Now glyphosate (RoundUp) found in peoples' urine

I agree. Last summer I was walking up one of the streets in my town. I saw a woman spraying it on the weeds in the cracks in the sidewalk in front of her house (not hard to just have pulled them out.) She was doing this while her baby was sitting in a walker right next to her, no protection. I just had to walk over to her and talk to her about it. She told me she didn't know because they advertise it as safe and said she wouldn't use it again. I hope she didn't.

Me too. When Monsanto goes belly up I'm asking them to cut me a check. Good post, thank you.

Here is some good information regarding weed control as stated in a comment I ran across today. Her name is Dr E. Ann Clark here is her link http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/research/homepages/eclark/ "1. Herbicides and hoes are not the only ways to deal with weeds. It is not a linear, my way or the highway, issue.
2. Weeds - or pests in general - are a symptom of a dysfunctional production system. Whether herbicides or hoes, you are fixing a symptom rather than dealing with the cause. Fixing symptoms advantages exactly one party - the one selling the fix. Redressing the cause(s) advantages everyone except the one selling the fix. If you focus on fixing the symptom, without redressing the cause, then the symptom will reoccur reliably and predictably - obliging you to invest scarce resources (your labor, for example) in the fix. Does this make sense?
3. What causes weeds? Many answers, but recognize first that continuous annual cropping is an affront, a vehicle for opening weed niches. How long do you see bare soil in Nature? About a nanosecond, following a forest fire, tornado, or landslide, before the seed bank, seed rain, or laterally encroaching vegetation - all vehicles that have evolved to keep the ground covered - come into play. The best weed control vehicle on the planet is perennial forages, which when inserted into annual crop rotations exert long-lasting benefits on weed suppression.
4. Bare soil is an open niche, particularly for windblown seed but also for germination from the soil seed bank. Keeping the soil covered yeararound, through strategically sown cover crops, literally prevents weed germination by altering the balance of red/far-red radiation that cues phytochrome.
5. Simple crop rotations - like corn/soy - offer an open invitation; growing them repetitively, as is the norm, selects for particular weed populations that then become problematic.
6. These points and others are well known and well documented in the scientific literature, offering the alternative approaches to weed management which are commercially feasible - as shown by organic farmers.
7. Huber's expertise and lengthy scientific record do not warrant your derision. Check out an entire issue of the European Journal of Agronomy (2009) Volume 31(3) which consists of a series of review papers documenting the effect of glyphosate and the RR trait on soil microbes. I'll attach one by Kremer, a USDA scientist, to make the point that the evidence has now accumulated to the point of fueling review papers on the harms caused by the Monsanto approach which you laud in your write-up. Ann" (me again) this comment was made Jan 13th of 2012, so it is pretty current. I don't see her "attachment" as this was a cut and paste in forum that I ran across, maybe it is on her site, or she would join us in this conversation. She would be good one to interview Jan, seems she is now retired. Thanks!

I know of her. She was coming out against GMOs a few years ago. This is good information. Seeing your farm as one organism that is interconnected (biodynamics) to nature is really the best way to go. Thank you.

In Australia at least, our agricultural departments are the play things of companies like Monsanto. Ending this dangerous and very corrupt alliance would greatly benefit humanity, but it is a very difficult task. When farmers did not want to introduce poisons to their farming practices, it was quickly required under law. I should mention market gardening was quite diverse and pests were a mostly unheard of problem before the introduction of artificial herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers.

Shit 4 minutes and a PR spokesperson representing large multinational interests is yet to appear. I better go check my mailbox. - nothing they must still be wondering how to combat the reality of truth.

Are you familiar with the Steve Marsh trial there? He was a certified organic farmer who lost his livelihood due to Monsanto's transgenic pollution drifitng onto his certified crop and is suing them. There are also reports of GM wheat trials going on and CSIRO being in bed with them as well on this. This is just so pervasive and in our faces. We have to fight back. If they get wheat, there goes our agriculture for sure.

As an eco farmer,and being on the farm for over 60 years,I know about weeds.I will address only weeds, although the same applies for insects.I have always seen crop rotation.Weeds will always be present,it is a fact of life in cropping soils,even with no-till mulch systems,there will be some weeds.Soil balance,and the best soil mineral ratios are the key to reduce weed populations coupled with rotation of sods.I have eco farmed in Pa and Ca.What worked in Pa,; the use of calcium and molasses to inhibit weed germination didn't work in Ca.,still soil testing and eco principles did,I didn't have heavy weed infestations in either state.I am speaking about a corn/alfalfa rotation primarily.The key to weed control is a 65% soluble calcium,plus proper magnesium and other mineral ratios according to Albrect eco principles.Of course,I have never used any herbicides in cropping,I use a weeder after seeding before emergence,then cultivators until the crop is too high,the canopy of the crop does the rest to keep weeds at bay.I will walk the fields with a hoe too,but mainly I rely on a tool bar with rolling crop guards and cultivator sweeps.

In the U.S. probably the best bet is a personal injury lawsuit under a toxic tort theory.

Blame it on the roundup!

