Environment
Agricultural Chemicals and the use of Toxic Herbicides and Pesticides In New Zealand:
This post was first published in 2012 on this website and has just been restored.
New Zealand’s TV1 reported on 13th December 2012 that a rye grass grown in the South Island has developed a resistance to the glyphosate weedkillers. Monsanto’s RoundUp weedkiller is one such weedkiller which contains glyphosate.
Good to bring this herbicide into the spot-light again, More knowledge about glyphosate and its harmful effects might cause people to think twice about using it. WHO have declared glyphosate a probable cancer risk since first publishing this article.
Merrilyn’s new book is out on Amazon:
RoundUp is the one most commonly used glyphosate weedkiller in New Zealand.
These glyphosate chemicals are very toxic things, and cause many illnesses, yet RoundUp is poured around with gay abandon all over the place, as if it was the most harmless thing on earth. It is commonly used by farmers, by grape-growers, kiwi-fruit growers and orchardists, as well as by councils both small and large, in and around our parks and on the grass verges about the towns. Farmers, I know, all seem to relish using RoundUp and the other glyphosate brands, around their houses, and about their farms. Orchardists regularly spray the stuff in between the rows of fruit trees, so they don’t have to bother about weeding anymore.
According to a report which came out in the Scientific American, 23rd June 2009, RoundUp contains inert chemicals which are thought to be more dangerous than the glyphosate itself. The chemicals found in RoundUp and other brands of glyphosate weedkillers have been found to cause the death of human cells, especially the cells of the placenta, the embryo, and the umbilical cord. These findings make RoundUp and the other glyphosate weedkillers extremely risky for expectant mothers, or for those who are contemplating bringing a child into the world.
The solvents which are added to RoundUp, and other such weedkillers, magnify the toxic effect to humans of the main compound, the glyphosate. Research done in 2009 showed that this was the case, and that even in much diluted form other that the potencies used by farmers and orchardists, the residual effect of RoundUp chemicals on food was enough to cause cell damage and even death. One inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, known as POEA, was found to be especially harmful to the embryo, the umbilical cord, and the placenta.
The University of Caen in France reported that “This clearly confirms that the [inert ingredients] in RoundUp formulations are not inert……Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death at the residual levels”…” such as those found on RoundUp treated crops like soybeans, alfalfa, lawns and gardens”, as Crystal Gammon writes in her article for the ‘Scientific American’.
I believe that the mysterious death of pockets of our fabulous KAURI trees could be due to the use of RoundUp or other glyphosate chemicals being used on the walking tracks which run near these trees. It has been proven that bee colony collapse disorder is due to the use of agricultural chemicals: Nicotinoid pesticides, even in such small minute, such as would be considered a homeopathic dose, have caused bees to succumb to the virus which causes bee colony collapse disorder. So Kauri trees might just be as vulnerable to RoundUp and related chemicals as the bees are to these things. Humans are certainly just as vulnerable, but the danger of their use to humans is overlooked whilst the chemical and drug companies continue to reap in those massive profits.
And to all you sceptics who say that ‘there is nothing in homeopathy which works’ – the illustration of the bees which became sick after being exposed to such minute amounts of nicotinoid toxins which could not be detected by any scientific equipment, proves the point that even microscopic amounts of chemicals or herbal substances, such as those amounts used in homeopathic medicine, can have a profound effect on living creatures.
Humans are allowed to continue getting sick from such chemicals as RoundUp, but as soon as the agriculture industry, or the honey-making industry is affected, resulting in less profits for the chemical and drug companies as well as the farmer, then the authorities sit up and listen.
The glyphosate chemicals, including RoundUp, are making giant profits for the chemical companies. Which is why they are dead keen to present this weedkiller as a ‘safe’ herbicide, when the thing is actually not safe at all.
And there you go – Grasses are developing an immunity to it anyway.