Tag: Glyphosate

Stop unecessary pesticide use in Bristol parks and streets

Living in the “Green Capital”, Bristolians really need to sort this out and move with the times

SPRAYING-MONSANTO-GLYPHOSATE banner image
STOP SPRAYING MONSANTO GLYPHOSATES ON BRISTOL’S STREETS AND PARKS!
SIGN THE PETITION!

TO: BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL & GEORGE FERGUSON, MAYOR OF BRISTOL

Please ban the spraying of Monsanto’s Roundup and other glyphosate herbicides on the streets and parks of Bristol.

Why is this important?

Bristol Council currently uses four glyphosate herbicides including Monsanto’s Roundup on our streets and parks. This is despite the fact that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified glyphosate as likely to cause cancer in humans. The WHO finding sits alongside a wealth of existing evidence that raises alarming questions marks over the long term safety of exposure to glyphosate both on its own and in combination with other chemicals found in formulas such as Roundup.

The use of glyphosates has already been banned or restricted in 8 countries. It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share this city with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not.

If Bristol is to have any credentials as the current European Green Capital, it must exercise the precautionary principle and follow the example of cities such as Chicago, Paris and Rotterdam by banning this spraying in public places.

This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other’s health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this city, of course including our beloved bees.

For more information see this article from The Bristol Cable.

There are viable safe alternatives to glyphosates. The Netherlands have outright banned glyphosates in public spaces and are using a hot water treatment instead. A hot water and foam method is also available in the UK and Bristol Council is already aware that this can be a more effective alternative than hot water on its own. Glyphosates are the cheapest option but we must send the message loud and clear that value is not just about price and that the health and safety issues around glyphosate render its ‘cheap and easy’ status irrelevant. Other effective methods may cost more in cash terms but represent far better value to local residents. Using a formula such as Roundup in our public spaces is simply unacceptable no matter how cheap and quick it makes the task of urban weed management.

Have your say and SIGN the petition!

2017 Update

Read Forget the vinegar, the real reek is inaction on glyphosates, thebristolcable, 31st January, 2017.

Stop Glyphosate

No more weed killer in our bodies

Stop-Glyphosate
Did you know your food is likely being sprayed with a weed killer that is classified as probably causing cancer by the World Health Organisation? This toxic chemical called glyphosate is found in nearly every second person’s urine. And it was found in breast milk too. It might well already be present in your body.
SIGN THE PETITION NOW to stop it!

Petition

No more weed killer in our bodies. Decline the renewal of glyphosate, a poison commonly used in pesticides like Monsanto’s Roundup. Independent experts of the WHO classified it as a probable cause of cancer. We do not want this poisonous chemical anywhere near our parks, our homes, or our food.

We don’t want our neighbourhoods sprayed with cancer-inducing poison. We don’t want our fruits and vegetables to come from farmers who use glyphosate-based weed-killer.

Our national Governments and the European Commission needs to know we won’t stand by. Please share this action with friends and family.

SIGN THE PETITION NOW to stop Glyphosate!

Glyphosate: call to the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety

Glyphosate – Need for a robust and credible scientific assessment of carcinogenicity

European NGOs joined forces and sent a letter to the Health Commissioner Andriukaitis last Friday asking for an immediate ban of glyphosate.; need for a robust and credible scientific assessment of carcinogenicity.

Organisations across ‪‎Europe‬ have called on the European Commission to adopt the precautionary principle and ban the use of ‪‎glyphosate‬ due to its potential to cause ‪‎cancer‬.

The Commission has a responsibility to protect its citizens from the potential harm that pesticides can cause and given the scientific lack of consensus that glyphosate is not harmful and the recent WHO classification of glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen it is in the interests of the citizens of Europe that its use be stopped with immediate effect.

Read the letter which has been sent to the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety: Glyphosate – Need for a robust and credible scientific assessment of carcinogenicity, pan-europe PDF. 29 October 2015.

