ASHEVILLE-MAY2021-WEB

Point of View
Undisclosed Ingredients in
‘Roundup’ Are Lethal to
Bumblebees, Study Finds
By Jenna McGuire, Common Dreams
Commonly used herbicides across the U.S. contain
highly toxic undisclosed "inert" ingredients that are lethal
to bumblebees, according to a new study published last
month in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
The study reviewed several herbicide products and
found that most contained glyphosate, an ingredient best
recognized from Roundup products and the most widely
used herbicide in the U.S. and worldwide.
While the devastating impacts of glyphosate on bee
populations are more broadly recognized, the toxicity
levels of inert ingredients are less understood because
they are not subjected to the same mandatory testing by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
"Pesticides are manufactured and sold as formulations
that contain a mixture of compounds, including one or
more active ingredients and, potentially, many inert
ingredients," explained the Center for Food Safety in a
statement. "The inert ingredients are added to pesticides
to aid in mixing and to enhance the products' ability to
stick to plant leaves, among other purposes."
The study found that these inert substances can be
highly toxic and even block bees' breathing capacity,
essentially causing them to drown. While researchers
found that some of the combinations of inert ingredients
had no negative impacts on the bees, one of the herbicide
formulations killed 96% of the bees within 24 hours.
According to the abstract of the study: Bees
exhibited 94% mortality with Roundup® Ready‐To‐Use®
and 30% mortality with Roundup® ProActive®, over
24 hr. Weedol® did not cause significant mortality,
demonstrating that the active ingredient, glyphosate, is not
the cause of the mortality. The 96% mortality caused by
Roundup® No Glyphosate supports this conclusion.
"This important new study exposes a fatal flaw in
how pesticide products are regulated here in the
U.S.," said Jess Tyler, a staff scientist at the Center for
Biological Diversity. "Now the question is, will the Biden
administration fix this problem, or will it allow the EPA to
continue its past practice of ignoring the real-world harms
of pesticides?"
According to the Center for Food Safety, there are
currently 1,102 registered formulations that contain the
active ingredient glyphosate, each with a proprietary
mixture of inert ingredients. In 2017, the group filed a legal
petition calling for the EPA to force companies to provide
safety data on pesticide formulations that include inert
ingredients.
"The EPA must begin requiring tests of every pesticide
formulation for bee toxicity, divulge the identity of 'secret'
formulation additives so scientists can study them, and
prohibit application of Roundup herbicides to flowering
plants when bees might be present and killed," said Bill
Freese, science director at the Center for Food Safety.
"Our legal petition gave the EPA a blueprint for acting on
this issue of whole formulations. Now they need to take
that blueprint and turn it into action, before it's too late for
pollinators."
Roundup — also linked to cancer in humans — was
originally produced by agrochemical giant Monsanto,
which was acquired by the German pharmaceutical and
biotech company Bayer in 2018.
The merger of the two companies was condemned by
environmentalists and food safety groups who warned
it would cultivate–and become—the greatest purveyor of
genetically modified seeds and toxic pesticides in the
world.
ED NOTE: And as for humans, why are U.S. regulators
dragging their feet and not listening? Cancer may only be
part of the story.
Studies over the past decade suggest that glyphosate
— the active ingredient in Roundup — pollutes water
sources, hangs around in soil far longer than previously
suspected, and routinely taints human food supplies. In
both the U.S. and Europe, the supposedly safe limits for
human ingestion are based on long-outdated science.
Research also points to serious adverse consequences
for the environment, and there are indications glyphosate
can cause disease in mammals even several generations
removed from the initial exposure. It’s way past time for
government regulators to take action. Follow the money.
Austria became the first EU country to ban glyphosate
in July 2019. Germany announced in that it will begin
phasing out the controversial weed killer by 2024. Other
countries that have some degree of legislation around
glyphosate include:
· Malawi
· Thailand
· Vietnam
· Sri Lanka
· Oman
· Kuwait
· United Arab Emirates
· Bahrain
· Qatar
· Saudi Arabia
· Bermuda
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YOUR PET HAS A
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ALWAYS WEARS
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CURRENT
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· St. Vincent and the
Grenadines
· Bermuda
· Austria
· Belgium
· Czech Republic
· Denmark
· France
· Italy
· The Netherlands
· Australia
PAGE 4 • CRITTER MAGAZINE • MAY 2021