RoundUp? Get Monsanto

UPDATE: 24 September

While most people seem to know about how Round Up affects plants and other agricultural impact, often they are not so aware of how it affects people, and of course wild life.
Here is a new report linking the chemical to birth defects.

UPDATE: 31 August 2010:

"ROUNDUP READY POISONS CROPS & SOIL"
85% of all GM crops are genetically modified to tolerate Monsanto's "Roundup Ready (RR) herbicide. Promoted as being safe, it is now the world's most widely used herbicide.
2 senior US plant scientists now warn that RR poses a major threat to US food production:
Roundup Ready (RR) renders soil infertile.
It strips minerals & beneficial metals from plants, making them more prone to disease & less nutritious.
It promotes the growth of 4 soil fungi: Fusarium, Phythium, Rhizoctonia & Phytophthora, which can cause plant death.
It is toxic to good soil bacteria like rhiozbia, which fixes nitrogen.
It increases toxins in plants - a serious health risk for animals & humans. The toxins in straw from RR- exposed crops can be high enough to make cattle & pigs infertile.
Roundup also threatens all natural non-GM crops exposed to RR on the wind, or grown on soils sprayed with RR in previous years.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho. Institute of Science in Society 19.5.10
"Green HealthWatch" mag from www.greenhealthwatch.com

Killer RoundUp: Weed killer kills human cells

Restated: Farmers Cope With Roundup-Resistant Weeds

Older posts from Natural Health News

RoundUp Ready Crops: Just as Predicited

May 14, 2010

Is Roundup based on petroleum? Perhaps Monsanto bought the raw materials from BP, the same company responsible for the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that is causing huge amounts of oil to spread in the Gulf of Mexico. ...

Judge Reverses Approval for RoundUp Ready Beets

Sep 23, 2009

US District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco found the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service violated environmental law by failing to take a "hard look" at whether "Roundup Ready" sugar beets ...

GMO Crops: None too good for health

Dec 27, 2009

Since many genetically engineered crops were modified so that farmers could spray Roundup, or Glyphosate, to kill the weeds in their fields but not the crops themselves, the expectation was that less herbicide would be required. ...

Abundant Evidence to Warn People Against GE Crops

Dec 01, 2007

According to this year's findings, GM canola found near to an oil extraction factory in Chiba prefecture was tolerant to both Roundup and Basta. As there is no GM canola variety currently available which has transgenes for both types of ...

Best look out for egos

May 29, 2007

Just like his Monsanto buddies that urge you to use RoundUp. All that does is increase your risk of cancer and give you bigger weeds to kill with more and more RoundUp. I'm packing some big guns here and you don't cross my corner. ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

RoundUp Ready Crops: Just as Predicited

UPDATE: 17 August - New weed strategies needed, scientists say

UPDATE: May 17 - Burning Monsanto Hybrid Seeds
Monsanto GM-corn harvest fails in South Africa

NB: "It's not nice to try to fool Mother Nature"


Originally posted 5/14/10: I've been writing about the issues associated with Monsanto's RoundUp for over a decade now.

My first concern was safety as I learned early-on that this chemical spray had risks of cancer.

I learned more and read many reports soon after it was first marketed that it would develop resistance. Now this truly has come to fruition. I just wish more people had listened to those who were doing this research sooner than later.

According to a new report published in the New Scientist RoundUp is now facing serious resistance issues.

I can't say I am surprised but I would be much more pleased to see this herbicide taken off the market.

Briefly

New Scientist 15.5.10 "EVOLUTION OF WEED RESISTANCE DEALS BLOW TO POPULAR HERBICIDE"
More & more weeds are becoming resistant to glyphosate herbicide, originally marketed by Monsanto as Roundup. In 1996 Monsanto began selling GM crops which contained a gene making them resistant to glyphosate. This was so more of this chemical could be used without damaging the crops. Worldwide 100 million hectares are planted with glyphosate-resistant crops, but there are now at least 9 species of weeds who have evolved to be resistant to glyphosate.
Read complete article

For your home garden it is possible to grow specific plants that you can use to make your own fertilizers and other plant treatments. You may order a copy of my book, "My Happy Garden" to learn more.

