The trouble with RoundUp

Monsanto’s biggest selling chemical is the glyphosphate weed-killer called RoundUp. And Monsanto’s engineers have produced genetically modified seeds that have to be dosed with higher quantities of RoundUp if they are to succeed. Or indeed, seed. Clever, huh? But Roundup is known to cause cancer, Parkinson’s Disease, birth defects and infertility. A 2012 European Report said that studies since the 1980s showed that it caused ‘malformations in experimental animals at high doses’ and stated that the iindustry has known ‘since 1993 that these effects also occur at lower and mid doses.’

Nature, of course, fights back. Farmers started to find ‘super-weeds’ developing that were not killed by Roundup. So they up the dose. Farmers who grow genetically modified crops use about 25 percent more herbicides than farmers using traditional seeds.

The Organic Consumers Association analysed the figures, with a chilling result. The production and processing of Monsanto’s GMO crops, including production and distribution of the necessary chemicals, was estimated to produce up to 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Monsanto-produced genes are now found in 40 percent of the crops grown in the United States. The company’s determination to dominate the market sees the continual  buying-up of smaller companies and aggressive treatment of retailers to ensure that they only stock Monsanto products. This has driven up prices, both for farmers and consumers. Since 2001, Monsanto has more than doubled the price of soybean and corn seeds and farmers have been told to expect prices to keep increasing. In India, more than 270,000 farmers who grew Monsanto’s Bt Cotton found themselves locked in endless debt, and many of them have committed suicide.

The worst effect, however, is the threat to the future. Loss of biodiversity means that nature’s ability to adapt to shifting conditions is severely compromised. Local knowledge is lost, along with plant breeds that have evolved in a variable way, able to meet a variety of circumstances. Have a think about it before you douse that with RoundUp. It might be damaging you as well as the dandelion, in ways you’d never thought of