Blunder through Not Knowing the Facts about Glyphosate
No one can commit suicide, by taking in a smaller amount of Glyphosate as in the case of any other organophosphorus herbicide or pesticide, But Sri Lanka is on the path of committing an economical and Food Security suicide by persisting the total ban on Glyphosate
I welcome the move by the Minister of Plantation and Export Crops to lift the Ban on Glyphosate for Tea and Rubber Plantations and the move to produce Glyphosate for the local need, which warrants extensive researching for the suitable base for each Zonal soil types so that the product degraded easily by soil microbes.
Does Continuing the Ban on other areas rationalized?
What is Glyphosate?
It is basically a derivative of an amino acid of known by the name Glycine, which is in found our body (for that matter any living organism) abundantly and also produced in our body as part of essential proteins for the body and life. Amino acid Glycine is industrially phosphonated to yield – Glyphosate with IUPAC name N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine and though identified as an organophosphorus, it is rather a phosphonate compound - (phosphonomethyl)amino]acetic acid, which is very broad-spectrum weedicide, fungicide as well as an antibacterial – therefore an economic saver and at times a booster for agricultural sector. Glyphosate has not been included in compounds tested for by the Food and Drug Administration's Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program. (Poisonous Pesticide listing)
This product Glyphosate has been promoted to be used in by Tea Research Institute Sri Lanka since 1984, first in Tea estates then, popularly gain ground as save solution against the ever dominant weeds in dry zone to save the crop cultivations particularly paddy fields. Those placed the ban on Glyphosate shall realize that weeds are always successful dominant to absorb the nutrients as well as the wetness needed by the crops thus can cripple the yield of any cultivation even coconut, and prolonged absence of proper weeding and weedicide will endanger the Food Security of the Nation.
This Glyphosate should never be confused with another highly very dangerous weedicide Glufosinate.
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Sri Lanka
Though this disease has been prevalent among the people of Dry Zone alone quite a long time, for more than 15 years and extensive reporting after the end of the war, researchers are yet to define an etiology of the CKD, but the politically motivated authorities have made many ad hoc attributions as cause the disease. The main attribution made was fertilizers and weedicides leaching the water sources long before establishing it scientifically, blindly banned all the artificial fertilizers and commercial weedicides – a heavy blow for agricultural economy thriving.
Somewhere in 2010, I reported to Ministry of Health accrediting CKD to a Zoonotic infectious disease Borreliosis that may cause urine with heavy metals such as cadmium and phosphorous as found in CKD patients – nothing I heard until a doctor attached to the Medical Research Institute (MRI) told me that there was a paper by my name at MRI about the ongoing CKD – at a rendezvous for another common cause on 6th November 2017 at the Medical Council Office. It’s believed that extensive work that goes on and Tallying the Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) epidemiology with Zoonotic Interaction areas of Dry Zone Sri Lanka reveal that the main reason of CKD is, a Zoonotic Infection known by the name of Borreliosis or Lyme disease, involving Borrelia Spirochete bacteria, transmitted by Ixodes ticks and its larva and nymph to Deer, Buffaloes, need cattle and particularly to dogs, from all of those or directly to humans. Muddy and mash land migratory birds also play a role in infecting the human in a paddy field indirectly. It was "Lyme disease" on the face of urine passed by affected contained heavy metals and heamoglobin.
CKD Patients passing urine with heavy metals prompted the authorities to suspect water leaching or pollution by organophosphorus compounds used in agriculture, and the political authorities who always find the shortcut for popularity without trying to identify which and which is (or) not leaching the water placed the total ban on agriculture aiding chemicals. Politically motivated people including few Buddhist Monks with vested interests dragging the country into further trouble by preaching for impractical chemical-free agriculture in the modern era.
In these circumstances isn’t an absolute blunder to accredit completely wrong etiology for CKD and continue the Ban of Glyphosate that completely cripples the dry zone farmers health-wise and economic-wise?
