Pesticides

According to the EPA, “a pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest.”

The EPA goes on to state that “Pests are living organisms that occur where they are not wanted or that cause damage to crops or humans or other animals. Examples include insects, mice and other animals, unwanted plants (weeds), fungi, microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses and prions.”

A schematic picture of Glyphosate, or N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine:

The most widely used weed killer is Round-up. It contains an ingredient called glyphosate. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – WHO’s cancer agency – said that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide made by agriculture company Monsanto, was “classified as probably carcinogenic to humans”.

Despite this statement, it is estimated that around 90,000 tonnes or more of round-up is applied to crops by the US agricultural sector every year. Glyphosate is allowing the agriculture industry to produce more crops than it otherwise could. Without pesticides weeds and bugs will most definitely attack crops and lead to lower yield for the farmer.

However, the down side for the consumer is that glyphosate is ending up on (and inside) the fruits and vegetables that we all eat. Given that glyphosate is now listed by the WHO as being a probable carcinogen, it would be very unadvisable to ingest this stuff. Yet this is exactly what unwitting consumers are doing on a daily basis around the world.

Some lobbyists claim that it is perfectly okay to have a glass of glyphosate! However, when offered a glass of glyphosate the lobbyist suddenly wises up and declines the offer as this interesting, yet cringe worthy encounter demonstrates:

Besides the fact that glyphosate is ending up directly on our plates, it is also causing a myriad of other issues:

First, it is affecting the health of honey bees across the world, creating increased die-off. Honey bees are pollinators and are essential in pollinating about 30% of all the food that we eat. We need the honey bee to transfer pollen between flowers and between crop plants. Some of the crops that must be pollinated in order to produce seeds are:

Alfalfa, Apple, Apricot, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Clovers and sweet clovers, True clovers, Alsike, Ladino, Cranberry, Cucumber, Muskmelon, cantaloupe, Nectarine, Peach, Pear, Persimmon, Plum, prune, Pumpkin, Raspberry, Squash, Sunflower, Trefoil, Watermelon.

Second, glyphosate is killing off milkweed. That might not sound like such a big problem, but milkweed happens to be the number one food source for the Monarch butterfly. And the Monarch butterfly happens to cross pollinate a lot of plants that we depend on.

In fact, milkweed is the only plant that Monarch larvae will eat. Monarch butterflies cannot eat solids due to their straw shaped tongue. As a result, their method of obtaining nectar from fruits and plants is by sucking it up. This is why we see Monarch butterflies on flowers a lot. The reason that Monarch butterflies prefer milkweed above all else is because milkweed makes the Monarch poisonous for predators. By having less predators, the Monarch butterfly population stays strong and can cross pollinate a lot of plants that we depend on.

In conclusion, in a world where pollination is essential for the continued diversity of our food supply, glyphosate drastically decreases cross-pollination.