Read UK charity call for partial glyphosate ban and more research on its carcinogenicity.

UK charity call for partial glyphosate ban and more research on its carcinogenicity

NGOs call for partial glyphosate ban, 2015

Glyphosate-use
This post content is published by CHEM Trust, Protecting people and the environment from harmful hormone/endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) at the UK, EU and international level.

Glyphosate: The WHO says it’s probably carcinogenic, but what about the EU?

In March, the World Health Organisation classified the widely-used herbicide Glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. CHEM Trust has joined with over 45 organisations to send a letter to EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, urging him to take precautionary action on the use of glyphosate, given these ongoing discussions regarding its carcinogenic properties.

In the letter we express our concern about an assessment for the renewal of glyphosate’s EU authorisation which has been produced by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), which has been criticised for downplaying positive findings of carcinogenicity. The BfR report aims to form the basis for a re-approval of glyphosate in Europe, as the current authorization expires this year and has recently been extended to June 2016. However, EU pesticide law states that pesticide active substances which are classified as carcinogenic under EU law should not be approved for use.

The letter calls on the Health Commissioner to:

  • Ask the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to carry out a thorough analysis of glyphosate’s carcinogenicity and other relevant endpoints as part of its forthcoming assessment of the harmonised classification and labelling of this substance;
  • Ensure that the peer review of the BfR report by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is scientifically robust and credible, incorporating the outcome of the harmonised classification and labelling;
  • Immediately impose a ban on the use of glyphosate in applications where it results in the greatest public and worker exposure, either directly or through residues in food.

Ninja Reineke, Senior Policy Adviser to CHEM Trust, said:

“Given our widespread exposure to glyphosate, the WHO’s classification of glyphosate as probable carcinogen is highly concerning. Several shops have already started taking products with glyphosate from their shelves. When will the Commission get active and take precautionary measures to protect our health?”

Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides associated to genetically modified foods

Toxic pesticides from GM food crops found in unborn babies

Pesticides-associated-to-genetically modified foods image
Toxic pesticides which are implanted into genetically modified food crops have lodged in the blood of pregnant women and their unborn babies, 2011 research showed. The research suggested the chemicals were entering the body through eating meat, milk and eggs from farm livestock which have been fed GM corn. The findings appeared to contradict the GM industry’s long-standing claim that any potentially harmful chemicals added to crops would pass safely through the body.

2011 Study Abstract

Pesticides associated to genetically modified foods (PAGMF), are engineered to tolerate herbicides such as glyphosate (GLYP) and gluphosinate (GLUF) or insecticides such as the bacterial toxin bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between maternal and fetal exposure, and to determine exposure levels of GLYP and its metabolite aminomethyl phosphoric acid (AMPA), GLUF and its metabolite 3-methylphosphinicopropionic acid (3-MPPA) and Cry1Ab protein (a Bt toxin) in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada. Blood of thirty pregnant women (PW) and thirty-nine nonpregnant women (NPW) were studied. Serum GLYP and GLUF were detected in NPW and not detected in PW. Serum 3-MPPA and CryAb1 toxin were detected in PW, their fetuses and NPW. This is the first study to reveal the presence of circulating PAGMF in women with and without pregnancy, paving the way for a new field in reproductive toxicology including nutrition and utero-placental toxicities.

More information
  • Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides associated to genetically modified foods in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada, NCBI PMID: 21338670, 2011 May.
    Full study PDF.
  • GM food toxins found in the blood of 93% of unborn babies, MailOnline, 20 May 2011

California’s Environmental Protection Agency to Put Four Pesticides on Cancer List

Carcinogenicity of tetrachlorvinphos, parathion, malathion, diazinon, and glyphosate

Glyphosate-spraying image
Monsanto developed the herbicide glyphosate in the 1970s and currently sells the weed killer under the trade name Roundup. However, the company’s patent on the chemical has long since expired, and it is now widely used in numerous products produced by dozens of pesticide companies, including Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience and many others.

