Are You Eating, Drinking & Breathing Monsanto's New 'Agent Orange'?

Are You Eating, Drinking & Breathing Monsanto's New 'Agent Orange'?
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1729225/pg1
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/featured-article-0

Excerpt:

New Study: Monsanto’s Herbicide May Be Contaminating The World’s Drinking Water

In a groundbreaking study published in Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry last month, glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide “Roundup,” is flowing freely into the groundwater in areas where it is being applied. The researchers found that 41% of the 140 groundwater samples taken from Catalonia Spain, had levels beyond the limit of quantification – indicating that, despite manufacturer’s claims, it does not break down rapidly in the environment, and is accumulating there in concerning quantities.

Why Is Groundwater Contamination An Important Finding?

Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface, that supplies aquifers, wells and springs.  If a chemical like glyphosate is mobile enough to get into the groundwater and is intrinsically resistant to being biodegraded (after all, it is being used to kill/degrade living things – not the other way around), significant environmental exposures to humans using the water are inevitable. After all, according to the USGS, 88,000 tons were used in the US in 2007 alone.

Keep in mind that glyphosate is considered by the EPA as a Class III toxic substance, fatal to an adult at 30 grams, and has been linked to over 20 adverse health effects in the peer-reviewed, biomedical literature.

Technical Announcement:

Widely Used Herbicide Commonly Found in Rain and Streams in the Mississippi River Basin
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2909

Excerpt:

Glyphosate, also known by its tradename Roundup, is commonly found in rain and rivers in agricultural areas in the Mississippi River watershed, according to two new USGS studies released this month. 

Glyphosate is used in almost all agricultural and urban areas of the United States. The greatest glyphosate use is in the Mississippi River basin, where most applications are for weed control on genetically-modified corn, soybeans and cotton. Overall, agricultural use of glyphosate has increased from less than 11,000 tons in 1992 to more than 88,000 tons in 2007.

"Though glyphosate is the mostly widely used herbicide in the world, we know very little about its long term effects to the environment," says Paul Capel, USGS chemist and an author on this study. "This study is one of the first to document the consistent occurrence of this chemical in streams, rain and air throughout the growing season. This is crucial information for understanding where management efforts for this chemical would best be focused."

In these studies, Glyphosate was frequently detected in surface waters, rain and air in areas where it is heavily used in the basin. The consistent occurrence of glyphosate in streams and air indicates its transport from its point of use into the broader environment.  

Additionally, glyphosate persists in streams throughout the growing season in Iowa and Mississippi, but is generally not observed during other times of the year.  The degradation product of glyphosate, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), which has a longer environmental lifetime, was also frequently detected in streams and rain.

Detailed results of this glyphosate research are available in "Occurrence and fate of the herbicide glyphosate and its degradate aminomethylphosphonic acid in the atmosphere," published in volume 30 of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and in "Fate and transport of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid in surface waters of agricultural basins," published online in Pest Management Science. Copies of the reports are available from the journals or from Paul Capel (capel@usgs.gov).

Totally agree we are poisoning ourselves even this girl saw it, long read but worth it http://www.nderf.org/amy_c_nde_4720.htm

Excerpt:

EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION:

Since I was 17, I'd had chronic pain, doctors had labeled as fibromyalgia.  It was a torturous existence, and sleep was difficult to come by.  By the time of the experience and even long before, I was sleeping just fifteen minutes at a time, and then I'd have to move and stretch in bed, as it was too painful to hold still for long.  So, I was constantly tired.  My doctor had an idea for a medication that wasn't typically used for sleep, but might have the side-effect of numbing me.  I noticed that whenever I took it, even in the tiniest amounts, my nose would swell and my breathing became too shallow.  It was scary and uncomfortable, but the relief from pain came, so the temptation to take it was great.  I informed the doctor that I believed I was having an allergic reaction to the medication and he chuckled and said that my body simply needed to "get used to the med" and that the amount I was taking was so low, it couldn't possibly do anything.  He asked me to take three whole pills.  I had been taking one half of a half.  One night, after a week of agonizing pain and no sleep, I considered the doctor's prescription of three whole pills and decided to take them all and trust him.

