More About Birds, Bulbs, and etc.

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
Sun, 01 Oct 2006 12:25:21 PDT
Joe Shaw's advice to consider carefully human toxicity of pesticides is
probably what is uppermost in the minds of careful pesticide users. 

However, the toxicity of the active ingredient in the pesticide is not the
only factor to consider. 

I had always heard that RoundUp is safe as these things go. Studies on the
active ingredient of RoundUp (glyphosate) suggest that it's relatively or
completely benign to humans when used as directed.

But there does seem to be a link between the use of RoundUp and the
precipitous decline in amphibian populations. 

What's surprising about this is that it's not the glyphosate which seems to
be the problem. It's the surfactants used to make the RoundUp stick to
leaves. 

Surfactants have so many industrial applications that keeping them out of
wild spaces is probably impossible under present usage conditions. 

Those contemplating the use of RoundUp might give consideration to the
greater picture: focusing on the effects of glyphosate on humans is not the
whole story. 

Jim McKenney, Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7 where there's a
ten or fifteen year old jug of RoundUp - never opened -  somewhere in the
basement. 



More information about the pbs mailing list