Read More and look for the several other RoundUp related articles at Natural Health News using the search box.

Photo Credit 

Related sites: 
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monsanto
http://www.laleva.cc/pharma/monsantofiles.html
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=4088

Judge Reverses Approval for RoundUp Ready Beets

Background information about the litigation -
Food Safety Fact Sheet

Findings of Fact and a win for the average consumer-

September 22, 2009
Judge overturns approval of Roundup Ready beets
By JEFF BARNARD, AP Environmental Writer

A federal judge overturned government approval of a variety of sugar beet genetically engineered to resist a popular weed killer produced by agricultural giant Monsanto, according to a ruling released Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco found the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service violated environmental law by failing to take a "hard look" at whether "Roundup Ready" sugar beets would eventually share their genes with other crops.

Noting that pollen from genetically altered sugar beets could be blown by the wind long distances to related crops, such as chard and table beets, the judge ordered the agency to produce an environmental impact statement examining the issue.

"The potential elimination of farmers' choice to grow nongenetically engineered crops, or consumers' choice to eat nongenetically engineered food ... has a significant effect on the human environment," White wrote.

The plant inspection agency is reviewing the ruling, said spokeswoman Suzanne Bond.

A lesser level of review, known as an environmental assessment, found no significant impact from introducing a ground bacteria gene tolerant of the herbicide into the sugar beet genome, noting that if pollen spread the genes to wild beets, they were considered a weed, and no cause for concern.

The ruling was a second blow for St. Louis-based Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops. While soy beans, corn, cotton, and canola genetically engineered to withstand the company's popular weed-killer have been in wide commercial production for years, a similar ruling in 2007 forced a ban on planting Roundup Ready alfalfa until a re-examination was done. That environmental impact statement is not yet done.

It was not immediately clear what impact the ruling would have on the U.S. sugar crop, about half of which comes from Roundup Ready sugar beets. The judge did not address the harvest of the current crop. Roundup Ready beet seed saves growers on labor, fuel costs and equipment wear.

But the organic farmers, food safety advocates and conservation groups that brought the lawsuit will ask the judge Oct. 30 for an injunction banning new plantings until the re-examination is done, said Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff.

American Sugar Beet Growers Association spokesman Luther Markwart said he did not know how much nongenetically altered seed was available if the judge grants the ban.

"Clearly we are going to vigorously defend our farmers' freedom to plant Roundup Ready sugar beets," Markwart said. "All this has to do with how we make our case."

Most of the seed is produced in Oregon's Willamette Valley, but the crop is grown on 1.1 million acres in 11 states from Michigan to California, Markwart said.

Frank Morton, an organic seed grower in the Willamette Valley town of Philomath and plaintiff in the lawsuit, said steps were taken to keep similar crops apart to prevent cross-pollination, but Roundup Ready seed growers would not divulge which fields were growing genetically altered crops.

He added that he had to pay $300 each time he tested his seeds for genetic contamination, and the first time it is found the crop becomes worthless.

"This industry could be destroying the crop value of organic growers and organic growers would not have the slightest idea they were in danger until their stuff turned up contaminated," he said. "This is why I made a stink about this."

Achitoff said besides genetic contamination, they were concerned Roundup Ready crops were creating new strains of weeds resistant to herbicides.

Monsanto spokesman Garrett Kasper said from company headquarters in St. Louis that the ruling was largely procedural and did not question the safety of Roundup Ready crops.

"The issue of weed resistance, as far as we are concerned, is something that is able to be controlled through the properties of chemicals and working with our technical advisers in the field," he said. "Roundup Ready technology uses less herbicide than conventional, which is why it was so readily adopted by growers."

BetaSeed Inc. in Tangent, which produces sugar beet seed, did not immediately return a call for comment.

2009 Associated Press. Permission granted