The war against Glyphosate (European politics in part, world environment at risk)

[hobbit.]

On May 18th a vote will take place on the relicencing of Glyphosate by MEPs, Glyphosate is the main ingredient in "Round Up" weed killer, sold in chain stores, super markets, garden centres and sprayed by Farmers AND local councils and landowners all over.

In March 2015 the IARC, the international Agency for research on cancer, classified Glyphosate as being "probably Carcinogenic to Humans" (probably causes cancer.) The IARC is part of the World Health Organisation.

Traces of Glyphosate are found in all manner of food stuffs and worryingly in urine samples at levels of anywhere between 5% and 20% above the safe legal limit for drinking water in Europe.

MEPs recently voted to restrict the use of Glyphosate, in parks and playgrounds, and in certain agricultural uses. But that is not binding until the licencing vote on May 18th

this means that the vote in brussels on 18th May on the relicencing of Glyphosate is one of the most important ever.

Waitrose have anounced that they will stop selling Glyphosate (Round Up ) after a petition believed to have been signed by over 90,000 people called for that.

Brighton council are looking to stop its use from next year (should it not be relicenced this year though they like all councils will have to stop immeadiatly)

If you have concerns about Glyphosate could you contact your local council (councillor or officers)and ask them to stop spraying probable carcinogens in parks and streets.

Could you ask your MP to ask parliament to ban the use of Glyphosate in parks, gardens, farms and on streets.

Could you ask your MEP to support the resistance to the proposal to refuse to relicence Glyphosate on 18th May.

Councillors, MPs and MEPs contact details can be found by entering your postcode into this site -
https://www.writetothem.com

also there is a petetion online at
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Members_of_the_european_parliament_oppose_the_relicencing_of_Glyphosate_herbicides_in_Europe/

 

[hobbit.]

IS Glyphosate safe? who knows?

Certainly quaker oats hope it is since they now face costly legal action un USA.

ALDI - cost cutting European supermarket - dont actually sell Glyphosate in Germayt , they do elsewhere though, and many EU countries cite germany as being Glyphosate friendly....

 

[CharlieB4]

On May 18th a vote will take place on the relicencing of Glyphosate by MEPs, Glyphosate is the main ingredient in "Round Up" weed killer, sold in chain stores, super markets, garden centres and sprayed by Farmers AND local councils and landowners all over.

In March 2015 the IARC, the international Agency for research on cancer, classified Glyphosate as being "probably Carcinogenic to Humans" (probably causes cancer.) The IARC is part of the World Health Organisation.

Traces of Glyphosate are found in all manner of food stuffs and worryingly in urine samples at levels of anywhere between 5% and 20% above the safe legal limit for drinking water in Europe.

MEPs recently voted to restrict the use of Glyphosate, in parks and playgrounds, and in certain agricultural uses. But that is not binding until the licencing vote on May 18th

this means that the vote in brussels on 18th May on the relicencing of Glyphosate is one of the most important ever.

Waitrose have anounced that they will stop selling Glyphosate (Round Up ) after a petition believed to have been signed by over 90,000 people called for that.

Brighton council are looking to stop its use from next year (should it not be relicenced this year though they like all councils will have to stop immeadiatly)

If you have concerns about Glyphosate could you contact your local council (councillor or officers)and ask them to stop spraying probable carcinogens in parks and streets.

Could you ask your MP to ask parliament to ban the use of Glyphosate in parks, gardens, farms and on streets.

Could you ask your MEP to support the resistance to the proposal to refuse to relicence Glyphosate on 18th May.

Councillors, MPs and MEPs contact details can be found by entering your postcode into this site -
https://www.writetothem.com

also there is a petetion online at
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Members_of_the_european_parliament_oppose_the_relicencing_of_Glyphosate_herbicides_in_Europe/

The IARC also lists coffee as a substance "Possibly carcinogenic to humans."

 

[domroger]

The IARC also lists coffee as a substance "Possibly carcinogenic to humans."

You have a choice with coffee .
What if it is as bad for you as DDT was ?

 

[hobbit.]

