Canadian lawyers just launched a $500 million class-action lawsuit against Roundup makers and 42,000 plaintiffs “Sue Bayer over Glyphosate,” reports Sustainable Pulse, Nov. 22, 2019. “Lawsuits against Bayer are on the rise over claims that the company’s weedkiller causes cancer. The legal cases have taken a toll on Bayer’s share price and reputation.”
“Glyphosate Can Trigger Aggressive Breast Cancer When Combined with Another Risk Factor,” reports the science journal, Frontiers in Genetics: Epigenomics and Epigenetics, September 27, 2019.
When a second cancer-inducing agent was combined with the glyphosate, this led to the transformation of the human breast cells to a cancerous state. The second cancer-inducing agent is a type of gene regulatory molecule that is present in all humans. The second cancer-inducing agent was a class of small RNA molecules known as microRNA.
Furthermore, this study found, “The glyphosate induced a several-fold increase in a protein called TET3, which is known to remove methylation tags from DNA … When the methylation tags are removed, the gene can be reactivated. Such changes in gene function caused by alterations in the profile of DNA methylation tags are known to be a contributing factor to cancer formation (carcinogenesis).”
French scientist Séralini published in Environmental Sciences Europe, 2014, that female rats fed Roundup, developed large mammary tumors more frequently and earlier than the controls. Séralini’s study was called, “Long-term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize.” Furthermore, rats fed Roundup, developed liver/kidney failure and premature death, especially in males.
Mutation Research/Reviews in Mutation Research published in 2019, that the overall risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in glyphosate-exposed individuals was increased by 41%.
A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2014, found a link between the herbicide Roundup and the fatal Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown origin (CKDU) affecting mostly, the rice farmers in Sri Lanka and several other countries.
Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena announced in 2015, that the import of glyphosate will be banned with immediate effect. The El Salvador government also banned Roundup over a deadly regional kidney disease effecting its agricultural workers who sprayed Roundup.
Research led by Professor Jack Heinemann, from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand has found that commonly used herbicides, including Roundup, can cause bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics.
“In the poor neighborhood of Urquiza, Argentina, a single dirt track separates Viviana Peralta’s house from the soy fields where pesticides are sprayed by airplanes. When she realized that her one and a half year old daughter, Ailen, suffered from acute asthma attacks every time an airplane flew over her house she made the connection. At the hospital, a pediatrician confirmed the presence of glyphosate in Ailen’s blood.
“In San Jorge, cancers have increased by 30% in ten years. After a spray, inhabitants report that their lips turn blue, their tongue thickens, chickens die, cats and dogs lose their hair, bees disappear and there are fewer birds. Finally, on March 17th 2009, a milestone ruling banned any spraying within 800 meters of houses if spraying is carried out by ”mosquitoes” (tractors with several metre-long wings), and within 1500 meters if carried out by plane. “Glyphosate is not holy water as they wanted us to believe,” says Carlos Manessi, Argentina agronomist (references: Sustainable Pulse, March 4, 2013; GMO Seralini).”
Are there at least 800 to 1,500 meters between pesticide spraying by Hartung Brothers and the Waimea Middle Canyon School and which pesticides are being sprayed by Hartung?
“A unique testing project involving 23 members of the Japanese Parliament, has shocked the country after it was revealed that the majority of the politicians had long-term exposure to pesticides including glyphosate. The hair testing results were announced in the Japanese House of Representatives in early August and have led to a growing call for a change of approach to pesticides in the country (reference: Sustainable Pulse, 2019).”
“California can require Monsanto to label its popular weed-killer Roundup as a possible cancer threat, a judge tentatively ruled,” reports Sustainable Pulse, 2017.
A paper published 2016, in Environmental Health has shown the concerns of top global scientists regarding the damage to human health caused by the most used herbicides in the World – Glyphosate-based herbicides.
Investigative journalist, Carey Gillam, author of “Whitewash,” writes, Monsanto has engaged in “strategic deception” to cover up the scientific knowledge that glyphosate causes cancer and other diseases mentioned here.
What about the destructive effect of glyphosate on the environment? “
The Midwest American monarch butterfly, which is the same as the monarch here on Kauai, is on the endangered species list, because glyphosate sprayed on glyphosate resistant genetically modified corn, has inadvertently killed off the monarch’s habitat plant, the milkweed. You can see milkweed plants with monarch butterflies at the back of the Chiefess Middle School playground. Is not the school child the real monarch metaphorically?
Definitely, for safety, glyphosate and other toxic pesticides should not be sprayed within 1,500 meters of the Waimea Middle Canyon School and not at all in Kauai’s parks.
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Will M. Davis is a resident of Lihue.
