Re: RR Beans, Alfalfa and Plant Back Restrictions

Greg & Lei Gunthorp (hey4hogs@kuntrynet.com)
Thu, 25 Mar 1999 13:51:47 -0500

I do not doubt at all that potatoes, soybeans, canola, etc accumulate
roundup with post applications. Isn't that one of roundup's selling points
that it translocates to the roots where as Gramaxone(paraquat) doesn't? I
would assume that it should have been tested before the labelling of the
Roundup. But, oh, could this one have slipped through the cracks in
pesticide testing because roundup was always a preemerge burn down before
GMO's. And GMO's are not regulated in the US. Is there any retesting of
herbicides required when they were initially labeled for pre-emergence and
then later they develop a GMO that is resitant to them?

I really hate to send this over the list but I am going to anyhow. I have
generated enemies from these type of questions that challenge the status
quo. Might as well have the chemical companies join the bandwagon.
Best wishes,
Greg
Gunthorp's Pasture-ized Pork
LaGrange, Indiana
visit our farm at www.grassfarmer.com

----------
> From: E. Ann Clark, Associate Professor <aclark@plant.uoguelph.ca>
> To: sanet-mg@amani.ces.ncsu.edu
> Subject: Re: RR Beans, Alfalfa and Plant Back Restrictions
> Date: Thursday, March 25, 1999 10:08 AM
>
> Greg and others: I am a bit confused on this issue of Roundup and
> carryover effects. In Caroline Cox' review article on glyphosate in
> J. Pesticide Reform, she makes reference to possible carryover
> effects on succeeding lettuce and I think it was carrot crops.
>
> I remember checking with colleagues, including weed scientists, each
> of whom said that it was impossible because Roundup degraded almost
> instantly. So, of course, being myself, I had to look it up and sure
> enough, Roundup doesn't degrade instantly. It is bound to soil
> particles, so doesn't "move", but has a half-life in soil of
> something like 50 to 300 days, depending on soil type and moisture.
> It remains physiologically active, but soil-bound, where some have
> reported effects on soil organisms etc.
>
> So, I filed this all away mentally until last week, when a colleague
> reported on an unusual seminar he'd heard. Apparently a
> farmer-breeder of potatoes in PEI had grown some GMO potatoes for a
> major Canadian potato concern. The GE was not for Roundup
> Resistance (RR), but for Bt, if I recall correctly. But for some
> reason, he decided to spray Roundup on the potatoes and what do you
> know, they were RR.
>
> Then, being a farmer, he had the foresight to retain the tubers and
> plant them out the next year. The tubers which had grown on plants
> sprayed with Roundup the previous year had very weak emergence and
> poor seedling growth. Reportedly (and I don't know this to be true,
> as I'm getting this all second hand), the tubers had accumulated the
> Roundup, which acted to suppress or retard growth when the tubers
> were planted out the following year. I do not know if he had the
> tubers tested for this, or surmised it.
>
> This is rather intriguing. I'm wondering if anyone has seen studies
> on the metabolic fate of glyphosate (and the various "inerts" such as
> POEA) which are in Roundup) WITHIN the soybean or canola plant after
> it has been sprayed? Could it stay there compartmentalized in the
> seed, as in the apparent tuber example, and affect germination and
> growth the following year? What happens to you and me when we eat
> grain, vegetable oil, or french fries made from plant parts which
> have accumulated glyphosate (if indeed, this happens)?
>
> Could this be a factor in the 50% increase in soybean-related
> allergies recently reported by a lab at York University in the UK?
> They reportedly tested 4500 people for potential vegetable-related
> allergies (using blood antibody levels as the indicator, coupled with
> other symptoms) and for the first time in 17 years, soybean was in
> the top 10 species causing allergic responses in people. They do not
> know the soybeans to be GMO, but it seems likely as they were not
> segregated at source and the trial was conducted last year. Ann
>
> ACLARK@plant.uoguelph.ca
> Dr. E. Ann Clark
> Associate Professor
> Crop Science
> University of Guelph
> Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
> Phone: 519-824-4120 Ext. 2508
> FAX: 519 763-8933
> http://www.oac.uoguelph.ca/www/CRSC/faculty/eac.htm
>
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