Iowa is very likely the most Roundup/glyphosate drenched place on
earth.--Tom
In a message dated 7/19/2011 6:30:08 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
NOTE: The following is a merger of two almost identical articles that
appeared in the German press, and which have been translated into English.
The Earth Open Source report mentioned in the articles is "Roundup and
birth defects – is the public being kept in the dark?"
http://scr.bi/RRbirthdef
This report showed that industry (including Monsanto) knew from its own
studies conducted in the 1980s that glyphosate caused birth defects in lab
animals at high doses; from the 1990s, industry knew that these effects also
occurred at lower and mid doses.
The German government, the "rapporteur" member state for glyphosate, knew
from 1998 from its own reading of these same industry studies. Germany
explained away the birth defects by redefining them as a "developmental
variation[s]" - along with other 'creative' reasoning.
The EU Commission knew from 2002, when it approved glyphosate, incorrectly
claiming that the birth defects only occurred at high doses that poisoned
the mothers. This is the 9-year-old document referred to so blithely by the
German government official in the article below--who suggests that it
fully informs the public of the risks of glyphosate!
Only last year, the German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food
Safety (BVL) told the Commission that there was "no evidence of
teratogenicity" (ability to cause birth defects) for glyphosate. In making this claim,
BVL was ignoring not only independent studies showing that glyphosate and
Roundup cause birth defects, including at low realistic levels, but
industry's own studies from as long ago as the 1980s.
In the light of all this, it's interesting to read BVL's defence, below.
---
---
Glyphosate: The Problematic Victory
By Stephan Bornecke
Frankfurter Rundschau
11 July 2011
The All-Round Killer
Berliner Zeitung
11 July 2011
For urls see footnotes below
BIOTECHNOLOGY – THE CULTIVATION OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED SOY POSES ALSO A
THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH, SAY SCIENTISTS. BY LICENSING ALLEGEDLY NON‐HAZARDOUS
GRAINS FROM SOUTH AMERICA THE ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP WWF HAS COME UNDER
CRITICISM.
Frankfurt a. M. – It is the most widely applied herbicide in the world and
closely linked with genetic engineering in agriculture. But now glyphosate
is suspected of posing a health risk to humans.
Known by the brand name Roundup, glyphosate began its conquest of the
market back in 1974, when the US agribusiness giant first promoted it as a
complete herbicide.
But it was the development of genetically engineered soybeans in 1996 that
really ensured its victory. Since then, corn, canola, cotton, and sugar
beets have been developed that are Roundup resistant. At this point, fully 83
per cent of genetically modified plants are resistant to this herbicide.
However, it seems that the product does not live up to its initial promise
– that glyphosate would simplify farming, and even enhance environmental
protection. More and more studies have shown that the herbicide, which will
be up for re‐evaluation by the EU, negatively impacts wild plants, soil
biota, aquatic life forms, and even the plants it is designed to protect,
for instance, by increasing the incidence of fungal attacks. And that’s not
all. Other plants have also developed resistance to it, which means more
spraying, not less.
Now new investigations have revealed another dimension to the problem.
Apparently, glyphosate is more damaging to mammals and other vertebrates,
including perhaps humans, than was previously assumed. And there’s more: such
undesirable side effects have apparently been known to EU authorities and
German regulatory authorities with EU responsibility since the end of the
1990s.
To cite one example, Argentine Professor Andrés Carrasco published a study
in 2009 that substantiated the dangers of Roundup spray. He concluded that
the herbicide caused dysplasia in frog and chicken embryos even at doses
lower than levels commonly used in agriculture The consequences observed in
animals are comparable to those found "in humans exposed to glyphosate
during pregnancy."
There must have been serious findings pointing in this direction early on,
and they must have been known not only to the industry but to regulatory
authorities as well. At least that is the claim of an international group of
Earth Open Source researchers led by Michael Antoniou, a molecular
geneticist teaching in London. The study, Roundup and birth defects – is the
public being kept in the dark?[3], points to miscarriages and birth defects in
new‐borns in Argentina and Paraguay whose parents live near fields of
genetically modified soybeans. A study of regulatory approval documents also
shows that German authorities knew about foot deformities in rats and rabbits.
These consequences were also observed in some cases at dosage levels in
soybeans that are approved for humans.
The report by the EU health commissioner in charge at the time downplayed
possible embryo abnormalities, opining that such deformities would only
ensue if the mothers had ingested a deadly dose of the herbicide.
In response to a question from the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau, the
German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL), which
is also the EU rapporteur, called the criticism "baseless", stating that no
important information was withheld from the public. Andreas Tief,
spokesperson for the BVL, added that Antoniou had relied on "a document that is
available to the public, and has been for nine years now".
In light of the emerging awareness of the risk to the human reproductive
system, Christoph Then, a Munich‐based scientist, is demanding completely
new standards at the upcoming EU re‐approval proceedings for glyphosate that
have been postponed for three years, to 2015. Many consumers are not aware
that they are in fact the end consumers of genetically modified soybeans
when they consume the meat of animals that have consumed them.
Copyright © 2011 Frankfurter Rundschau
Copyright © 2011 Berliner zeitung
1. The German original of this article was published on 11 July 2011 in
two almost identical versions simultaneously in Frankfurter Rundschau (FR)
and Berliner Zeitung (BZ), two daily broadsheet newspapers that are well
known beyond the regional limits where they are published. The online source
for FR is
http://bit.ly/glyph_FR
for BZ it is
http://bit.ly/glyph_BZ
2. Translation from the original article in German by Larass Translations,
Ottawa; the two versions have been integrated.
3 Study downloadable from http://scr.bi/RRbirthdef
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