It's everywhere now. The air, the water, the rain, the soil, our food. And it has all been going on while we were busy with the distractions put before us. But now that the spraying has become so pervasive because pests and superweeds are thriving, Monsanto along with DOW will just put out another toxic concoction to finish us off. This time the component of Agent Orange, 2-4D. I suspect they knew Round Up would one day become ineffective (if it ever was effective in doing anything but killing all life) but just didn't care.

I know it , only the unfriendly soil microbes survive ... they use it a lot where i live , and the soil is dead thereabouts . I want to move . If i put a plant outside , it immediately gets a deadly fungus ...

No wonder our native plants are facing so much trouble, 90% depend on soil biology to get their nutrients from the soil. High levels of phosphates in fact kill many of our native plants.

It is at crisis levels now. Soil nutrients are being depleted through overuse of these herbicides. We need to get back to basics where we can and scale back and find safer ways to do this elsewhere. It can be done if we truly care about the future, because it is here. But again, politics rears its ugly head in all of this. I don't think there isn't anything that politics doesn't turn to crap. Real people and our biodiversity are being affected by politicians and their egos. It needs to change on all sides now.

And just as an aside: Notice how no Obama supporters come in the threads about this because as much as they deride people for not giving him credit, they don't ever rightfully criticize him. He really didn't do anything regarding Keystone XL btw, the State Dept did, and they only did that because the people were on their a&&es and in reality it only got deflected until after the election for another location. In the case of supporting Monsanto, I find it highly illogical that those who support him can give him a free ride on this. This is too important to put the man first ... But I guess that's politics.

Hi Jan,

I am an Obama supporter and I voted this post up as well as several of your comments because I think it is an important story.

However, I voted the comment I am replying to down because I don't appreciate the attack on Obama supporters, for obvious reasons.

I agree Obama should do more against Monsanto, and a whole host of other issues. I agree Obama is not perfect. Obama is a pragmatist and a centrist. I wish he would move much farther to the left. If I had my way I would have Bernie Sanders in the White House, or somebody even more progressive.

However, I am also a realist, and I know right now Obama is the best we can hope for, and I know that working against Obama, or simply sitting it out, would only help the GOP, which would be far more catastrophic than another 4 years of Obama.

I want you to know that even though I don't often comment on your green posts, I almost always vote them up because they are important, and people need to see them.

Peace

How hard would it have been to find at least one , ONE PERSON who is favorable toward sustainable agriculture, to sit on a critical appointment seat? "First, we spit out our coffee over President Obama’s appointments of former Monsanto goon Michael Taylor as Food Safety [sic] Czar and ‘biotech governor of the year’ Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture. Then we choked on our grits when he made Monsanto lobbyist, Islam Siddiqui, the US Ag Trade Representative. Now, the real food movement has completely lost its appetite with Obama’s nomination of Monsanto defender, Elena Kagan, to the US Supreme Court." http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2010/05/16/obama-s-latest-monsant... Please is there anyone out there we could get in one of these kind of positions who actually cares about the safety and health of all people? I mean, it is pretty obvious what is going on with appointments such as this, right? But really, what happened to ethics and, are we no longer (citizens of the USA) relevant? I mean really relevant in terms of health? I think it's called loosing touch with the real world. Part of this is our fault we have to stop bowing to the status quo and demand better leaders, someone who actually walks the walk. But as usual, I am just a dreamer. Not asleep, but dreaming.

Exactly my point. He promises to do something and then does the complete opposite. Those appointments, most of them at least were up to him and he could have made choices regarding sustainable agriculture, but he went the Monsanto way. That seems to be something some don't want to accept, and it is important and does make a difference to our food system as a whole because that also effects health and biodiversity. Monsanto is absolutely despicable. I just can't see voting for someone who supports them when he has the chance to do what is right for the people. I'm tired of the excuses.

Firstly, it has nothing to do with voting me up but thanks for acknowledging that. And I also didn't attack I made an observation. This is an incredibly important topic and is the epitome of what the 99 % are fighting against. So believe me I'm not sitting it out. But I'm sure not going to vote for the status quo.

It's a pity not all problems can be solved with a gun, fake passport and unlimited travel expenses. I've a quick eye for complete scum of little worth to the human race, but I'm far too compassionate for their spouses and children.

Unfortunately I too have little patience for the workings of politics and can't keep a straight face when I lie through my teeth. I've entertained the idea of politics, but luckily I got to sit back and watch such animals gorge themselves on their cocaine and the food that I served them (no I didn't serve them the coke). I did meet the occasional person of worth in the political maelstrom, but they were greatly outnumbered by what I'd call "shitbags", and no I'm not concerned if they don't want to be my friends.

Public pressure must be forever squarely aimed upon the corporate take over of all food production. Families and those who care about the land should forever have a right to grow healthy and wholesome food by natural means and remain on their farms without being kicked and bullied by vested interests.

You are so right about the bipartisan support of these criminals.

Exactly! There is no way to whitewash this mess.

Exactly, it is like promoting lies as the norm really. Majority of our leaders lie to us to get elected or stay elected and turn around an pander to corporations, who could care less about our well being. I was thinking about it this afternoon, and wondered if that is the way we all want to live? You know, depending on anything, anyone says to be a lie? What a crazy mixed up place this is becoming, because that is what we have become. Integrity, honesty and compassion for our fellow man have been shot to the wind.

It is the only way they thrive.