pesticides

Pesticide Peril – not for the faint of heart

Posted on by Helena

Germany’s flagship company, Bayer, is facing 18,400 lawsuits, predominantly from California whereby their subsidiary, Monsanto, has been cited for its toxic, cancer causing pesticide, glyphosate.   Bayer bought Monsanto for $63 billion one year ago and today Bayer’s total market value is less than what it paid for just Monsanto with it’s stock plummeting 50%. While Bayer claims that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the chemical, they are fast-tracking an alternative.

There are 26 countries that ban or restrict the use of Monsanto products including: Germany, China, India, France, Hungary, Austria, Australia, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Luxembourg and Mexico.   The four largest pesticide companies in the world are: Syngenta, owned by China – the world leader of agro-chemicals, Bayer, headquartered in Germany, DOW, headquartered in Michigan, and BASF, also headquartered in Germany  (they purchased Monsanto’s seed division).

In the US alone 851 million pounds of pesticides are used annually.   90% of private wells sourced by groundwater contain pesticides. The contamination results in 14 million fish deaths, 67 million bird deaths and 20,000 new cancer patients each year.

The most prolific user of pesticides is China at 4 trillion pounds per year. Obviously their ban of Monsanto is purely a business decision and not an environmental one.

The top consumers in order of pounds: China, US, Argentina, Thailand, Brazil, Italy, France, Canada, Japan, and India.   The impact on the smaller countries is significantly more hazardous given the concentration levels.

Glyphosate is not the only banned chemical that is showing up in our food chain, paraquat and chlorpyrifos which are banned in the EU are a common supplement to Brazils exports including wheat, soy, cotton, dairy products, coffee, tea, eggs and beef. YUM!  But chlorpyrifo’s are the brainchild of DOW and used for insect control on citrus fruits, wheat, corn, cotton, soybeans and sugar beets in the US.   They are NOT banned in the US despite serious potential side effects including:  vomiting, stomach cramps, muscle twitching, tremors, weakness, loss of coordination, unconsciousness, loss of bladder control, convulsions, difficulty breathing, paralysis and of course – death.

Farmers have lobbied for the continued use claiming they stand to lose up to 70% of their crop if insects are not controlled – and there is no alternative product. But, while they claim there is no alternative, that would be a false argument given that organic farming utilizes just that – alternatives.   It is not that their are no alternatives, it is that the alternatives make them non-competitive in the mass market.

Sometimes alternatives may be a predator insect, as in butterflies eat aphids, but as we are well aware, the cost of alternative farming exceeds the mass market and the competition for the general public.

Notable elite such as Bill Gates et all, Buffet, Zuckerberg, those with the means, negate anything mass produced and eat only organic.   While they advocate the use of chemical laden foods for feeding the world, they are wholly repugnant at the thought of consuming such for themselves or their families.

Starbucks coffee is imported from Brazil and Columbia. The term Arabica on the package refers to a type of plant, not a place.  So when you are choking down that latte, or espresso, or French Roast, know that you are drinking a hefty dose of yummy pesticides aka Latin America.  Brazil is known to have the highest per capita consumption of pesticides.

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, glyphosate causes cancer, most notably Hodgkins. Nerve damage is the other leading medical ailment associated with the chemical.

A California couple’s settlement award for glyphosate poisoning which was initially $2 billion was recently reduced to $87 million.   Still, given 18,400 separate lawsuits at an award rate of $80 million, that would amount to nearly $1.5 trillion.   At present, Bayer’s annual net is roughly $400 million, so that would wipe out all profits for about 4 years.

Agro companies, pharma companies, they have an agenda.   And it isn’t – health.  Let the buyer beware.  But let the buyer also be informed.

Zika Virus – Zeroing in…?

Posted on by Helena

In 2014 with Dengue Fever considered an epidemic, Brazil released GM mosquitoes to fake out the aedes aegypti mosquitoes and hopefully contain the rising epidemic. The fake mosquitoes were sterile and once they wooed all the females, the species would quickly die out. But that didn’t happen. Within a few months of the release of the GM mosquitoes, a new type of mutated chikungunya virus appeared, more deadly than ever. It migrated to the Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico and Florida where it has infected a small portion of the population.

For years Brazil has continued its fogging method of dousing entire neighborhoods with insecticides to try and control the rising mosquito population. But the insecticides have their own host of health risks and problems. According to a report by CCE and CERI, the use of insecticide only created a more viral and formidable mosquito immune to the once lethal spray. A Super mosquito was born.

In the meantime, more radical spraying attempted to disway the growing population of mosquitoes. There are four pesticides used to control mosquitoes; Scourge, Anvil, Permethrin and Malathion. Each of these have some level of toxicity to humans and are linked to liver and thyroid diseases, immune deficiency, endocrine problems, tumor growth, cancers of the reproductive organs, prostate and breast cancer, and birth defects. The birth defects include; Down Syndrome, cleft palette, spina bifida, club foot, heart defects, autism, learning disabilities, and infertility. Those defects were found in women exposed to household use of pesticides, their exposure was limited.

These same pesticides are lethal to fish, invertebrates, and wildlife.

Could the introduction of a GM mosquito have led to the creation of a Super Monster mosquito? And could the birth defect, microcephaly, be related to exposure to massive amounts of pesticides?

While many media articles make the statement that the Zika virus caused the microcephaly cases in Brazil, that has not been proven, it is at this stage a ‘theory’ that is being investigated. Birth defects in poor nations is a problem and has been for decades if not centuries. Micrcephaly is a neurological disorder that could just as easily be caused by the toxins in the pesticides, or incest, or poor nutrition during pregnancy, or a host of other issues. Or it could be caused by the mosquito.

The reality is – no one knows much of anything at this stage which is why a vaccine could be years away from being created and approved. The one absolute that they do know is that the actual virus is no different than a mild flu and that 80% of those bitten by the mosquito don’t get the virus or any symptoms at all. Period.

Instilling fear is not useful. Instilling caution and fact is useful.

A recent post by Betsy McCaughey, PhD, would seem rather uninformed about the Zika virus in specifics, Brazil’s fogging, the failure of the GM mosquito’s, the mosquito prevalence in the US, and pesticides. Instead, she would have the US lathered in a fog of pesticides that are known toxins which will douse ‘everyone’ in a fume and funnel of health hazards…

Not cool.