Glyphosate and its toxicity. Facts vs. myths
I highly recommend you watch this video on the topic of glyphosate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJpvOHk6gPg
The media image of glyphosate is different from the world of science, or rather from scientific research. The aim of this article is to popularize scientific research on glyphosate, regardless of the media image. The article contains a lot of information that you will hear about glyphosate for the first time.
Through the English Wikipedia, through the source articles, it is possible to click through to a number of scientific studies on glyphosate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate
Under what circumstances is a person most exposed to glyphosate? What is its greatest danger?
Most people imagine glyphosate as a weed killer. This is not true. Glyphosate is also used as a spray directly on crops intended for consumption, such as rapeseed or grain. But why do farmers do this? It saves them a lot of costs for drying in dryers.Here, however, we see the enormous absurdity of various environmental activists or journalists who would like to ban glyphosate for weeds, but they are completely unaware of the common practices of farmers who spray glyphosate directly on crops intended for consumption.
Is glyphosate environmentally friendly? What does it do to groundwater?
The fact is that glyphosate is broken down by soil bacteria, has excellent biodegradability, and therefore it is found in groundwater only extremely rarely and even then in trace amounts. The media and scientific picture of glyphosate is very different. Glyphosate is ecological. Many other sprays are no longer ecological, they are not broken down by soil bacteria and do not have the ability to decompose in nature, i.e. they do not have biodegradability. Also, most detergents are not biodegradable and pose a incomparably more serious problem for groundwater than glyphosate.Does glyphosate cause cancer?
Yes and no. Cancer has only been proven in laboratory animals. However, it is important to understand the context of scientific research. The dose of glyphosate administered to the laboratory animal was several hundred to a thousand times higher than what a person might normally encounter. A much more serious risk of cancer can be caused by various additives, such as preservatives and food colorings.If a person overdoses on medication, it can also kill them.
What does glyphosate have in common with the Monsanto corporation?
Monsanto was the inventor of glyphosate and sold glyphosate under the trade name Roundup. For several years, Monsanto had a monopoly in the production of glyphosate. Today, however, the situation is different, the monopoly patent license for Roundup has already expired and glyphosate can be produced by any company on the planet, and so it happens.Would it be reasonable to ban glyphosate for weeds, or to ban it altogether?
No. Because there is no alternative to glyphosate. But what is reasonable is to limit glyphosate to crops intended for consumption.Is it reasonable to use glyphosate in forestry and in protected areas?
Certainly, yes, glyphosate is an ecological substance. And sometimes it is very important that young trees are not suffocated by weeds or that non-native invasive woody plants are removed. Only in places where the soil is thinner than 5 to 10 centimeters, it may not be suitable to use it, such as in the Tribečské kremencové hôrky, where trees grow directly on stones or rocks. Thin soil may not be sufficient for the biodegradable process.Currently, there is also a court dispute between environmental activists and foresters regarding the use of glyphosate in the forests near Bratislava.