The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

oundup: a massive brainwashing operation 81put the fertilized eggs in a diluted solution of Roundup. I might emphasizethat the concentration was well below that generally used in agriculture. Wethen observed the effects of the product on millions of cell divisions. Wevery soon realized that Roundup affected a key point in cell division—notthe mechanisms of cell division itself, but those that control it. To understandthe importance of this discovery, you have to recall the mechanism ofcell division. When a cell divides into two daughter cells, the making of twocopies of the genetic inheritance, in the form of DNA, gives rise to manyerrors, as many as fifty thousand per cell. Normally, a process of repair or thenatural death of the defective cell, known as “apoptosis,” is automaticallyinitiated. But a cell sometimes avoids the alternative [death or repair], becausethe point that controls damage to the DNA is affected. It is preciselythis checkpoint that is damaged by Roundup. And that’s why we say thatRoundup induces the early stages leading to cancer. In fact, by avoiding therepair mechanisms, the affected cell will be able to perpetuate itself in a geneticallyunstable form, and we now know that it can be the origin of a cancerthat will develop thirty or forty years later.”“Were you able to determine what it was in Roundup that affected celldivision?”“That is a crucial question. Indeed, we also conducted the experimentwith pure glyphosate, that is, with none of the additives that go intoRoundup, and we did not observe any effects, so it’s Roundup that is toxic,not its active ingredient. But when we looked at the tests that were used forthe registration of Roundup, we were surprised to find that they had beenconducted with glyphosate alone. In fact, pure glyphosate has no use, noteven as a herbicide, because by itself it is unable to penetrate into cells andthereby affect them. That’s why I think there is a real problem with the registrationprocess of Roundup and it would be necessary to look more closelyat the numerous additives that go into it and at their interaction.”Among the suspect additives is polyethoxylated tallowamine, whose acutetoxicity has been confirmed by many studies. Roundup also contains inertingredients about which nothing can be said because their identity has notbeen disclosed by the manufacturer, under a claim of “trade secrets.” 22 Anotherfactor to consider is the principal product of the biodegradation ofglyphosate, α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA),which has a long half-life.In the face of these obvious malfunctions of the registration process,