Feds to poison plants along the border

i made a mistake the women is result of agent orange but is rare it actually is a little worse than i wrote earlier. but actually if you live near there, i have one thing to sa move out. Several studies have shown an increase rate of cancer mortality for workers exposed to 2,4,5-T. In one study, from Hamburg, Germany, the risk of cancer death increased by 170% after working for 10 years at the agent orange producing section of a Hamburg manufacturing plant. it also causes some skin diease

Uh i drink water from the rio grande. this kinda freaks me out.....

Sounds like a brain dead idea.

wait... so they're going to poison illegal immigrants? Does this mean there are going to be dead bodies at the border?

That's a little scary - they're willing to kill illegal immigrants. What else does this mean? Is it now okay to shoot an illegal immigrant if you see one - because that's the same damn thing - in the end you still have a dead body to deal with.

Also... if it’s already on the internet... an international database... what's to stop illegal immigrants from reading about it?

If Mexico’s drug cartels were using this area to transport their drugs, you honestly believe that they would just sit back and let the American/Mexican people destroy it?
That's probably one of the major reasons they aren’t allowing people to go into that vegetation and physically take out one plant at a time.
There would be even more deaths.
Drug cartels are killing government officials that get in their way. What makes you think they wouldn't harm an inicent civilian? They do it every day.
Also - if the cartels are using this land, they most likely have booby traps, mines, etc.. Set up to prevent their enemies from seeking out the paths and hiding areas they use. (Think back to the Vietnam war- this is exactly what the Vietcong’s did.)

I suggest looking up Luara Ling's report in Juarez. Educate yourself on the Narco War.

Have they considered planting some poison oak or ivy ? There are plenty of lethal stickery plants that would take over . Have they no problem solving skills ? Dreadful idea .

I just can't believe how bad this whole thing has gotten...

god damn it leave our planet alone... if hemp was legal you wouldn't have to burn down a forest just to find some drug dealers

No good.

That chemical they use is nasty shit. It seeps into the ground and will undoubtedly run off into the Rio Grande. I don't think people realize that all things living will be killed by this poison, not just the cane. It will kill the amphibians, insects, fish, reptiles, and other species in the area. And those that swim in the Rio Grande (whether to cross illegally or for leisure) will undoubtedly feel some effect of the poison.

I know from first hand experience, my cousin's husband is a landscaper and he uses that chemical to clear large areas of weeds or matted plants or vines. It just burns them. The grass too, it burns it down to the dirt.

They'll have to poison my ass! I'm definitely protesting this bullshit.

can't they just root all of that shit up? granted it will grow back, but it will also grow back no matter what they do.

I wonder if US officials ever read comments on websites like this to get candid feedback?

YOU GUY ARE IDIOTS! oh my f**king god, what are you thinking?

1) poisoning plant along 100 miles? I think that may mess up some ecosystems.

2) why the hell are you poisoning? cutting it down and using the plant parts to make green sculptures to support the wild life your killing might be a smarter route.

3) $2.1 million?!?! you could use that $2.1m to make a couple temporary jobs by paying people to cut it down! that's a tremendous amount of money anyway. I would do it myself (if it wasn't so morally messed up) for $1m over the course of a month!

*sign* I need to go calm down before the government kills me.

What a FANTASTIC IDEA!! Let's poison the plants that animals eat! Let's poison the plants and run a 99% chance of it running into our watering system! FANTASTIC!

-_-

WTF I'am outraged!

I live on the rio grande and it is the only water for hundreds of miles. Is this the greening of the economy I have been waiting for. HELL NO!!!!!
The dead zone in the gulf of mexico is not large enough now we need herbicide too! This is a greater crime against society than self medication. If we wont buy the governments drugs then we get none at all.

Can we use our right to vote on this subject? I'm sure about 75% of Americans would be against it. It seems like the only issues we can vote on are who the oppressor is, not what moves they make. People should keep an eye out for disturbing articles like this one, and depopulation.

This is a terrible Idea! Look at what has been done in Columbia and earlier in Vietnam! None of these Chemicals are safe! Hey Obama what happened to change? You lied! The police state run by the elite has no regard for life!

more tax dollars going to waste. id rather AIG get it than mess with the weed supply.

This is a brilliant idea. Poison the plants, animals and water to keep us safe. We can make this a global policy so the smugglers, robbers and illegals will have NO where to hide because they will all be dead.

this is blatantly all about $$$$ of tax payer money going to the poison chemical producing corporations that are not content with the volume of poisons they are able to market to the general public for killing weeds in their lawns etc. if they go beyond the 1.1 mile 2.1 million pilot project.. we're looking at over 273 million for the 130 mile stretch. are we still expected to believe there are no health concerns or harm of ecosystems of the river?

http://current.com/items/77206102/lo_sradicamento_della_coca.htm

same shit moves to us. what is up? hello

Ahh, so now we will add Plan Mexico to Plan Colombia? Did I hear the word "change" somewhere? I hope people start suing this government for poisoning them and the chemical companies making this crap. It isn't going to stop illegals from crossing over. They will just find another way. Asses. Why does our environment always have to be what is sacrificed? Enough!

