El Salvador Bans Glyphosate Use
B. McPherson
Are you ready for Roundup in your baby's food?
In the fight to keep GM crops from polluting their fields
legislators in El Salvador have banned the chemicals used on them, taking any
advantage in buying GM seeds away. In total, 53 agricultural chemicals have
been banned with glyphosate, paraquat and endosulfan topping the list.
Glyphosate was first developed as the herbicide Roundup, an
effective killer of broad leaf plants. Monsanto developed a genetically
engineered corn that wouldn’t die when sprayed with the chemical – Roundup
Ready corn. The GM corn has been widely planted in the US as well as soybeans,
canola and sugar beets, all resistant to
glyphosate.
The US has found over the years that superweeds that won’t
die have evolved in many areas. Canada is starting to recognize the presence of
superweeds as well. While that is troubling, questions have been asked about
the widespread use of glyphosate and the health of people who ingest trace
amounts in their food. The public has been assured on many occasions that the
GM food is perfectly safe. The resistance of producers to label their products
as genetically altered has created a vast, uncontrolled experiment with the
public’s health. No one knows for sure that they have been harmed because no
one knows for sure if they have been eating biotech foods.
Some countries have dealt with the problem by banning the
growing of GM crops. In spite of that, they must constantly be alert to the
smuggling of biotech seeds and the pollution of normal crops. The recent
discovery of GM wheat grown in the US where it is banned, is but one example of
the problem of stealth planting. This last week in British Columbia, Canada,
politicians attending the annual Union of BC Municipalities voted 85% in favour
of banning GM seeds, plants and animals from the province and urging the
Provincial Government to institute legislation to do so.
The El Salvador move is not without opposition. The Trade
Association called CropLife speaks for the biotech industry and is warning of
dire crop failures if their products are not used. The El Salvador Associationof Coffee Producers is calling for an
extension of the use of the pesticide endosulfan, a hormone disruptor.
Independent scientific research is accumulating evidence of
harm caused by glyphosate, paraquat and endosulfan. Canada has banned the use
of the hormone disruptor, endosulfan. Perhaps it’s time to ban those other two
bad boys.
Further Reading:
Toxicity of glyphosate herbicide: Science Direct
Paraquat: Center for Disease Control
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