Glyphosate Decreases Yield, Seedling Quality Of Roundup Ready Soybeans; Increases Rate Of Fungal Disease

– Glyphosate decreases yield, seedling quality of Roundup Ready soybeans; increases rate of fungal disease (Natural News, July 10, 2014):

The blockbuster herbicide glyphosate (marketed as Roundup) causes toxic effects even to plants supposedly engineered to resist it, according to a study conducted by Brazilian researchers and published in the journal Planta Daninha. The researchers found that use of glyphosate on Roundup Ready soybeans led to an increase in fungal infections and to lower crop yields.

The study offers another blow to herbicide-resistant crops, which are increasingly coming under fire for promoting increased use of toxic chemicals without actually benefiting farmers through increased crop yields.

Even resistant crops are poisoned

Following their introduction in the 1990s, herbicide-resistant crops were widely adopted by farmers in a variety of countries, including the United States and Brazil. The new study was carried out over two seasons in Roundup Ready soybean fields in Mandaguari, Parana, Brazil. It was a randomized trial consisting of five separate applications of glyphosate.

The researchers found that glyphosate treatment led to increased infection with a fungus that causes leaf blight. In addition, increased doses of glyphosate led to a reduction in the proportion of seedlings that came up normal. The study also suggested that soybean yield decreased as glyphosate dose increased.

“The results indicate that there is potential for damage by glyphosate… which are most likely related to or arise from potential injuries or the deleterious action of glyphosate,” the researchers wrote.

“[C]hanges in the nutritional balance and physiology of the plant as a whole, as well as in photosynthesis and other biosynthetic processes, can lead to decreased biomass accumulation in the tissues of agronomic interest, with potential negative effects in not only plant development but also the productivity and quality of seed harvested.”

Herbicide “arms race”

Another recent study also concluded that glyphosate use did not increase crop yield in Roundup Ready crops. This finding came from a joint scientific report by the environmental agencies of Austria and Switzerland and the German nature conservation agency, BfN, which reviewed the existing research on the safety and effects of herbicide-resistant genetically engineered (GE) crop cultivation.

Rather than increasing yields, the report said, the primary motivation for using herbicide-resistant crops is to reduce costs for farmers. This benefit is largely enabled by the current low prices of herbicides.

Although herbicide-resistant crops are also touted as reducing use of toxic chemicals, the report found that the opposite was the case. In the first few years after the adoption of herbicide-resistant crops, herbicide use did decrease. Since 2000, however, herbicide use in GE fields has increased every single year.

This is because the use of herbicide-resistant crops encourages farmers to rely exclusively on just one or two herbicides for weed control, and to apply those chemicals in ever larger does. This, in turn, creates selective pressure for the evolution of new Roundup-resistant weeds, which leads farmers to use even higher doses of glyphosate, and so on.

Herbicide-resistant crops have also been in the news more because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering approval of new GE corn and soy varieties engineered for resistance not just to glyphosate but also to the Agent Orange ingredient 2,4-D.

“This is part of a growing problem, an escalating chemical arms race going on across America’s heartland,” wrote the Center for Food Safety at Dow-Watch.org. “Dow Chemical is hyping GE 2,4-D corn and soy as the solution to resistant weeds, but GE crop systems caused the ‘superweeds’ in the first place. Like Roundup before it, 2,4-D is only a temporary solution that will require more and more toxic chemicals leaching into our environment and food supply.”

Sources for this article include:

http://www.scielo.br

http://www.gmwatch.org

http://www.bfn.info [PDF]

http://www.nature.com

http://dow-watch.org

More important information on Glyphosate (Roundup):

– The Glyphosate Toxicity Studies You’re Not Allowed to See

– Reactions To Republication Of Landmark Seralini GMO Study

– Republication Of The Séralini Study: Science Speaks For Itself

– Dr. Schinasi: Glyphosate Herbicides Linked to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

– Monsanto’s Darkest Secret: Roundup’s Effect On The Fetus

– 3 Studies Proving Highly Toxic Glyphosate Found In Urine, Blood, And Even Breast Milk

– World’s Number 1 Herbicide Discovered In U.S. Mothers’ Breast Milk

– Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor Requests Total Ban Of Glyphosate Herbicides

– Dr Cattani: Roundup Causes Toxic Damage To Rat Brains

– Scientist Slams Biotech Industry Over Deadly Kidney Disease Epidemic

– Gov. Study: Roundup Weedkiller Found In 75% of Air And Rain Samples

– Monsanto’s Roundup Causes ‘Gluten Intolerance’

– Pesticide Formulations Up To 1000 Times More Toxic Than Active Ingredients Tested For Safety

– Study: Pesticide Evaluations Dishonest And Misleading

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– Governments Ignore Definitive Proof That Monsanto’s Roundup Causes Birth Defects

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– GMO And Monsanto Roundup: Glyphosate Weedkiller In Our Food and Water?

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– Study: New Review Of Hundreds Of Scientific Studies Surrounding Glyphosate Links Monsanto’s Roundup To Autism, Parkinson’s And Alzheimer’s

– USDA Received Dire Pathogen Warning BEFORE Deregulating GM Alfalfa

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– Jeffrey Smith’s Full Presentation On Deadly GMO’s (Video)

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– Shocking GMO Study: Rats Fed Lifetime Of GM Corn Grow Horrifying Tumors, 70% Of Females Die Early

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– Monsanto Secretly Poisoning Population With Roundup – Scientist And Friends Attacked For Exposing Roundup Link To Birth Defects

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– Scientists Warn Of Dangerous New Pathogen From Roundup Ready Treated Monsanto GM Crops Causing Infertility And Spontaneous Abortions

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– Study: Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Human Cells (Flashback)

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