Walk into any Walmart, Home Depot, or Ace Hardware Garden Center in North Georgia and you will find Roundup on the shelves. Roundup, an herbicide that is glyphosate-based, is causing a serious plant disease in fields across the world. Farmers use it in Blairsville gardens, as well as those in Canton, Young Harris, Atlanta, and everywhere in-between. Numerous studies show that the herbicide is causing the death of crop after crop, yet it is still being sold and used daily.
Glyphosate is the number one weed-killer in the world. It should have been obvious when there arose a need for genetically modified crops to withstand the weed-killer, that a huge problem was in the brewing stage. Common sense would tell a person that anything topically applied to a weed to kill it, could not distinguish between the weed and the food crop.
In truth, the Roundup doesn't kill a weed or a food crop out-right. It creates conditions that activate disease-causing organisms in the soil, while wiping out plant defences against those diseases. From the Institute for Responsible Technology: "By weakening plants and promoting disease, glyphosate opens the door for lots of problems in the field. According to Don Huber, a plant pathologist, 'There are more than 40 diseases of crop plants that are reported to increase with the use of glyphosate...' Mr. Huber goes on to say that some of the fungi promoted by glyphosate produce deadly toxins that have been linked to the plague epidemics of medieval Europe. They have also been linked to human toxicosis in Eastern Europe, esophageal cancer in southern Africa and parts of China, joint diseases in Asia and southern Africa, and a blood disorder in Russia.
According to ">Dr. Mercola, more than 75 percent of soybeans, 65 percent of cotton, and 10 percent of corn grown in the United States contain the GM Roundup gene, which means farmers spray Roundup directly onto their fields, killing weeds now and all hope of growing food crops later.
If you use Roundup in your flower beds or gardens, stop now! Continued use of Roundup will ensure there are no crops from which weeds will need to be eliminated.
You can urge U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to NOT approve Roundup Ready alfalfa, which would lead to the addition of more Roundup on U.S. fields and in our food, by using this action form from the Institute for Responsible Technology.
Comments
Roundup is made by Monsanto. Monsanto is developing the genetically modified strains of food crops, including the alfalfa mentioned here. The GM seed is patented and sold by, you guessed it, Monsanto. This serves Monsanto well, as they sell more Roundup as it can be used on their GM seed. They sell more seed because it can readily be treated by Monsanto.
Meanwhile, the effects of GM foods on the human and other organisms is open for debate. There is some evidence they are harmful.
The possible effects of GM plants on the environment have already been demonstrated. GM plants that naturalize choke out natural plants because GM plants are resistant to herbicides and diseases other plants succumb to. Also they can cross pollinate with non GM plants resulting in GM altered offspring, thereby eliminating the non GM's.
Monsanto is a huge, powerful and very rich corporation. There are politicians who are invested in Monsanto and others who receive campaign contributions. Monsanto only supports those politicians that will legislate in Monsanto's favor. In other words, there are legislators in Monsanto's pocket.
It would behoove consumers to boycott all Monsanto products and let their government know they are tired of elected and appointed officials that represent special interests rather than their constituents.
I agree 100% Kathryn. If consumers were to read the entire history of Monsanto and his products - especially how our government aided and profited by these products - they would begin to see this government for the absolute corrupt organism that it is. Our government reminds me of an episode of The Exterminator. There is a roach crawling along the wall in a private residence. The exterminator pulls back the panelling to uncover billions of roaches.
Every time we see a "roach" in our system of government or in big business, you can be sure there are billions more hiding somewhere. This is why it is so difficult to exterminate the corruption in the way all government agencies interact with big business.
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