The IARC also lists coffee as a substance "Possibly carcinogenic to humans."

as Domroger says, you have a choice with coffee.

with round up you dont. round up ready soya, cotton, wheat etc is increasingly used in food.

walk down a street sprayed with round up, or visit a park or take your kids to a playground, if its sprayed with a probable carrcinogen where is your choice?

the coffee comparision is, imho also flawed.

tobacco is also a probable carcinogen - most people agree with that comment, (philip morris didnt for a number of years though) in most places it is legal to buy tobaco products and to smoke them. in UK though whilst legal to buy and use tobacco, it is illegal to smoke in a motorcar if a person under 18 is in the vehicle. however its is perfectly legal to spray around them with round up.

keep it simple, just ban glyphosate.

 

[Iceprincess12]

First dishwashing detergent, now pesticides. What happened to free will?

People can smoke, kill others with it second hand, drink themselves to death, get high if they want, but I can't get my dishes spotless or spray Round-up so the weeds stop choking my Rhododendrons-I have 5 and they are not kinky like that.

Idiots don't make the world safer. They just make it necessary for companies to put warning labels on stupid things like curling irons so you will stop shoving it where it doesn't belong.

(Exasperated rant over)

 

[hobbit.]

First dishwashing detergent, now pesticides. What happened to free will?

People can smoke, kill others with it second hand, drink themselves to death, get high if they want, but I can't get my dishes spotless or spray Round-up so the weeds stop choking my Rhododendrons-I have 5 and they are not kinky like that.

Idiots don't make the world safer. They just make it necessary for companies to put warning labels on stupid things like curling irons so you will stop shoving it where it doesn't belong.

(Exasperated rant over)

such as in the food chain.

Maybe monsanto could patent the first round-up ready human!!

 

[hobbit.]

try this one for freedom of choice,

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/25/organic-panty-liners-recalled-after-traces-of-weedkiller-found

 

[DeYaKen]

First dishwashing detergent, now pesticides. What happened to free will?

People can smoke, kill others with it second hand, drink themselves to death, get high if they want, but I can't get my dishes spotless or spray Round-up so the weeds stop choking my Rhododendrons-I have 5 and they are not kinky like that.

Idiots don't make the world safer. They just make it necessary for companies to put warning labels on stupid things like curling irons so you will stop shoving it where it doesn't belong.

(Exasperated rant over)

First off NOTHING will choke your Rhododendrons. They are an invasive species and choke everything else. They are regarded as a natural pest in European Forests and are ripped out wherever they appear.

Second, how does poisoning unsuspecting members of the public differ from shooting random strangers in the back? Is that a freedom of choice you would support?

 

[Iceprincess12]

First off NOTHING will choke your Rhododendrons. They are an invasive species and choke everything else. They are regarded as a natural pest in European Forests and are ripped out wherever they appear.

Second, how does poisoning unsuspecting members of the public differ from shooting random strangers in the back? Is that a freedom of choice you would support?

Hmm, since European forests don't like them, I guess that means...oh ya, nothing.

You're right! We need to poison the suspecting members of the public, they are expecting it anyway. I do support choice and free will, I'm American

My choice now is to not waste more time on inflamed hemorrhoids such as yourself. Your "choice" example is a reflection of your mindset and I have very little patience for stupidity masquerading as indignation. The rare occasions when I make a serious comment in this thread, the issues are important to me.

You have the choice to make any comment you want, I would never deny you that. I have the choice to not engage. Troll me later sunshine!

 

[CharlieB4]

as Domroger says, you have a choice with coffee.

with round up you dont. round up ready soya, cotton, wheat etc is increasingly used in food.

walk down a street sprayed with round up, or visit a park or take your kids to a playground, if its sprayed with a probable carrcinogen where is your choice?

the coffee comparision is, imho also flawed.

tobacco is also a probable carcinogen - most people agree with that comment, (philip morris didnt for a number of years though) in most places it is legal to buy tobaco products and to smoke them. in UK though whilst legal to buy and use tobacco, it is illegal to smoke in a motorcar if a person under 18 is in the vehicle. however its is perfectly legal to spray around them with round up.

keep it simple, just ban glyphosate.

My point about the IARC was they have a list as long as your arm of 'carcinogens'. If you were to avoid them all then you best head to a monastery.

