Download -9_roundup_birth_defects.pdf

Contents : Latin American Herald Tribune - Herbicide Used in Argentina Could C... 1 of 1 http://www.laht.com/article.asp CategoryId 14093&ArticleId 331718 Caracas Sunday May 3 2009 Home About us Venezuela Links Venezuelan Embassies & Consulates Around The World Sites/Blogs about Venezuela Venezuelan Newspapers Facts about Venezuela Government Links Embassies in Caracas Venezuela Tourism Colombia Links Government Links Colombian Embassies & Consulates Around the World Media Embassies in Bogota Sites/Blogs about Colombia Educational Institutions Audio Who's Who Contacts Search: Help HOME Argentina RSS Feed Herbicide Used in Argentina Could Cause Birth Defects BUENOS AIRES The herbicide used on genetically modified soy Argentina s main crop could cause brain intestinal and heart defects in fetuses according to the results of a scientific investigation released Monday. Although the study used amphibian embryos the results are completely comparable to what would happen in the development of a human embryo embryology professor Andres Carrasco one of the study s authors told Efe. The noteworthy thing is that there are no studies of embryos on the world level and none where glyphosate is injected into embryos said the researcher with the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research and director of the Molecular Embryology Laboratory. The doses of herbicide used in the study were much lower than the levels used in the fumigations and so the situation is much more serious that the study suggests because glyphosate does not degrade Carrasco warned. In Argentina farmers each year use between 180 and 200 million liters of glyphosate which was developed by the multinational Monsanto and sold in the United States under the brand name Roundup. Carrasco said that the research found that pure glyphosate in doses lower than those used in fumigation causes defects ... (and) could be interfering in some normal embryonic development mechanism having to do with the way in which cells divide and die. Audio Content Video Video Content The companies say that drinking a glass of glyphosate is healthier than drinking a glass of milk but the fact is that they ve used us as guinea pigs he said. He gave as an example what occurred in Ituzaingo a district where 5 000 people live on the outskirts of the central Argentine city of Cordoba where over the past eight years about 300 cases of cancer associated with fumigations with pesticides have turned up. In communities like Ituzaingo it s already too late but we have to have a preventive system to demand that the companies give us security frameworks and above all to have very strict regulations for fumigation which nobody is adhering to out of ignorance or greed he said. The researcher also said that apart from the research he carried out there has to be a serious study on the effects of glyphosate on human beings adding that the state has all the mechanisms for that. In the face of the volley of judicial complaints related to the disproportionate use of agrochemicals in the cultivation of GM soy last February the Health Ministry created a group to investigate the problem in four Argentine provinces. Argentina is the world s third-largest exporter of soy. EFE Home About Us Who's Who Contacts Help Copyright Latin American Herald Tribune - 2008 All rights reserved 5/3/2009 5:54 PM

INFO HASH : 4eb3351b70029d5bf9fe4d166147eca5b5dfcccf

Download now

File Size: 82.5 kb