R O U N D U P by that company beginning with 'M'

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Image Credit: World Wildlife Fund
It's difficult to search for Obama's recent signing of a bill to protect Monsanto written by a Senator with close ties to that giant chemical company/giant industrial agriculture company. Most of the sites that come up in a search for the signing of this bill are known conspiracy sites so it looks like Google has had some tweaking done.

DeSmogBlog has got the picture of how the corporate media reinterpreted the UN's WHO report on RoundUp

Corporate Media Confuses Consumers About Dangers Of Monsanto’s RoundUp
The report — a mere six pages long — actually does very little to weaken the link between glyphosate and “cancer” because the panel wasn’t looking at “cancer” as a whole. They were looking for non-Hodgkins Lymphoma incidences in organisms that had ingested produce that had previously been treated or exposed to RoundUp during the growing process. Additionally, they only relied on research that was submitted to the panel, and conducted no studies of their own.

Notice all of the caveats in that last statement.

1. They didn’t do the research themselves, nor did they contract any of it.

2. They looked for only one disease.

3. They did not look at skin exposure or inhalation dangers.

When those factors are removed, it becomes increasingly unlikely that they would be able to find a link because you are removing some of the largest criteria.

As well as being a hazard to human health, the use of this pesticide is partly responsible for the decline of the Monarch butterfly which just hit a record low.

Midwestern US industrial agriculture's use of Monsanto Roundup is the 3rd factor in the rapid decline of the Monarch butterfly.
Say Good-bye to the Monarch butterfly.
BP: You also mentioned Midwestern agriculture as a third factor in the decline. What's happening there?

LB: The most catastrophic thing from the point of view of the monarch butterfly has been the expansion of crops that are planted on an unbelievably wide scale throughout the Midwest and have been genetically manipulated to be resistant to the powerful herbicide Roundup.

These crops are planted in the grassland ecosystems of the United States, where the monarchs do most of their breeding. And normally in that area there are milkweed growing all over the place on the agricultural fields and the edges of fields and the sides of roads. There are 108 species of milkweed in the United States — the whole monarch migration evolved in relation to evolution of this milkweed flora.

Anyway, where they use these herbicides, it kills all emergent seedlings and all the emergent perennial plants. A paper last year by John Pleasants of the University of Iowa and Karen Oberhauser of the University of Minnesota estimated that 60 percent of milkweed has been eliminated from the grassland ecosystem. We're not just talking about one species, we're talking about the entire native flora being eliminated.

The other thing herbicides do is kill sources of nectar. This is important: When monarchs come back [to the United States] they lay their eggs on milkweed, the caterpillars hatch out in four or five days and develop over a period of two or three weeks, then form the chrysalis, then a week later it hatches into an adult. These adults initially have about 20 milligrams of fat in their body that's carried over from larval development. But the butterflies that migrate back [to Mexico] have about 125 mg of fat. All that additional fat is gotten from drinking nectar from wildflowers. And this agriculture is killing off the wildflowers.

EPA Agrees Monarch Butterflies are in Jeopardy, But Refuses to Use Authority to Limit Habitat-Killing Pesticide
“The EPA apparently plans to study the monarch migration to extinction,” said Dr. Sylvia Fallon, an NRDC senior scientist and director of its Wildlife Conservation Project. “Everyone loves the monarchs, including the Obama White House. But love isn’t going to save monarchs from glyphosate. It’s inexcusable for the EPA to call for more time to show glyphosate’s harm while at the same time approving new glyphosate-based pesticides that kill the sole food source monarchs need to live,” said Fallon.

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hester's picture

Haikukitty's picture

I just need to figure out the best place for them. I feel like they like wet soil, but I could be wrong. Off to do research....

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MarilynW's picture

in case someone from DKos does a search and zooms in to protect their favourite pesticide.

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To thine own self be true.

Go way back. She's advocated for GMO's. Monsanto has contributed to the Clinton Foundation and they are together involved in agricultural projects in Africa where they are surely providing seed that cannot reproduce so the farmers are dependent upon the company for seed annually. A simple search for Clinton Foundation Monsanto produces quite a line-up of articles supporting this information.

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elenacarlena's picture

the other P esticide and G M O chemicals by M and companies like it, cannot be pilloried enough. Beyond protesting such and refusing any usage in our yards, we can provide butterfly habitat in our small spaces.

This may be a good time to mention that my cousin sells butterfly swag and donates 50% of her profits to Monarch Joint Venture, here, http://www.midlifeartistsunlimited.org/Butterflies.html

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If anyone is interested, just private message me!

For those in Monterey County, CA, one of your museums will give you FREE milkweed and nectar plant seeds, http://www.pgmuseum.org/free-seed-distributions/

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Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.

MarilynW's picture

It's been so long since I have seen a real monarch butterfly. Maybe they just don't come to Vancouver island that much.

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To thine own self be true.

Lookout's picture

Much of the genetic engineering is to make plants "round-up ready"...meaning resistant to round-up (glyphosate...an amino acid). These genetically-altered commodity crops have spread to become overwhelmingly dominant. In the US some 93% of soybeans and 86% of corn crops come from such seeds.

One might infer that about 90% of cropland is sprayed with glyphosate.

Today seed producers are being sued by monsanto for raising round-up ready seed. The farmer should be able to sue them for contaminating their production fields with their seed. Over 53% of the world's commercial seed market is controlled by just three firms – Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta.

​The US Supreme Court upheld biotech giant Monsanto’s claims on genetically-engineered seed patents and the company’s ability to sue farmers whose fields are inadvertently contaminated with Monsanto materials.

https://www.rt.com/usa/monsanto-patents-sue-farmers-547/

Here we are again - profit before people (and butterflies).

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

riverlover's picture

and has bought other seed production facilities. I am not an apologist.

Farmers grow R---R crops because the yields are better. Cost/benefit. Yes, your corn chips are 90% likely to have some modified product within. The farmers are looking for their profit and that is a tight-profit business. Federal Ag subsidies can stabilize the bottom, but most large farmers are being squeezed. And all are probably "corporate" at some level, family farms must often incorporate to keep the farm within the family, or those who choose to life out hard lives.

Some of us know that the majority of monarch populations, excepting very coastal Western monarchs have 3-more generations in N America and then last generation flies south to Mexico for livable winter microclimate where they hibernate. That southern hidey-hole is pressured by deforestation and for the last several winters, catastrophic storms. All bad. Mexico is trying.

Yes, milkweed is the preferred egg depository. But all milkweeds are not compatible as proper food source for the caterpillars. Local knowledge is best. And yes, for the nectar for adults. They are acting as canary, and R-----R is not the sole villain.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

MarilynW's picture

nectar food for butterflies. Taking everything under consideration, it is only one of three major threats to the Monarch butterfly. The other two are climate change and deforestation in Mexico.

I buy organic food whenever possible. I know that organic does not mean "perfect" because I have seen organic blueberry patches grown right beside the sprayed blueberry patches. The organic patch has a white shield (landscape cloth?) over it to protect it from the spray but it's obvious that there will be wind blown spray that escapes the shield.

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To thine own self be true.

stevej's picture

in counties that values lawyers above scientists - desperately sad.

...and with TTP it actually won't matter what the people want just the corps so expect more of the same.

M's business model has always been litigation as opposed to consumer opinion based and appears that we are in for a whole lot more of this.

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire