round up weed killer Archives | Natural Health with Merrilyn Hope

Food Glyphosate Levels From RoundUp Increased 500 Times Since 1994

Environment and Health

RoundUp, which contains glyphosate, is not biodegradable. Interesting, I think, that Monsanto had to be taken to court a couple of years ago, to get them to remove their false claim of ‘biodegradable’ from the packaging of their RoundUp weedkiller.

RoundUp weedkiller, and Monsanto’s related RoundUp Ready seeds and plants, are a multi-billion dollar industry. For over 20 years, they have marketed their RoundUp weedkiller as ‘biodegradable’, happily duping farmers, agriculturalists, city councils, governments, and the general public about the safety of RoundUp, which contains glyphosate, an ingredient which WHO, World Health Organization, last year declared is a ‘probable cause of cancer’.

Some organic farmers use RoundUp, which misleads people into thinking RoundUp must be OK. But RoundUp and glyphosate are not safe, and should never be used in the organic industry, if at all. How can this be, that organic producers can use glyphosate weedkiller? Well – Monsanto has cleverly convinced governments everywhere that a small amount of glyphosate is acceptable, which is why some organic farmers can call their stuff organic: as long as they make sure that they are within the so-called ‘safe’ range, then they can call their stuff organic, when in fact it is not at all.

I heard the tail end of a documentary on Radio New Zealand about a month ago. They reported that German scientists have found that levels of glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weedkiller called RoundUp, have increased 500 times since 1994,

1994 was the year that Monsanto introduced their ‘RoundUp Ready’, genetically modified seeds, to the agriculture industry. RoundUp Ready seeds are patented seeds, which means you have to buy them, and these patented seeds are designed to withstand any amount of glyphosate-containing RoundUp. This means that the farmer, or grower, can spray any amount of glyphosate-containing weedkiller over these genetically modified seeds, or growing plants, and the weedkiller will not kill the genetically modified seeds or plants, but it will kill everything else that grows around the RoundUp Ready plants.

So the plant keeps on growing, whilst any amount of glyphosate weedkiller, known as RoundUp, or – new name change to dupe the public -G360, which still contains glyphosate, is sprayed on regularly to kill the weeds. This glyphosate-containing weedkiller is absorbed into the plant. As the plant keeps on growing, it absorbs some of the glyphosate weedkiller each time a spraying occurs. Then WE GET TO EAT IT.

So, no wonder that glyphosate levels in our food is up 500 times since 1994, when RoundUp Ready seeds were first marketed by Monsanto.

And no wonder that asthma and other breathing problems, plus eczema, arthritis, candida related sicknesses such as cancer, depression and nervous diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and parkinsons, are all increasing rapidly.

I am currently living in the wild west of New Zealand spraying culture in Dunedin. Hundreds of miles of country roads are sprayed regularly with tonnes and tonnes of weedkiller. Maybe the council is not using glyphosate anymore, I do not know, but the effect on our health is still disastrous. Last year, I took photos of one of the town’s water reservoirs, which had been sprayed right around with weedkiller, with the adjoining road heavily polluted with sprayed, dead grass which you could see for miles down the road.

Dunedin is a very small city, so the country is very close to us, no matter where you live here.

It is obvous that my grandsons are being affected by the spraying. Each time a massive spraying occurs, they succumb to asthma-like illness. I notice that many old people get pneumonia, severe flu, or other illnesses after sprayings occur.

1080 pesticide is another problem to our health. This affects the nervous system very dramatically, which is not a surprise, since it kills wildlife by destroying their nervous systems. Large areas of land have been poisoned with 1080 in Dunedin over the past few months, which I am sure caused much lung disease, depression and heart troubles in our community. I became very ill with a mysterious nervous condition, resulting in extreme weakness, when the nature reserve only a few doors down was dosed with 1080 recently.

It is such a shame that New Zealand ‘Forest And Bird Society’, and, I think, even the ‘Green Party’, endorse the use of 1080 pesticide. They have no idea about the damage being done to all wildlife, and our water and food chain, through use of 1080, but keep a romantic idea of preserving the native bush and birds without any sense of reality.

Glyphosate RoundUp Weedkiller Has Name Change To G360

Toxic Agricultural Chemicals

Glyphosate has been proven to be harmful to people, yet Monsanto have happily sold their ‘RoundUp’ poison for decades, telling their customers that it is ‘safe’.

Last year, WHO, World Health Organization, made an announcement that glyphosate ‘probably’ causes cancer. Many governments over the world are in the process of banning herbicides which contain glyphosate, such as we call RoundUp in New Zealand.

