10/December/20

 

Exposure to the weedkiller ingredient glyphosate makes genetic changes to rats that can be linked to increased disease in their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a new study has found. The study provides evidence that glyphosate-induced changes to sperm from exposed rats could be used as biomarkers for determining propensity in subsequent generations for prostate and kidney diseases as well as obesity and incurring multiple diseases at once. In fact, by the time third- and fourth-generation rats whose predecessors had been exposed to the chemical were middle-aged, 90% had one or more of these health problems, a dramatically higher rate than the control group. [GMW: The single dose used in this experiment was way above the level that people and animals are likely to be exposed to, but it was half the No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL), the level deemed in industry regulatory experiments to have no observable adverse effect. The study shows that the assumed NOAEL is not reliable.] Sustainable Pulse

 

 

President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Tom Vilsack as secretary of agriculture. Tom Philpott laments the choice, writing that Vilsack delivered corporate-friendly policies when he headed the USDA in the Obama administration. Under Vilsack, the USDA approved many GM herbicide-tolerant crops, including crops tolerant to dicamba. The result has been a full-on disaster. As Monsanto’s seeds have conquered soybean and cotton fields from Nebraska to Georgia, wayward dicamba has strayed from targeted fields and damaged millions of acres of crops, trees, and home gardens. Vilsack's USDA also stands accused of discriminating against black farmers. There's more commentary on Philpott's Twitter feed. Mother Jones