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Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

theguardian.com

241–250 of 379 posts

Re: Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

#241

I always thought GMO was used to make plants resistant to diseases and pests but in reality these plants are resistant to one thing only. Monsanto's chemicals.

GMO is also used for improving yields, drought tolerance, and temperature tolerance, among other things.

Re: Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who have been exposed to got cancer, but that is meaningless in showing causation. Internal documents show concern, but show no evidence that it causes cancer, or that Monsanto had internal data showing it caused cancer.

Many consider glyphosate as the most heavily used weed-killer in history. If 'internal documents show concern', what should we conclude? https://theecologist.org/2016/feb/03/glyphosate-most-heavily... https://www.greens-efa.eu/legacy/fileadmin/dam/Documents/Stu... (All members of the EU Parliament from 13 countries, excrete glyphophosphate in their urine). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18110-0 (Quantifable urine…

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Re: Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

#243
post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took me less than 10 seconds to find. "Companies Finalize $26 Billion Deal With States and Cities to End Opioid Lawsuits" [1] "Judge approves $1 billion settlement for victims of deadly Florida condo collapse" [2] "39 State Attorneys General Announce $1.85 Billion Settlement with Student Loan Servicer Navient" [3] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/health/opioids-settlement... [2] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/…

wait are you suggesting this companies were not guilty? are we reading the same settlements?

Not quoting any of these articles, but "settled with no admission of guilt"

Re: Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

#244
post #162

Society loves to make fun of those who choose organic produce, but avoiding glysophate is the main reason I do so, and it works: > Organic diet intervention significantly reduces urinary glyphosate levels in U.S. children and adults > https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393512...

I think organic is great. I just wish we didn’t put non-GMO in the same bucket. Give me GMO foods without pesticides.

That would be counterproductive. GMO crops have a lower yield than non-GMOs without the application of pesticides.

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/gmo-faq/can-genetic-engin...

Re: Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

#245
I quit a job in the industry during the era the studies started coming out when I found out about the bosses ties to Monsanto. The real kicker for me was during my digging into them, although largely due to corporate buyout name games, they were the ones responsible for agent orange, with Nam vets in my family I couldn't stay.

Use the most natural chemicals you can for crop/yard control. The same warning applies to the neurotoxins that are bug killers.

Re: Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Winning or losing a lawsuit of this type is not necessarily proof of guilt, or proof that roundup causes cancer. what it proves is that a jury was convinced that it does.

Funny we execute people based on that standard, but yet it’s somehow lesser here…

And we get guilt wrong in criminal trials all the time (see the number of people the Innocence Project has gotten off of death row because the person didn't do it). A jury saying one thing doesn't make it objective truth.

Re: Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course they could, you just have to prove that they are harmless (at least in their expected usage and dosage)

Great, so we're just going to need a few long term clinical trials assessing the impacts of each of ingestion, skin contact, inhalation, eye exposure, etc. separately for childhood exposure, adult exposure, exposure during pregnancy, acute exposure, chronic exposure, and so on. 100 billion dollars and thirty years later, maybe you can start provisionally selling your slightly better scotch tape.

That’s a little disingenuous. Something like an herbicide that’s broadly applied to fruits and vegetables that millions of people are eating should be under far higher scrutiny than a niche product that has limited human contact.

Re: Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

#248
post #3

How far off are we from having drones that mechanically remove weeds at a reasonable cost? It's ridiculous that we put up with spraying sketchy chemicals on our food. We can build loyal wingman drones to kill enemy aircraft but we can't kill weeds?? Edit: I'm talking about farming, not lawns. RTFA

https://carbonrobotics.com/ identifies weeds and kills them with lasers - so no chemicals at all.

I just had to see this in action.

Pretty cool demo here: https://youtu.be/lLaV15vpSJM

Re: Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is essentially the model that we have with the FDA, right? And we have a bunch of problems with that too. I don't think there's a simple solution that just makes all scenarios better/easier/safer/whatever.

Perhaps we do have problems with that model. But are the problems of the "tens of millions of humans have potentially been exposed to this harmful compound and the result seems disastrous" variety? Or are the problems of the "it takes longer than normal" variety? Because both are "problems". But I know which one I'd rather have as a society.

Do the results seem disastrous? https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/dcpc/research/update-on-cancer-de... Cancer death rates in the US are going down. The primary one is lung cancer, though, and cigarette usage has been declining... so would love to see more incidence rates broken out into types, too. But it seems at least non-disastrous in death outcomes, so far, unless you have those other numbers handy and are going off of that.

Re: Weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

#250
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the chemical inputs to farms make them unprofitable. Each year takes more input to make the farm work. We broke the ecosystem, nitrogen cycle and phosphate cycle by tilling, monocropping, and chemical input. The way we farm kills the soil. We can support the population without chemical inputs if we manage the land differently. It takes about 3 years to transition to a regenerative management style. That is how lo…

Tell that to Sri Lanka. There is massive unrest, because people will starve. The farmers were not the ones saying, "don't use chemical fertilizer", the ex-government was.

The transition can't be forced. It is a paradigm shift in land management and an entirely different skill set. You can't just tell all farmers they cant use fertilizer anymore without teaching how to do without. That is how you get famine.

Regenerative management is more profitable for farmers so it is going to happen regardless of what governments want. You just can't force it.

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