Last Monday, 15th May, 2017, I saw a man spraying what was obviously weedkiller around our council-owned apartments in Dunedin. I asked him what the poison was which he was using –

‘Is it RoundUp?’, I asked.

‘No’, he said.

‘But does it contain glyphosate?’, I asked.

‘Yes’, he said.

He went on to tell me that ‘RoundUp’ has a name-change, and is now called G360. He said ‘They have also changed the colour of the spray, so people think it is something new to RoundUp.’

I told him he should not be using the stuff, that it is very toxic, and is not harmless, as its manufacturers like to claim. ‘You should at least be wearing protective clothing, and a mask too,’ I said.

He told me that he had asked for protective clothing, as he is unhappy about using the spray. But his company, which is contracted by the council, has said that they do not want their workers wearing protective clothing around the town when they are spraying, because ‘people will get freaked out’ to see the masks and protective gear.

If people see that workers who are spraying do not wear any protective gear, then they will trust that the spray being used is not harmful.

How evil is that, to knowingly threaten the health of your employees by allowing them to spray toxic poison with no protection. This is how the lie about the safety of such poisons as glyphosate, as in RoundUp, is perpetuated.

It makes no sense to be using toxic chemicals around our city and country environments. They are a hazard to people’s health, and to dogs, cats, birds and bees which may walk in, or come in contact with the sprayed areas. Naturally, manually, hoeing and pulling weeds is the best way to go. Or using hot water if necessary.

Many people in New Zealand are without work, forced to go into fearsome dole offices, where they are often treated like the bane of society, to ask for hand-outs. It is about time weedkillers were outlawed, for the health and safety of the community, and for people to be rightfully given back the jobs of manually maintaining gardens and roadside verges.

NZ Grass Develops Immunity To Glyphosate Herbicide Round Up

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:

https://www.amazon.ca/Cancer-And-Good-Health-Notebook-ebook/dp/B01DHMH6DG

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.

Wake Up New Zealand America’s TPPA Puts Agriculture At Risk

March Against TPPA 7th March 2015

These protest marches against TPPA really are a statement against corporate greed in New Zealand. The TPPA will serve to profit those huge multi-national corporations, such as Monsanto, Bayer, Du Pont and Syngenta, whilst minimizing our own profit. More for them, and less for us.

The price of food is bound to go up.

Disappointing that the turn-out yesterday to the Nation-wide protest against TPPA was so low. The marches over the country did not attract anything like the numbers who have protested against ocean oil drilling, or the sale of assets marches.

The low response to the anti TPPA protest is largely because most New Zealanders still do not have a clue about the TPPA. Many have never heard of it.

And this ignorance is just what is intended by our New Zealand National government, and the drivers for TPPA from America.

How come the public has no knowledge about the TPPA and what it will do to our way of life?

The title is a nebulous one, for a start. ‘TPPA’ has been chosen deliberately to disguise the reality of the proposed movement which will have our rights whittled away.

We have so many abbreviations for this and that in government departments . SIPS, WINZ, MAF, Who cares if there is another one?

But the media – newspapers, TV and radio, have been primed to keep any discussion about TPPA to a minimum. I did hear that ‘Campbell Live’ ran a good programme about the erosion of rights, and the economic impact for New Zealand. But nought else on TV, radio or newspaper.

And so, in Hamilton, there were only around 200 demonstrators, by the looks of the photos on Facebook.

And in Auckland, where the protesters usually come out in their thousands to support a just cause, were only 1500 to 2000 at the most. The low turn-out shows how TPPA means nothing to the average New Zealander.

Not that protesting has had any influence thus far on this government. The majority of people were against the sale of public assets, and despite many marches of huge numbers, petitions to government, etc, they still charged on ahead to sell off public assets which our predecessors have worked hard for.

New Zealand Growers Will Suffer With TPPA: Because of TPPA, virtually everybody in agriculture will be at risk of being sued.

Our heritage seeds and trees are all at risk Because of Monsanto’s huge presence in agriculture, their modified seeds are taking over, which is putting our heritage seeds and trees and plants at risk.. Many old varieties of seed and fruits have died out because of the monopolization of the big agriculture companies.

Expect To Be Sued If You Lose A Heritage Crop Due To a Rogue Patented Variety

Losing our heitage plants is one thing – but having to pay for the contamination and loss of our own crops, because patented rogue seed has taken over our crops, is another.

