In article , "Dave Gower"
wrote:
"Tom Jaszewski" wrote
Talk to those dry wheat
boys and find out what years of working with Monsanto has gotten them.
I live in an area surrounded by farmers and they think Roundup is great
providing (here we go again, take a deep breath) IT IS USED ACCORDING TO
INSTRUCTIONS.
That MIGHT "limit" the extravagant harm done. Unfortunately the
"instructions" are based on tests (fudged by Monsanto) of breakdown rates
of glyphosate at room temperature in a microbe-rich environment. These
tests are not on the actual mix of chemicals used, & do not take these
issues into consideration:
1) In alkaline or low-organic content soils or soils with fewer microbes
the glyphosate can remain active for over a year.
2) In colder zones (usda 5 & below) the glyphosate can remain active for
well over a year, up to indefinitely alpine gardens.
3) If breakdown does occasionally happen as rapidly as the (fudged)
lab-test-based results indicate, & upon which recommendations for safe use
are founded, the results in no way actually apply to gardens where, unlike
in a lab, Roundup breaks down into toxins such as formeldahyde, plus:
4) A percentage of the glyphosate bonds with the soil in such a manner as
to be released for at least three months as still toxic, as shown by the
clover tests with clover stunted by "properly" used glyphosate when
planted three months after the glyphosate was "properly" used.
5) "Properly" used near trees & shrubs decreases winter hardiness of
shrubs, & renders trees & especially maples more susceptible to fungal
disease.
6) The surficant in RoundUp does find its way to watersheds & rivers no
matter how carefully used.
7) The recommendations for proper use do not even take into consideration
the increased toxicity of glyphosate when mixed with surficant, but are
based on a "best case" (fudged) scenario based on pure glyphosate's
break-down under ideal labratory conditions.
All of the above are major problems when "used as directed," even before
considering the very real fact that it is rarely used as directed so that
there are additional problems of use near water, of drift that has been
shown in England to "accidentally" kill hedges at considerable distances
from where used, the use of stronger mixtures & even application from
airplanes, & use on & around edible crops intentionally altered to
withstand glyphosate exposure & so ending up in human diet -- & the fact
that every other product Monsanto ever claimed to be 100% safe as directed
turned out to be unsafe to the nth degree. But discounting all that
greater reality, & restricted to the things that make it UNSAFE as
directed, this is the only factual conclusion:
USED RIGIDLY WITHIN THE PROPER GUIDELINES & INSTRUCTION, GLYPHOSATE IS
NEVERTHELESS UNSAFE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT & CAUSES LASTING HARM.
So even your narrow argument for supporting a bad company & bad product
simply does not apply. You either lie intentionially or more likely yoyu
delude yourself & pass on your delusion, hoping to convince others as
you've convinced yourself that the exact same company that brought us
"safe" Agent Orange & "safe" PCBs & "safely" made its own company town the
most poisoned in America is in this one & only case totally honest about
"safe" glyphosate -- because liars proven to have falsified data time &
again are, on your say-so, totally honest for the first time in their
history, when it comes to the product YOU want to slather around "as
directed."
-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/