I went to bed after taking all three and within minutes felt myself begin to go numb.  Then the inside of my nasal passages swelled up and I couldn't breathe at all.  I couldn't even open my mouth I was struggling to get air, but could not.  My entire body felt like it was mummified.  I couldn't call out for help, and it only took a couple of minutes before, the struggle was over.  

h/t to MJ

Related:

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GM Foods Not Served in Monsanto Cafeteria

George Soros and Food Safety

Monsanto Battle Continues After Suing Midwest Farmers for Saving Seeds

Would You Vote for a Food Bill Monsanto Supports?

Dumbing Down Society Part 1: Foods, Beverages, and Meds (Media and Education)

Senate Bill S.510 Passed… Quickly Explained Here

(Another) 'Probable carcinogen' found in water supply

'Probable carcinogen' found in water supply It's cancer in a cup: U.S. drinking water is contaminated with a toxic chemical that your own government calls a "probable carcinogen." So what's that same government doing about it? Same thing it always does: Nothing! Drink up, everyone. The chemical is called hexavalent chromium, and if the name sounds a little familiar then you've probably seen the film "Erin Brokovich." It's the toxic compound that set off her battle with Pacific Gas & Electric after it was found in the groundwater of Hinkley, California. Now, we all may as well be living in Hinkley -- because tests by the Environmental Working Group on water in 35 cities across the country found the chemical in 31 of them. Twenty-five of those cities had hexavalent chromium levels in excess of limits being proposed by California. And if you're in Norman, Oklahoma, congratulations -- you're drinking 200 times that proposed limit. We have to go by California's proposed limit because the EPA doesn't have one -- proposed or otherwise. And that's where this gets really bizarre... because while the EPA doesn't set limits for hexavalent chromium, it does care about total chromium levels. In other words, it lumps this toxic compound into the same category as the essential mineral trivalent chromium. One is needed by the body to control blood glucose levels, the other might give you cancer, wreck your kidneys and liver, and maybe even kill you -- but it's all the same to Uncle Sam. Why sweat the details? But let's look on the bright side here: Hexavalent chromium probably isn't the worst thing in your water right now. Heck, it's positively healthy next to the rocket fuel, cocaine, aspartame, hormone drugs, and more regularly found in U.S. drinking water -- and I'm not talking about isolated incidents here. From coast to coast, our water is toast -- and if you want to know more about WHY these chemicals are turning up, read the September, 2009 issue of The Douglass Report. I've been on the front lines of the battle for safe water for years -- so when do I get my movie? If Julia Roberts played Erin Brokovich, then I want Brad Pitt playing me. Have your people call mine, Brad. By:  WC Douglass, M.D.

Filling your home with mercury

If you've fallen for the compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulb scam, you're the one getting screwed -- in more ways than one.

Not only are these things expensive and dim, they're also dangerous. A reader named Ken wrote in to say that these bulbs did a number on him.

"I think the new CFL light bulbs are death," he wrote. "I am extremely angry at them for allowing them to be sold without a warning on the box!!"

Allowing? Heck, Ken -- they're MANDATING it. CFLs are the law of land, passed by those dim bulbs in Congress. Starting in 2012, America's beacon of freedom is going to be a mercury-laden death ray -- and that light will be shining on YOU.

There's emerging evidence that these bulbs can cause seizures and dizziness, worsen migraine headaches and send lupus patients doubling over in agony. They've been linked to skin disorders and even cancer.

I can only wonder what else they'll discover when hundreds of millions of people are forced to sit under these bulbs all day, every day... at home, at work, and everywhere in between.

Even worse, CFL bulbs are filled with mercury. They'll tell you it's a "tiny" amount, but a single bulb contains enough mercury to contaminate 6,000 gallons of water.

Does that sound safe to you?

Let me shine a little light in this one: Small amounts of mercury can lay waste to your central nervous system, and all it takes is a whiff, taste or touch. Mercury can damage your vision, ruin your speech, wreck your hearing, turn you into a herky-jerky spastic, and give you the rash of a lifetime.

Ever hear the phrase "mad as a hatter?" It's because hatters worked with mercury -- and it literally drove them nuts.

And when the greenies get their way, we'll all be mad hatters. After all, light bulbs break -- and it's just a matter of time before you and your family are exposed to mercury from a shattered CFL bulb.

All that, and I haven't even touched on what's going to happen when all the mercury from discarded and "recycled" bulbs seeps into the ground and ends up in the already-filthy water supply.

I'm no fan of ordinary incandescent lights, either -- I'm convinced they're responsible for poor health and cataracts. But in this case it's a lesser of two evils. And if you hope to keep using them, you'd better stock up now.

Soon, you won't have a choice.

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.