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Nasty Stuff Monsanto Weed Killer Contaminates Food


A peer-reviewed Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology report published in the scientific journal Entropy points to evidence that residues of glyphosate, the chief ingredient in Roundup weed killer, manufactured


by Monsanto and sprayed over millions of acres of crops, has been found in food. The residues enhance the damaging effects of other food-borne chemicals and toxins in the environment known to disrupt normal body functions and induce disease, including Parkinson’s, infertility and cancers. Reuters reports that environmentalists, consumer groups and plant scientists from several countries have warned that heavy use of glyphosate is harming plants, people and ani- mals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is conduct- ing a standard registration review of glyphosate to determine by 2015 if its use should be limited. Yet Monsanto continues to claim that glyphosate is safe and less damaging than other commonly used herbicides.


Collateral Damage Disappearing Wild Pollinators Spell Disaster


The perilous decline of domestic honeybees due to the widespread occurrence of colony collapse disorder con- tinues to make news, but wild bees and other insects are often overlooked, even though they are twice as effective in producing seeds and fruit on


crops, according to a study of 41 crops in 600 fields worldwide by Argentina’s research network, CONICET. For the first time, scientists have a handle on the huge contribution of wild insects, showing that honeybees cannot replace the wild insects lost as their habitat is increasingly destroyed. Study leader Lucas Garibaldi, of Argentina’s National Uni-


versity, in Río Negro, says that relying on honeybees is a highly risky strategy, because disease can sweep through a single species and it may not adapt to environmental changes as well as wild pollinators. Also, trucking in managed honeybee hives does not replace native pollinators, which visit more plants, resulting in more effective cross-pollination; honeybees tend to carry pollen from one flower to another on the same plant.


GM-Oh-Oh GMOs Threaten Wheat Exports


America lags behind the world in limiting, banning or even labeling geneti- cally modified (GE, GM or GMO) crops, and now Japan has suspended some imports from the United States because of the discovery of unapproved GM wheat in Oregon. The European Union is weighing similar action. Serious economic implications stem from the fact that many countries will not accept imports of genetically modi- fied foods, and the U.S. exports about half of its annual wheat crop.


The Washington Post reports the presence of GMO


wheat on an 80-acre field in Oregon as a mystery. Monsanto tested a similar strain in Oregon between 1994 and 2005, but the product was never approved for commercial use. The strain was identified in the state when a farmer tried clearing a field using Monsanto’s herbicide and discovered that the wheat could not be killed. Blake Rowe, CEO of the Oregon Wheat Commission,


says that reductions in Northwest wheat sales would affect farmers in Idaho and Washington as well as Oregon, because the wheat is blended together. Oregon sold $492 million of wheat in 2011; 90 percent of it went overseas.


Chug-A-Lug Pricey Bottled Water May Come from a Tap


Peter Gleick, the author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our


Obsession with Bottled Water, found that most companies are cagey about revealing the source of their water. “There’s no legal requirement that they say on their label where the water comes from, and they don’t like to advertise that fact,” says Gleick. As a result, most Americans don’t know much about the origins of what we spend $11 billion a year on.


In order to be called “spring water”, accord- ing to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a product has to be either “collected at the point where water flows naturally to the Earth’s surface or from a borehole that taps into the underground source.” Other terms aren’t regu- lated. Gleick found that about 55 percent of bottled waters are spring water. The other 45 percent is mostly treated tap water, including Aquafina (Pepsi) and Dasani (Coke).


Source: Mother Jones natural awakenings August 2013 23


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