Here's something to consider regarding chemical-intensive, conventional
farming. This is from the Sierra Club national Biotech Forum.
Superweeds: ready for Roundup
by Tom Philpott
Grist, 14 August
2008
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/8/14/9630/00762
*In
Arkansas, a new GMO/herbicide solution to a problem created by an old one. [A
solution, that is, to a problem created by a previous GMO/herbicide
combination. GMO stands for "genetically modified organism," i.e., an
organism that has undergone genetic engineering, which is a
process far different from traditional selective breeding or
hybridization.--tm]
I've written a couple of times about the rise of
"superweeds" in the
Southeast and mid-South.
In Arkansas, horseweed
and Palmer amaranth now choke fields planted
with Monsanto's Roundup Ready
cotton and soy -- engineered to
withstand heavy doses of Roundup, Monsanto's
broad-spectrum herbicide.
Fifteen years ago, horseweed and amaranth weren't
problem weeds.
Back in March, Arkansas Agricultural Extension Service
officials were
pushing farmers to supplement their Roundup applications with
doses of
Reflex, a broad-spectrum herbicide made by Monsanto's rival,
Syngenta.
Now the agribiz-friendly extension service is hotly promoting
the
wares of another Monsanto rival, Bayer Crop Sciences, Delta Farm
Press
reports [see next item]. Bayer's Liberty Link soybeans, designed
to
withstand doses of Bayer's broad-spectrum herbicide Ignite, will
be
available next year.
The active ingredient in Ignite is glufosinate
ammonium -- evidently
pretty nasty stuff. Here is the International Pesticide
Action
Network:
"At sub-lethal doses, glufosinate can have
significant, but not so
easily observable impacts. For example, a recent
study found that low
doses of glufosinate affected central nervous system
development in
young rats ... The results suggested that exposure to even low
doses
of glufosinate in the infantile period in rats causes changes in
the
kainic acid receptor in the brain.
According to PAN, the EPA
classifies glufosinate ammonium as
"persistent" and "mobile" -- meaning it
sticks around and moves easily
through soil and water."
Then there's
this:
"In one study, residues of glufosinate were found in
spinach,
radishes, wheat and carrots planted 120 days after glufosinate
had
been applied. In sandy soils, which overlie many aquifers,
glufosinate
has been found to be highly persistent due to lack of
biodegradation.
Its transport through the soil was also determined to be
"essentially
unretarded." Glufosinate's metabolite, MPPA-3, has been found to
be
more persistent and more mobile than glufosinate [itself]."
It's
hard to see what good can come of this GMO/pesticide treadmill --
unless,
that is, you own shares in one of the very few companies that
dominate the
GMO/agrichemical market.
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