California’s impending decision to place on its list of carcinogenic chemicals four widely used pesticides — TETRACHLORVINPHOS, PARATHION, MALATHION and GLYPHOSATE, the most widely used pesticide in the country – has uncertain ramifications for the state’s agriculture industry.

If California’s Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) places the four pesticides on its list, any knowing discharges of the chemicals into drinking water would become illegal.
Also, farmers, pest control companies and any other businesses that want to use the pesticides would first have to provide “clear and reasonable warnings” to the public, according to state law.

Continue reading California to Put Four Pesticides on Cancer List on Bloomberg,
The Bureau of National Affair, Sept. 8 2015.

More Information
  • NOTICE OF INTENT TO LIST CHEMICALS BY THE LABOR CODE MECHANISM: TETRACHLORVINPHOS, PARATHION, MALATHION, GLYPHOSATE, oehha, Proposition 65, Sept. 4 2015.
  • Carcinogenicity of tetrachlorvinphos, parathion, malathion, diazinon, and glyphosate, thelancet, Volume 16, No. 5, p490–491, May 2015.

Glyphosate-based herbicides link to kidney, liver damage at ultra-low doses

More evidence of Roundup’s link to kidney, liver damage

roundup image
Long-term exposure to tiny amounts of Roundup—thousands of times lower than what is permitted in U.S. drinking water—may lead to serious problems in the liver and kidneys, according to a new study.

2015 Study Abstract

Background
Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) are the major pesticides used worldwide. Converging evidence suggests that GBH, such as Roundup, pose a particular health risk to liver and kidneys although low environmentally relevant doses have not been examined. To address this issue, a 2-year study in rats administering 0.1 ppb Roundup (50 ng/L glyphosate equivalent) via drinking water (giving a daily intake of 4 ng/kg bw/day of glyphosate) was conducted. A marked increased incidence of anatomorphological and blood/urine biochemical changes was indicative of liver and kidney structure and functional pathology. In order to confirm these findings we have conducted a transcriptome microarray analysis of the liver and kidneys from these same animals.

Results
The expression of 4224 and 4447 transcript clusters (a group of probes corresponding to a known or putative gene) were found to be altered respectively in liver and kidney (p < 0.01, q < 0.08). Changes in gene expression varied from −3.5 to 3.7 fold in liver and from −4.3 to 5.3 in kidneys. Among the 1319 transcript clusters whose expression was altered in both tissues, ontological enrichment in 3 functional categories among 868 genes were found. First, genes involved in mRNA splicing and small nucleolar RNA were mostly upregulated, suggesting disruption of normal spliceosome activity. Electron microscopic analysis of hepatocytes confirmed nucleolar structural disruption. Second, genes controlling chromatin structure (especially histone-lysine N-methyltransferases) were mostly upregulated. Third, genes related to respiratory chain complex I and the tricarboxylic acid cycle were mostly downregulated. Pathway analysis suggests a modulation of the mTOR and phosphatidylinositol signalling pathways. Gene disturbances associated with the chronic administration of ultra-low dose Roundup reflect a liver and kidney lipotoxic condition and increased cellular growth that may be linked with regeneration in response to toxic effects causing damage to tissues. Observed alterations in gene expression were consistent with fibrosis, necrosis, phospholipidosis, mitochondrial membrane dysfunction and ischemia, which correlate with and thus confirm observations of pathology made at an anatomical, histological and biochemical level.

Conclusion
Our results suggest that chronic exposure to a GBH in an established laboratory animal toxicity model system at an ultra-low, environmental dose can result in liver and kidney damage with potential significant health implications for animal and human populations.

Sources and More Information
  • More evidence of Roundup’s link to kidney, liver damage, environmentalhealthnews, August 28, 2015.
  • Transcriptome profile analysis reflects rat liver and kidney damage following chronic ultra-low dose Roundup exposure, BioMed Central Ltd, Environmental Health, 2015, 14:70 doi:10.1186/s12940-015-0056-1.