From allyn@u.washington.eduSun Apr  9 21:18:45 1995
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 19:01:34 -0800
From: Allyn Weaks <allyn@u.washington.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Is "Roundup" Safe Way To Kill A Lawn

In article <3jkhku$d5t@werner.cs.mtu.edu>, jgtusciu@mtu.edu (John Tusciuk)
wrote:

> Bill Dill (wdill@Primenet.com) wrote:
[...snip...]
> : Can anyone tell me anything about Roundup?  Is there any truly safe way to
> : kill off a lawn?
> 
> I've never heard of Roundup causing any problems, but if you are
> worried about it, ask the landscaper for the chemical data sheets
> (there's some acronym for these, but I can't remember it).  These list
> all of the possible hazards associated with use of a given chemical
> and employers (at least in Michigan) have to have these someplace
> accessible to any employees that may be exposed to the chemical, so
> I'm sure he's at least got a copy.

Material Safety Data Sheet.  Indeed, you should obtain and read these for
any herbicide/pesticide etc before you use it.  But be aware that it
doesn't tell the whole story; only the 'active' ingredients need to be
disclosed in the ingredients list.  Many companies manage to hide
hazardous materials as 'inert' ingredients.  Roundup is one of the (many)
offenders.   Glyphosate is fairly safe to animals - it quickly binds
tightly to many soils (n.b. it may take months or years to actually
degrade, and it doesn't bind well to sands and coarse silt, where it can
remain active to retard new plant growth until it does degrade), and is
not very toxic if you get it on your skin, or even breathe it.  But one of
the 'inert' ingredients is a surfactant polyoxyethyleneamine (POEA) which
often contains 1,4-dioxane (a carcinogen) as a contaminent.  POEA is
easily absorbed through the skin and has caused acute poisoning on its own
- it is much more toxic than glyphosate.  This surfactant is one of the
main reasons that Roundup sometimes works better than its clones with the
same active ingredients; it causes more of the glyphosate to be absorbed
by the plant.  Of course, a lack of POEA in a clone doesn't necessarily
make a clone safer - depends on what _they_ hide in their 'inert'
ingredients...

So use Roundup (or clone) where non-toxic solutions are impractical (I'll
be attacking my bindweed with it this year) but make sure you don't
breathe it or get it on your skin, and keep it away from kids and pets. 
Gloves and long sleeves are a good idea, as is painting it on instead of
spraying when possible (hard to do to a lawn...).  And if you lack clay in
your soil, you should probably wait a while before you replant.  But don't
be too paranoid; drinking the stuff outright will only kill you about 10%
of the time... and if you do spill a bit of the stuff on you, most will
wash off with *soap* and water.

Meanwhile, complain to your congress critters about the appalling laxity
in labelling requirements.


A reference:

Author:        Martinez-T-T.  Brown-K.
Author Affil.: Department of Pharmacology, St. Louis College of Pharmacy,
               Missouri 63110.
Title:         Oral and pulmonary toxicology of the surfactant used in
               roundup herbicide.
Source:        Proc-West-Pharmacol-Soc.  1991.  34.  P 43-6.
Journal Title: PROCEEDINGS-OF-THE-WESTERN-PHARMACOLOGY-SOCIETY.
-- 
Allyn Weaks
allyn@u.washington.edu

