Even Dirtier Food, Brought to You by the Environmental Protection AgencyLike Dislike Edit content preferencesDone 6 hours ago Takepart Just when it seemed the United States Department of Agriculture might finally be taking a second look at crops engineered to resist pesticide application, another branch of government, the Environmental Protection Agency, now seems poised to raise the level of pesticides that can be sprayed on our food. Apparently taking its orders from chemical giant Monsanto—which manufactures both agricultural chemicals and transgene plants that are resistant to them—the EPA hiked the amount of residue from the herbicide glyphosate that is allowed on several foods we eat, including carrots, sweet potatoes and mustard seeds. While the latest pesticide hike is geared toward non-GE crops rather than genetically engineered “Roundup-ready” crops, Bill Freese, science policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety, tells TakePart that higher levels of glyphosate residues means farmers will spray our food with more herbicides and pesticides—increasing the health risks for humans, animals and the environment. “The formula in its product (Roundup) is a lot more toxic than glysophate alone,” Freese says. “It’s very toxic to amphibians, but there have been studies linking Roundup to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in humans, which kills 30 percent of those who contract it. Farmers generally have less cancer overall because of their active lifestyles, but they show higher rates of this type of cancer. That’s really scary.” A June 2013 study out of Thailand found that glyphosate “exerted proliferative effects in human hormone-dependent breast cancer.” This followed an MIT study in April that concluded that “glyphosate enhances the damaging effects of other food borne chemical residues and environmental toxins,” adding that glyphosate’s “negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body.” Scary indeed.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 03:35:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015