Roundup Birth Defects: Regulators Knew World's Best-Selling Herbicide Causes Problems, New Report Fi

[Hestia]

Roundup Birth Defects: Regulators Knew World's Best-Selling Herbicide Causes Problems, New Report Finds

WASHINGTON -- Industry regulators have known for years that Roundup, the world's best-selling herbicide produced by U.S. company Monsanto, causes birth defects, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The report, "Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?" found regulators knew as long ago as 1980 that glyphosate, the chemical on which Roundup is based, can cause birth defects in laboratory animals.

But despite such warnings, and although the European Commission has known that glyphosate causes malformations since at least 2002, the information was not made public.

Instead regulators misled the public about glyphosate's safety, according to the report, and as recently as last year, the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, the German government body dealing with the glyphosate review, told the European Commission that there was no evidence glyphosate causes birth defects.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/07/roundup-birth-defects-herbicide-regulators_n_872862.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

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I know this is not a new story, but continues to enlighten the public. Tragic...the hits just keep on coming, don't they?

[rucky]

1. My spidey sense tells me...

nobody will be investigated or lose their jobs over this.

roundup will still be legal.

[CrossChris]

3. It helps that the regulatory agencies are stocked with Monsanto execs

This story is a minor PR prob for Monsanto---while SWAT teams are being sent out to collect student loans.

[w4rma]

2. I won't use the stuff at my house. (nt)

[appal_jack]

4. k&r & more

More from the article:

"Our examination of the evidence leads us to the conclusion that the current approval of glyphosate and Roundup is deeply flawed and unreliable," wrote the report authors in their conclusion. "What is more, we have learned from experts familiar with pesticide assessments and approvals that the case of glyphosate is not unusual.

"They say that the approvals of numerous pesticides rest on data and risk assessments that are just as scientifically flawed, if not more so," the authors added. "This is all the more reason why the Commission must urgently review glyphosate and other pesticides according to the most rigorous and up-to-date standards."

Wow, imagine that: numerous pesticide "safety" assessments are flawed. Money and power couldn't have anything to do with that, no siree...

-app

[jwirr]

5. When did roundup come out? How long ago?

[bvar22]

6. Monsanto has even installed "their man" in the Obama White House.

The DLC New Team

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254886&kaid=86&subid=85

Google "Vilsack ties to Monsanto".

[Nihil]

7. Ah ... if only glyphosate was radioactive ...

> The report, "Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?"
> found regulators knew as long ago as 1980 that glyphosate, the chemical on
> which Roundup is based, can cause birth defects in laboratory animals.
>
> But despite such warnings, and although the European Commission has known that
> glyphosate causes malformations since at least 2002, the information was not
> made public.

Nobody cares about mere toxins (never mind resistant weeds).

Money is far more important.

:shrug:

[Kolesar]

8. Roundup/glyphosphate is used on a HUGE scale in "no till" farming

Farmers spray the field with Roundup and kill last years crop and all the weeds. Then they sow the new seeds. No plowing

I don't know why farm article writers don't report this. It took me years of reading about nasty old Monsanto company before I figured it out.

[Nihil]

9. I bet they wonder where the poison goes after the rain too ...

... but, there again, their attitude is probably "Hell, it's downstream
so it's someone else's problem!"

:grr:

[Kolesar]

10. Monsanto claims that it breaks down almost immediately

The products of the decomposition are "inert".
Some skepticism is called for.