TPPA will put us under American law, which means any of us can be sued for our crops accidentally being contaminated by genetically modified patented seeds, such as those which Monsanto produce.

In America, some of these big companies are employing people to go around the countryside testing all crops. If it is found that cross-pollination with their patented varieties has occurred, then you will be fined or sued.

Is This What We Want? Aready, innocent farmers, in America and other countries, are being sued by Monsanto and other agri-giant companies because their seeds, or a cross-pollinated version of them, have been found on the farmer’s property. This will happen in New Zealand too, if the TPPA comes into force. We will have to abide by American law which favours these big seed and chemical giants.

The situation is most bizarre and corrupt. Monsanto, Syngenta and DuPont, among other seed producing corporations, have their seeds virtually all over the world now. They proliferate naturally, by wind and birds carrying the seeds to other locations, away from their original planting sites.

The farmer who grows his own heritage varieties of seed is not protected at all if his or her crops become contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically altered patented seeds. The law is on Monsanto and the other big companies’ side.

Freedom Of Speech Will Be A Thing Of The Past: The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, known as The TPPA agreement, will severely curtail our Freedom Of Speech and weaken our human rights.

We will not be allowed to discuss the ill-effects of any poison, such as the glyphosphate-containing RoundUp, or neonicotinoid poisons which cause bee colony collapse disorder, killing bees and other pollinating insects. Because if we do make a statement against the use of these toxic chemicals, then we stand to be sued by those overseas chemical manufacturers of the said chemical, for loss of sales, loss of revenue.

Such is American law.

They will say ‘there is no proof’ or ‘prove it’. But without sharing our stories about the ill-effects of toxic chemicals, there will be no body of case studies to examine, and we will be none the wiser, except for the ‘research’ which they tell us to be true.

Asthma Sinus Hay Fever Not Pollen But Herbicides, Snail Bait Etc

Agriculture Pollution Causing Breathing Difficulties and Other Problems?

Pollution, Not Pollen.

NZ has one of the highest rates for asthma, hay-fever and sinus trouble in the world. Yet people still do not make the connection between the heavy use of herbicides such as RoundUp, and insecticides such as common old snail bait and ant killers, as being the trigger for their miserable conditions.

Of course, pollen can cause hay fever and other maladies – but pollen is a short-lived trigger which is not going to damage your immune system for the long-term, unlike the chemical poisons being distributed around the environment, which can cause long-term harm.

Flu Vaccines and Antibiotics: We can now be fairly sure that vaccination antibiotics have a weakening effect on the immune system, making one prone to sinus and breathing difficulties, as well as eczema – a lady in my town had to be hospitalized after getting her flu injection. She has had asthma ever since, with very debilitating effects. This lady had never had asthma before this bad reaction to a flu injection.

Flu injections are optional in NZ, and I believe that people’s health is generally better off, overall, without them. They can make one more vulnerable to such life-threatening diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis, as well as breathing difficulties, rheumatism and arthitis.

However, in many cases, we do not have any control over some allergies and breathing difficulties, because their cause is out of our control. Farmers, householders, and council people can willy nilly spray any number and amount of very toxic poisons around our environment, and this affects the air we breathe, and, consequently, our health.

It is common in New Zealand for people, and their doctors, generally, to blame ‘the pollen’ for their asthma, hay-fever and sinus trouble.

I wonder when and how this fallacy was first promoted as an indisputable fact. Was it a ploy cleverly devised by the makers of agricultural chemicals, so that their products would remain on sale unchallenged? The ‘pollen’ myth seems to have been happily latched onto by farmers and house-holders all over the country, so they need not question the often harmful products which are so conveniently used to kill their garden pests and weeds.

In the town where I have been living for two years, ‘the pollen’ is a common daily topic of discussion right now. It is spring-time, and so ‘the pollen is flying’ – the reason for their breathing difficulties and snotty noses, they think.

But there are many reasons the air here is polluted in the spring-time, and these, I think, are the reasons so many people here are sick with asthma, hay fever, and sinus troubles. The excessive pollution in this town is also the reason, I believe, that so many people here get cancer, arthritis, shingles and other skin troubles, and other degenerative conditions.

Topdressing with super-phosphate is done on the farmlands surrounding the town, and so we cannot help breathing in super=phosphate-nitrate dust. This increases breathing difficulties and other health problems.

Herbicides on crops is done aerially and by tractor on the outskirts of town, and these chemicals permeate the air we breathe – another addition to the toxins in the air here, which cause a myriad of health problems.

