Monsanto turns the screw on farmers/Roundup hurts babies

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GMW: Monsanto turns the screw on farmers/Roundup hurts babies

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Tue, 1 Mar 2005 11:59:36 GMT

 

 

 

 

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Monsanto turns the screw on farmers/Roundup hurts babies

 

 

Comment on item 1 from nlpwessex list:

 

What took them so long?

 

" Farmers will be given just enough to keep them interested in growing

the crops, but no more. And GM companies and food processors, will say

very

clearly how they want the growers to grow the crops. " - Friedrich

Vogel, head of BASF's crop protection business, Farmers Weekly 6 November

1998

 

1.GM specialist increases technology fees in USA

2.Roundup hurts babies

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1.GM specialist increases technology fees in USA

Farmers Weekly, February 18, 2005

By Andrew Blake

 

Seed and technology fees for genetically modified crops are on the up

in the USA, as companies continue to invest in next generation traits.

 

Some producers are expecting Monsanto's technology fees to rise 75%

this season, as the firm seeks to recoup costs. The main reason for the

price rises is the need to fund work on next generation GM varieties,

which will offer nutritional benefits to consumers, plus research to

defend the existing traits against counter claims from anti-GM lobby

groups,

says Monsanto USA's technical communications manager Jim Hudson. " We

are currently spending about $1.5m a day on such research and that money

has to come from somewhere. " But with weed populations shifting to

species able to resist the total herbicide the company needs to be

careful

not to price the technology out of the market, stresses North Carolina

consultant Billy McLawhorn.

 

http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=news & doc_id=9746 & start=21 & \

control=211 & page_start=1 & page_nr=101 & pg=1

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2. via Prof Joe Cummins

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

Pr. Gilles-Eric SERALINI's group in the University of Caen (Normandy,

France) just published original results concerning the toxicity of

Roundup. It is one of the most used herbicides worldwide and the most

used

with genetically modified plants (GMOs).

 

The majority of GMOs commercialized in the world are designed for food

and feed. These plants have been modified to remain alive after

herbicide absorption, this herbicide being spread on the cultures.

 

This greatly facilitates its use, as well as the presence of its

residues in the food chain. It is also evoked as a common pollutant in

rivers.

 

It is shown in this work that human placental cells are very

sensitiven to Roundup, to concentrations lower than the agricultural

use. This could explain miscarriages and premature births in the

United States in farmers. Moreover, below toxic levels, the effects of

Roundup are measured on the synthesis of sexual hormones; this allow

to classify this herbicide in potential endocrine disruptors. Finally,

the effects of Roundup are always greater than those of glyphosate,

which is known as its active compound.

 

This work was supported in particular by CRIIGEN (www.crii-gen.org)

and by The " Fondation pour une Terre Humaine "

 

Contact : Pr. Gilles-Eric SERALINI, tel. 33 2 31 56 54 89,

criigen

 

Environmental health perspective

Differential effects of glyphosate and Roundup

on human placental cells and aromatase

Sophie Richard, Safa Moslemi, Herbert Sipahutar, Nora Benachour,

Gilles-Eric Seralini

doi:10.1289/ehp.7728 (available at http://dx.doi.org/)

Online 24 February 2005

Abstract

Roundup is a glyphosate-based herbicide used worldwide including on

most genetically modified

plants in which it can be tolerated. Its residues may thus enter the

food chain and glyphosate is

found as a contaminant in rivers. Some agricultural workers using

glyphosate have pregnancy problems, but its mechanism of action in

mammals

is questioned. Here we show that glyphosate

is toxic on human placental JEG3 cells within 18 hr with concentrations

lower than the agricultural use, and this effect increases with

concentration and time, or in the presence of Roundup adjuvants.

Surprisingly,

Roundup is always more toxic than its

active ingredient. We tested its effect on aromatase with lower

non-toxic concentrations, the

enzyme responsible for estrogen synthesis. The herbicide acts as an

endocrine disruptor on

aromatase activity and mRNA levels, and glyphosate interacts within the

active site of the purified enzyme, but its effect is facilitated by

Roundup formulation in microsomes or in cell culture. We conclude that

endocrine and toxic effects of Roundup and not only glyphosate can be

observed in mammals. We suggest that the presence of Roundup adjuvants

enhances glyphosate bioavailability and / or bioaccumulation

 

 

 

 

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