 

[DeYaKen]

Hmm, since European forests don't like them, I guess that means...oh ya, nothing.

You're right! We need to poison the suspecting members of the public, they are expecting it anyway. I do support choice and free will, I'm American

My choice now is to not waste more time on inflamed hemorrhoids such as yourself. Your "choice" example is a reflection of your mindset and I have very little patience for stupidity masquerading as indignation. The rare occasions when I make a serious comment in this thread, the issues are important to me.

You have the choice to make any comment you want, I would never deny you that. I have the choice to not engage. Troll me later sunshine!

I merely used the same inflamed language as you did in your rant. Free will is not free will if you are not informed. Until all products made with food that has been exposed to Glyphosphates are clearly labelled as such, there is no free will. Our current choice is to eat and poison ourselves or not eat and die of starvation. If that's the sort of choice America supports, I'm glad I don't live there.

I've never trolled anyone. It is such a waste of time.

 

[CharlieB4]

I merely used the same inflamed language as you did in your rant. Free will is not free will if you are not informed. Until all products made with food that has been exposed to Glyphosphates are clearly labelled as such, there is no free will. Our current choice is to eat and poison ourselves or not eat and die of starvation. If that's the sort of choice America supports, I'm glad I don't live there.

I've never trolled anyone. It is such a waste of time.

"Our current choice is to eat and poison ourselves or not eat and die of starvation."

There has been a very large trial of genetically modified foods foods treated with glyphosate. It's been ongoing for more than thirty years and at present the average life expectancy of Americans and Canadians just keeps going up.

Don't believe the hype.

 

[DeYaKen]

"Our current choice is to eat and poison ourselves or not eat and die of starvation."

There has been a very large trial of genetically modified foods foods treated with glyphosate. It's been ongoing for more than thirty years and at present the average life expectancy of Americans and Canadians just keeps going up.

Don't believe the hype.

Oh, I don't believe hype, I've lived too long.

Remember Tributyltin was a harmless anti-fouling paint. Then we had to stop eating shell fish because of heavy metal poisoning.

Remember it was perfectly safe to feed cattle ground up cows. Then they developed Mad Cow disease.

Nevertheless, it was still safe to eat Beef because the disease couldn't make the leap across species. Until we discovered that it had and people died horrible deaths from variant CJD

Remember that Asbestos was the wonder mineral that was going to revolutionise the construction industry. Thousands of people died because long after they found out how dangerous it was governments colluded with industry to keep it secret until industry could find alternatives.

The tobacco industry is still telling us not to believe the hype and pretending that the deaths are not connected to their product.

Wherever there is a buck to be made, the safety of the people will always be a secondary consideration. The dangers will always be glossed over by the industry hype.

 

[hobbit.]

My point about the IARC was they have a list as long as your arm of 'carcinogens'. If you were to avoid them all then you best head to a monastery.

but can you say any of them are wrongly on that list?

which then brings up the point of freedom of choice and how many of them can you avoid?

glyphosate in drinking water and basic food stuffs make that a game changer.

 

[hobbit.]

A partial result today, Europe failed to relicence Glyphosate, its current licence runs out in June.


http://www.wsj.com/articles/health-concerns-delay-eu-vote-on-monsantos-roundup-weedkiller-1463664055.
By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER and JACOB BUNGE
Updated May 19, 2016 9:42 a.m. ET


European Union countries on Thursday again delayed a vote on whether to renew the sales authorization of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto Co.’s popular weedkiller Roundup, amid conflicting scientific assessments on whether the substance causes cancer in humans.

“Since it was obvious that no qualified majority would have been reached, a vote was not held,” said a spokeswoman for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm. The commission had proposed to reauthorize glyphosate for nine years once its current sales license runs out on June 30.

The spokeswoman said the commission would now reflect on how to react to the outcome of two-day discussions among experts from EU countries. After a failure to achieve the necessary majority in favor of a renewal at an earlier meeting in March, the commission had already reduced the proposed authorization period to nine from 15 years.

The French government said earlier this month that it was still opposed to a reauthorization of glyphosate, while Germany said it would abstain from a vote. Italy and several other countries have also come out against a renewal of the sales license in recent months.