Around November last year, I almost drove into a helicopter spraying chemicals on crops just on the outskirt of the town. It was crossing the road above my vehicle, spraying out poisonous chemicals as it zoomed overhead.

RoundUp herbicide, and other unknown herbicides, are poured by council on all our grass verges around the town, including around our housing complex. From around Sepember onwards, this spraying project is stepped up from around once a month to around every two weeks. Herbicides such as RoundUp have a deleterious effect on the health, commonly causing breathing difficulties such as asthma and digestive upsets. It can also affect blood pressure and excacerbate heart ailments. And I find it causes a shingle-like rash on the legs for people who do a lot of walking on sprayed pavements about the town.

But A Big Thankyou to our local council for considering my request not to spray around my house and garden. I have been allowed to plant an orchard of heritage apple trees, with the promise that the grass verge around the garden will not be sprayed. This is a huge step forward, I feel.

We have a milk-factory right in the town which began making milk-powder around 6 weeks ago. Residue from this process is evident. Overnight, cars only a few hundred yards away from the factory become coated with a white milky powder – yet, astoundingly, my neighbours, born and bred here, say that this white powder is pollen. Some of their family members work in this factory, so I guess they do not want to question whether or not the factory is polluting the area.

Gardeners here just love to stock up on snail-bait and ant-killers. These two commonly used products are very bad for the health. I have had recent experience of just how harmful some brands of snail-bait really are. Last week, my neighbours on both sides of my flat poured around a whole packet each over their little gardens. Overnight, many snails and worms were killed, and I worried about the birds eating these poisoned snails. Ant-killer was also put out onto the deck of my neighbour’s place, which is only around 20 feet from my own door.

The effect of these poisons on my own nervous system was profound. My movements suddenly became jerky and unco-ordinated, my joints very sore and weak, and pains were noticed in the bones. It caused pronounced breathing difficulties, over and beyond the effect of the agricultural chemicals already in the air. I think I would have been diagnosed with asthma, had I gone to a doctor. A visit for a few days, away from the town to Auckland, cleared the problem.

Funny how these days, at certain times of the year when agricultural spraying is done, the city can be a kinder place on the health than the New Zealand countryside. We should be keeping bees on the roof-tops of our city buildings, and growing organic foods there too, as they do in Germany. My sons who live and work in Berlin and Mainz have told me about their flourishing bee-hives and roof-top vege gardens.

Both my neighbouring friends have chronic health problems. One gets asthma and hay-fever regularly at this time of the year. This friend blames the pollen, of course. From trees which are 100’s of metres away. The dairy factory is closer than the trees, but neither the dairy factory nor the air-borne sprays are considered at all as a cause for her current breathing problems.

The other neighbour, who does not use ant-killer, but does use snail-bait from time to time, has digestive problems and mysterious weakness. I think the snail bait, which is right outside his door, is one of the main reasons for his ill health. Recently he was taken to hospital with chronic pain in the gut. I explained how the snail bait affects my own health, and how the stuff, like |RoundUp, kills the healthy bacteria in the gut, which causes stomach problems, gut pain, and cramps. He listened, and said, ‘Maybe that’s the cause of my feeling sick’. He has decided not to continue using snail bait.

Funnily enough, I was down at the shop tonight, where my neighbours buy their gardening products, including snail bait. Someone ahead of me was buying snail bait. The young girl serving her said ‘Oh – snail bait. Gosh – It always gives me stomach pains, even from handling this stuff here’.

I said I had just been very sick from my neighbours’ using it. She understood me, but the lady buying the snail bait did not look so pleased to hear our stories. You could tell she was going to use it anyway, regardless.

Finally, we have a grain factory in our town, perhaps only 200 metres away from our houses. It is often busy, noisily grinding away at night, and I imagine there will be dust escaping into the air from this plant.

Some people are beginning to listen to my arguments about the pollution in the air here, which will be contributing to their health problems. But there is so much educating to be done. This is an agricultural town which supplies farmers with their chemicals and machinery for efficient farming practice, and it might take years, if ever, for environmental and health issues to take precedence over profit and convenience.

NB One last note: Our biggest supermarket, a flash new shop, is situated right next door to the town’s stock-yards, which attract hundreds of flies in the summertime, mainly because of the smell of animal poo. As well, the stock trucks’ dumping site for effluent from the poor animals which are trucked here, is also next door to the supermarket, perhaps only 20 to 50 metres away. You would think this should be considered to be a health risk by anybody with an ounce of common sense. Who approved this?