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58 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
58 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
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ROUNDUP -- THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR WEED KILLER
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Eduardo Neaves was a healthy and happy twelve-year-old, the son
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of migrant farm workers. But after swimming in a canal in Coral
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Gables, Florida, he became a "total quadriplegic." The canal was
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contaminated with four times the recommended-use level of Roundup, a
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herbicide produced by The Monsanto Company. Toxicologists were not
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surprised by the central nervous system damage that still afflicts the
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boy five years after the incident but were unable to prove a
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connection between Roundup and the paralysis in court.
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But whether Roundup can cause damage to the central nervous
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system may never be known. Although Monsanto's original neurotixicity
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studies were ruled invalid by the EPA because of "extensive gaps in
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the raw data supporting study findings and conclusions," there is no
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requirement that a new study be made. However, Roundup is far more
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dangerous than the public has been led to believe. Records of
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pesticide poisoning compiled over the last five years by California's
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Department of Agriculture show that among some 200 pesticides widely
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used in the state, Roundup has been linked to the greatest numbers of
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eye, skin, and internal injuries. The EPA's own Pesticide Incident
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Monitoring System (which was dissolved by the Reagan administration)
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recorded more than 100 cases of Roundup poisoning in 1980. Despite its
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own findings, the EPA concluded the weed killer is "not a primary skin
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irritant, and is only minimally irritating to the eye." That judgement
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was based solely on data provided by Monsanto.
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Dr. Ruth Shearer, a genetic toxicologist, charged that Monsanto's
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claims about the safety of the product are dishonest because they are
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based on phony studies on cancer and birth defects performed by the
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now defunct Industrial Bio-Test lab (IBT). Once the nation's leading
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generator of health effects studies for companies whose chemical
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products require government approval, IBT was found to have conducted
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shoddy tests and falsified results. Monsanto was IBT's biggest
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customer, according to court documents, and was reported to be one of
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four chemical companies that knew of IBT's fraudulent testing
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practices. One IBT executive, Paul L. Wright, was employed by Monsanto
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before and after his tenure at the testing lab. It was during
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Wright's stay at IBT that the lab performed tests involving Roundup's
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connection to mutation in mice and tumors in rabbits. Wright was
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convicted of fraudulent testing in 1983. (The IBT story was the top
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"censored" story of 1982.) Despite the known hazards, the danger is
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compounded by the variety of new uses for which the herbicide is being
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promoted. It is applied to citrus and grape groves in California,
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soybeans in the Middle West, Christmas trees in Maine, coffee beans in
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Brazil, as well as crops grown for vitamins and spices, house plants,
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and government forests in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, Roundup
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is the world's most popular brand-name herbicide. It is easily
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Monsanto's most important product, the first herbicide to reach annual
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sales of $1 billion. It is marketed in 120 countries and accounts for
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more than half of Monsanto's foreign sales.
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Given Roundup's fraudulent approval; its significant health and
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environmental hazards; and that it is the most widely used brand-name
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herbicide in the world, the issue deserves significant media
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attention. At the very least, Monsanto should be required to redo the
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studies that are now known to be invalid.
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SOURCE: THE PROGRESSIVE, July 1987, "Weed Killer," by Anthony L.
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Kimery, pp 20-21.
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