“If no decision is taken before June 30, glyphosate will be no longer authorized in the EU and member states will have to withdraw authorizations for all glyphosate-based products,” the commission spokeswoman said. That would mean that stores have six months to sell off remaining stocks. After that, users already in possession of glyphosate would have as much as a year to use up or dispose of their remaining products. National governments have the right to shorten these phaseout periods.

Glyphosate is one of the most-widely used weedkillers in the EU and a key revenue generator for Monsanto.

But the bloc’s reauthorization has become contentious after the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said in spring last year that glyphosate “probably” has the potential to cause cancer in humans—a claim disputed by other public-health agencies, including a study produced for the European Food Safety Authority, EFSA.

On Monday, an international expert group under the auspices of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Program and the WHO concluded that “glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet.”

Health and safety concerns persist nevertheless. “Safety first, health first. I am against authorizing this product until these doubts have been entirely ruled out,” Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s vice chancellor and head of the center-left Social Democratic Party, said Tuesday. The SPD’s center-right coalition partners, which control the agriculture ministry, are backing a reauthorization, which forced Germany to abstain in Thursday’s vote.

Glyphosate has also come under scrutiny in the U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates pesticides, has been reviewing glyphosate as part of a reregistration process that happens every 15 years. The agency for decades has deemed glyphosate safe for people and animals when it is used according to directions on labels.

In early May, the EPA posted new research rebutting the IARC’s finding, with the EPA’s own Cancer Assessment Review Committee finding “no association” between the herbicide and most cancers and “conflicting evidence” when it comes to non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Monsanto and agricultural groups quickly trumpeted the EPA’s finding, but the U.S. agency within hours took down the report, saying the full cancer review isn’t yet complete and that the agency also aims to analyze research of other governments and the U.S. Health and Human Services Department before releasing the full assessment by the end of this year.

That move irked some in the agricultural industry and prompted inquiries from two U.S. congressional committees, concerned over the EPA’s handling of the glyphosate review.

Monsanto estimates Europe and Africa to represent the company’s second-largest market by sales, generating about 12.2% of the company’s $15 billion in fiscal 2015 revenue. Monsanto doesn’t break out glyphosate sales by country, but the weedkiller is one of Europe’s most used. It ranked as the top pesticide for arable crops in the U.K., according to the country’s environmental department, and applied to 39% of Germany’s total arable area, according to research by German academics.

The IARC’s finding drew fresh opposition to glyphosate around the world, and produced other ripple effects for Monsanto, among the pesticide’s top global sellers. After the IARC classification of glyphosate, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment moved to list it as a cancer-causing chemical, which would require labels or signs to alert farmers and consumers. Monsanto in January sued to stop the move, saying it contradicted decades of research backing glyphosate’s safety.

Write to Gabriele Steinhauser at gabriele.steinhauser@wsj.com

 

[phrodeau]

My point about the IARC was they have a list as long as your arm of 'carcinogens'. If you were to avoid them all then you best head to a monastery.

I visited a monastery. I never saw so much exposed lead in my life.

 

[subgreen]

Would Bayer change the course of Monsanto?

 

[hobbit.]

Would Bayer change the course of Monsanto?

IMHO no. but it might make harder for people to get compensation from whatever remained of monsanto

 

[hobbit.]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...or-monsanto-faces-mega-pr-backlash-in-germany

more detail on the BAyer angle.

 

[hobbit.]

stop glyphosate being relicensed
https://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_glyphosate_loc_glb/?txsRhcb

 

[CharlieB4]

New report

A joint report from World Health Organization and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has found glyphosate is unlikely to create a cancer risk to humans exposed to crops treated with the product.

 

[hobbit.]

A joint report from World Health Organization and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has found glyphosate is unlikely to create a cancer risk to humans exposed to crops treated with the product.

do you have a pont here?

 

[CharlieB4]

do you have a pont here?

Same point , I assume you meant point, you made earlier when you stated the glyphosate had been declared a likely carcinogen.

 

[hobbit.]

Same point , I assume you meant point, you made earlier when you stated the glyphosate had been declared a likely carcinogen.

good typo spot dude. thanks for keeping this thread open.

looks like monsanto are going down the pan and taking their endocrine disruptor with them.