- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Few inventions
have altered agriculture recently as much as Roundup weedkiller, but now
scientists are concerned that farmers are using the herbicide so heavily
it is losing its effectiveness against some of the world's peskiest weeds.
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- "It's going to happen. It's inevitable," said
Bob Hartzler, a weed scientist at Iowa State University.
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- Known generically as glyphosate, Roundup is powerful
yet environmentally benign. It has led to the widespread adoption of soil-saving
techniques that reduce land erosion and combat global warming. Even home
gardeners are likely to have a version of Roundup in their garage arsenal.
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- Roundup has been around for nearly 30 years but exploded
in popularity in the late 1990s with the development of genetically engineered
soybeans, cotton and other crops that are immune to the herbicide. That
change means farmers can spray their fields with the relatively cheap weedkiller
whenever it's needed with no fear it will harm the crops.
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- Roundup-immune soybeans now account for 75 percent of
all the soybeans planted nationwide and in Iowa. Some 33 million pounds
of glyphosate were sprayed on soybean crops alone in 2001, a five-fold
increase from 1995, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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- Scientists are finding Roundup-resistant weeds in a variety
of states, from Iowa to Delaware. Scientists are so concerned that some
200 showed up for a symposium on the issue last month in St. Louis.
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- Monsanto Co., which invented both Roundup and the Roundup-immune
crops, has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency to alter Roundup
labels to add special instructions for farmers in areas with resistant
weeds.
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- A rival manufacturer of glyphosate, Syngenta, is advising
farmers not to apply the chemical more than twice in every two-year period
and not to plant glyphosate-resistant crops in the same field every year.
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- "The warning signs are already out there,"
said economist Charles Benbrook, a critic of the biotech industry and a
former executive director of the National Academy of Sciences" board
on agriculture.
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- If herbicide-tolerant weeds gain hold, land prices could
slip and farmers would be forced to start using additional chemicals, adding
to their costs and potentially increasing environmental risks.
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- No alternatives to Roundup are on the horizon. Industry
experts say Roundup has been so effective for so long that there has been
no financial incentive for chemical companies to develop a substitute.
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- Farmers love the bioengineered soybeans because they
say Roundup makes it easier and cheaper to control the weeds. Ron Heck
of Perry, Ia., says he used to spend $20 to $40 an acre on weed control.
Now the cost is down to about $15 an acre, even accounting for the special
fee for the seed.
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- Growers also say the biotech soybeans have allowed them
to farm more land and spend more time with their families, or in some cases
take a second job.
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- Monsanto throws in some more incentives: If the biotech
crops fail, the company will refund some of the seed cost. And if the herbicide
doesn't kill the weeds, farmers can get additional Roundup for free.
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- Roundup is so effective as a herbicide that many farmers
are no longer tilling their fields to control weeds. Less tillage means
less erosion and stores carbon in the soil, thereby limiting the production
of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. No-till soybean acreage
increased by 35 percent from 1995 to 2000, according to one study.
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- Herbicide resistance in weeds is nothing new. It happens
regularly with weedkillers, except, until recently, with Roundup.
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- Some of the first significant reports of Roundup-resistant
weeds in the United States surfaced in Delaware. Mare's-tail, or horseweed,
that could not be killed by the herbicide was found on several farms in
2000. Scientists said they had to spray the weeds with 10 times the recommended
rate of the herbicide to kill the plants.
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- Scientists in Iowa and Missouri have found fields with
types of waterhemp, a prolific Midwestern weed, that are significantly
more tolerant of glyphosate than others. More than a quarter of the weeds
collected from one Iowa field survived being treated with Roundup.
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- The scientists say it remains to be seen how quickly
the hardier weeds will spread.
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- "Everybody is in reasonable agreement that the evolution
of glyphosate resistance in waterhemp is inevitable," said ISU scientist
Mike Owen.
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- Monsanto, which generates 50 percent of its annual sales
from Roundup, says there are two U.S. weeds that are resistant to it -
mare's-tail and ryegrass - but company officials say the problem isn't
serious. They don't consider waterhemp resistant.
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- David Heering, who manages the technical side of the
Roundup business for Monsanto, said rival companies like Syngenta are trying
to discourage farmers from using the glyphosate-resistant, or Roundup Ready,
crops because they cut into sales of other herbicides. "As we see
increased adoption of Roundup Ready, they are going see lost business,"
Heering said.
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- Chemical companies have another reason to discourage
use of Roundup Ready crops: Monsanto profits from the special technology
fee it charges on every bag of the gene-altered seed. Other companies do
not.
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- Syngenta officials say they are trying to ensure that
glyphosate, which they market as Touchdown, remains effective.
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- In Iowa, farmers typically don't plant soybeans in the
same field two years in a row, as some Eastern growers do, so there is
less chance of overusing the herbicide. But some farmers are considering
growing Roundup Ready corn in addition to Roundup Ready soybeans, and that
could increase use of the weedkiller and speed up the spread of resistant
weeds, some scientists say.
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- More about Roundup
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- Roundup herbicide, introduced by Monsanto Co. in 1974,
works by interfering with a key enzyme in plants and preventing then from
making essential amino acids. People and animals don't have the enzyme,
making the chemical relatively safer than many other pesticides.
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- POPULARITY: Use of Roundup, known generically as glyphosate,
exploded when Monsanto scientists figured out how to make crops immune
to it by inserting into them a soil bacterium gene. The bacterium contains
an enzyme similar to the one that plants naturally have. The biotech crops
accounted for about 75 percent of the soybeans, 50 percent of the cotton
and 10 percent of the corn planted by U.S. farmers last year.
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- FRIENDLY: Roundup also is widely used by homeowners and
along roads and railways. Glyphosate is considered so environmentally friendly
that it is used to control weeds on the ecologically unique Galapagos Islands.
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- AWARDS: The Monsanto scientist who first identified the
herbicidal activity in glyphosate was awarded the National Medal of Technology
in 1987. In 1994, Farm Chemicals magazine called Roundup one of the top
10 products that "changed the face of agriculture."
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- http://www.connectotel.com/gmfood/dm100103.txt
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- Comment
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- From Mary Sparrowdancer
1-12-3
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- The above news article begs further comment. In addition,
it also raises questions whether this is, in actuality, a "news article"
or a self-serving advertisement.
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- I wish to address the following comment excerpted from
the article:
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- "Roundup is so effective as a herbicide that many
farmers are no longer tilling their fields to control weeds. Less tillage
means less erosion and stores carbon in the soil, thereby limiting the
production of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. No-till soybean
acreage increased by 35 percent from 1995 to 2000, according to one study."
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- The above statement appears to be disinformation as greenhouse
gases do not at all appear to be created by farmers tilling their soils
- the greenhouse gases appear to be caused by relentless use of combustible
fuels.
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