quickly breaks down in the soil.

Ironically, Syngenta, another biotech giant, based in Basle,
Switzerland, has been developing and testing both GM and conventional
wheat strains that are resistant to the fusarium head fungi. "The
results have been promising," says a Syngenta spokesman.
/ENDQUOTE

I've mentioned in this newsgroup today the tendency for some people to
drag in utterly irrelevant distractors, such as your mention of water,
whenever anybody says something not fully in favour of the
agricultural chemical industry. Is there something you aren't telling
us? (You certainly didn't tell us what the article actually said when
attacking it for not saying it.)

Mike.