This is dumb, but why use chemicals? just burn it.

Hiding places? Maybe we should just invest in some Hide-and-go-seek training.

Better yet, why don't we just get them some infrared goggles so that the patrol can see through the bushes? Oh wait, I bet they already have them.

this is the most insane thing i ever heard. it also cannot be good for animals

WTF?! Poisoning the environment to keep out immigrants? Why don't we just set up a mine field between the USA and Mexico, that would scare them off.

I've got to get out of here, I'm sick of this shit.

and what sort of fall out is going to come from this?

This insanity is so damn depressing!
Protecting our borders is going to kill us.

I looked up DuPonts material safety data sheet and on page 7 it clearly states that the chemical is harmful to aquatic life.

http://www.cdms.net/LDat/mp8GH001.pdf

Here is a copy of the letter I just sent to all my reps and the President:

This is part of an article that appeared in the March 24, 2009 chron.com news:
"The U.S. Border Patrol plans to poison the plant life along a 1.1-mile stretch of the Rio Grande riverbank as soon as Wednesday to get rid of the hiding places used by smugglers, robbers and illegal immigrants.

If successful, the $2.1 million pilot project could later be duplicated along as many as 130 miles of river in the patrols Laredo Sector, as well as other parts of the U.S.-Mexico border."

This is insane. The EPA says the herbicide is not harmful, but the Material Safety Data Sheet of the chemical says otherwise.
On page 7 of DuPonts own Material Safety Data Sheet for ecotoxicological Information and on Waste Disposal,

http://www.cdms.net/LDat/mp8GH001.pdf
it clearly states that this product is harmful to aquatic animals.

Has there not been enough killing of our environment? Please put a stop to this.
There are other ways of securing our borders.

Sad and pathetic are just a few words I'd use to describe this.

Good God What Idiots!
This makes about as much sense as building the damn fence.
I think we need ANOTHER petition and a bunch of phone calls.
These morons need to understand they DO NOT have the right to pollute. I don't care who you work for or how grossly negligent they are!

This reminds me of the stupidity behind the ideology of the "War on Drugs" when in the late '70s or early '80s they, OUR government, in concert with Mexico sprayed marijuana with Paraquat, knowing that it would be harvested and consumed by people.

In Vietnam they sprayed Agent Orange (dioxin) knowing it would poison people and the water. The same rivers that flow into the OCEAN! These idiots have no business making decisions that Ok poisoning the planet, the people or the water!
(banging head on keyboard)

http://opinionsandreasons.blogspot.com/

Yeah great idea lets kill more. Good one.

This gets worse by the second

If successful, the $2.1 million pilot project could later be duplicated along as many as 130 miles of river in the patrol’s Laredo Sector, as well as other parts of the U.S.-Mexico border.

a cool1/4 billion dollars to poison ourselves can I have the name of this humanitarian agent orange

tards.

are they using agent Orange?

yes I wrote before reading the article

$2.1 million to clear 1.1 mile, why not pay the Mexicans trying to come over just for a pay check ?for $2.1 million they will clear 100 miles

No we would rather risk our children's lives with Chemical Agents than feed Mexican children legitimately,SAD

Poison that close to a major water system...awesome idea you fucking retards.

This is insane, but perfectly in line with the corporate bottom-line. Yesterday, I read the fine city nearest me proudly announced that they had stopped spraying herbicides in the children's parks here. Now that we've retired the slogan "War on Terror" we could own up to the real war we're waging: "The War on Nature"

i just hope this doesnt interrupt my herbal supply cuz then i'd be real pissed:-#..naa but why couldnt they figure out a natural way?fuck the feds and all the rest who oppress in the name of freedom.

namaste

Why buy chemicals when we could put people to work? Once again corporate America wins. What will they say if they are wrong and it harms animals and the environment? OOps, my bad?

Enough already. How many chemical disasters do we have to see to know, chemicals are dangerous.

Whats wrong with doing it by hand, could even get people some paid work.

No good can come from conflicting with nature, as they plan to do here.

I agree with Alex this is a terrible idea.

I looked a little further and found that the chemical they are planning to use is Imazapyr. see; full article http://www.kdbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=10062110

Imazapyr fact sheet can be found here:

http://environmentalcommons.org/cetos/criticalhabitat/imazapyr.pdf

I noted this from the fact sheet:

"In soils, imazapyr is persistent. The EPA reports that the half-life of imazapyr is 17 months. If applied to soil, imazapyr is expected to have very high mobility and thus is likely to contaminate water. Studies have detected imazapyr in surface as well as groundwater. If released into water or if the chemical moves through soils and finds its way to water, imazapyr is not expected to adsorb to suspended solids and sediment based upon the adsorption coefficient. Studies on the effects of imazapyr to macroinvertebrate communities did not yield effects.This chemical is not expected to have impacts to salmon species"

The part that concerns me is:

If applied to soil, imazapyr is expected to have very high mobility and thus is likely to contaminate water.

yeah... this is a terrible idea