Subject: Re: Roundup From: Amy <a4sberg@swbell.net> Organization: Southwestern Bell Internet Services Date: Mon, 04 Jun 01 21:14:12 Message-ID: <MOD$010604.15735@rec.gardens.ecosystems> References: <MOD$010604.5446@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
John,
The best resource I've found for any and all pesticides (including
organic) is http://ace.ace.orst.edu/info/extoxnet/ . It includes
everything you've ever wanted to know about any pesticide. Part of the
information about roundup (glyphosate) includes:
Fate in humans and animals: Glyphosate is poorly absorbed from the
digestive tract and is largely excreted unchanged by mammals. At 10 days
after treatment, there were only minute amounts in the tissues of rats
fed glyphosate for 3 weeks [98]. Cows, chickens, and pigs fed small
amounts of glyphosate had undetectable levels (less than 0.05 ppm) in
muscle tissue and fat. Levels in milk and eggs were also undetectable
(less than 0.025 ppm). Glyphosate has no significant potential to
accumulate in animal tissue [99].
Effects on birds: Glyphosate is slightly toxic to wild birds. The
dietary LC50 in both mallards and bobwhite quail is greater than 4500
ppm [1].
Breakdown in soil and groundwater: Glyphosate is moderately persistent
in soil, with an estimated average half-life of 47 days [58,11].
Reported field half-lives range from 1 to 174 days [11]. It is strongly
adsorbed to most soils, even those with lower organic and clay content
[11,58]. Thus, even though it is highly soluble in water, field and
laboratory studies show it does not leach appreciably, and has low
potential for runoff (except as adsorbed to colloidal matter) [3,11].
One estimate indicated that less than 2% of the applied chemical is lost
to runoff [99]. Microbes are primarily responsible for the breakdown
of the product, and volatilization or photodegradation losses will be
negligible [58].
And that's just a small part of what's there.
Amy
Jaykhill wrote: > > Recently my wife was attending a pharmaceutical conference. In conversation, > she was told that the weed killer Roundup is broken up by exposure to sunlight > in a matter of hours and cannot harm for long anything but the weeds. > Now, this guy was a rep for Monsanto, so perhaps he has a vested interest > in making such a product sound ''safe''. > > ,Anyone know anything about this claim? > > John Cahill, Mt. Vernon, Virginia, USA