Some unknown Facts about Glyphosate
By the 2000 year Government, USA and EU announced Glyphosate is free of any health hazards for humans though far latter some organizations aroused suspicion as of carcinogen only to be officially doused by expert researchers. The U.S. has determined the acceptable daily intake of glyphosate at 1.75 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day (mg/kg/bw/day) while the European Union has set it at 0.3, and these values are very far higher than expected daily exposure level by the end users.
Efficacy and mode of action of Glyphosate against microorganisms including numerous bacteria and fungi had been described since its invention in 1970 and is very effective against Malaria causing Plasmodium falciparum along with Toxoplasma gondii, and Cryptosporidium parvum. The latter two are worldwide zoonotic infectious and Glyphosate has been a very effective antimicrobial agent in mammals, and as well has been allowed to be used in grazing grasslands after successful extensive lethal dosing testing in various animals. Since 2008 glyphosate has been identified as an ideal herbicide for the revival of the ecosystem as well as for agriculture by the Department of Agriculture USA and by the experts of Australia.on weeding.
Sri Lankan Blunder through Not Knowing the Facts
A significant advantage carried by Glyphosate readily binds and absorbed into the soil and thus the polluting the water on its own very minimum unless it is sprayed directly into the water source areas, or soil erosion that occurs as a result of heavy rain immediately after spraying of Glyphosate onto the fields. Even it reaches the water by above-described means, it is not broken down readily by water or sunlight. Therefore Glyphosate is far superior safer than any other herbicide proposed to replace all of which failed to bind to the soil hence released their dangerous degradation products free and fast. From the discussions above, if the water pollution is responsible for CKD, it would have been upcountry peasants who should have affected by CKD first and not alone by Dry Zone farmers, but there is not a single case CKD reported from upcountry Wet Zone; thus it is absolute nonsense to implicate Glyphosate as water pollutant as well as with CKD. Further detergents used by the peasants at the natural water source front can release the same degradation product aminomethyl phosphonic acid as Glyphosate, if at all Glyphosate or its salts or any other carbonic fertilizers actually leaches the waterfront and degrades into finer molecules.
By 2017 November, EU, usually very sensitive to Safety and Toxicity controls allowed Glyphosate to be used as herbicide without further analysis for next five years. This is after the 2016 joint meeting of the United Nations (FAO) Panel of Experts on Pesticide Residues in Food and the Environment and the World Health Organization Core Assessment Group on Pesticide Residues freed Glyphosate as of any health hazard danger at the anticipated exposure level while used by individual farmers. EU expert panel explaining the WHO stand for 2 A carcinogen*, demands strict surveillance of distribution of various trader products of Glyphosate, because Glyphosate in its pure form is free of any harm, but the additives as preservatives and surfactants for enhanced penetration of cuticle of herbs as in the case of ®Roundup of Monsanto USA.. Therefore it is crystal clear the situation demands a close scrutiny of what is brought into the country rather than total ban that allows our opportunistic clever traders use the plight of the farmer community to import any other dangerous replacer or unregulated Glyphosate and sell at exorbitant prices.
Glyphosate is an acid molecule, so it is neutralized as a salt with a weaker base for packaging and handling. Various salt formulations include isopropyl-amine, di-ammonium, mono-ammonium, or potassium as the counter-ion. The active ingredient in the Roundup of Monsanto herbicides is the isopropyl-amine salt of glyphosate. Another important ingredient in some formulations is the surfactant, poly-ethoxylated tallow amine. Some brands include more than one salt. Some companies report their product as an acid equivalent of glyphosate acid or some report it as the active ingredient of glyphosate plus the salt, and others report both. To compare the performance of different formulations, an acidity test be carried out; given that different salts have different weights of glyphosate, the acid equivalent is a more accurate method of expressing and comparing concentrations. Therefore not only the ban should be lifted there should be a tax relaxation for import towards nearly 100% Glyphosate, to boost the agricultural economy of the nation. Toxicologists have thoroughly investigated all such glyphosate-containing formulations presented by all companies as well as the glyphosate alone.
Glyphosate is absorbed through foliage, and minimally through roots, and transported to growing points. It inhibits a plant enzyme involved in the synthesis of three aromatic amino acids: tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine. Therefore, it is effective only on actively growing plants and is not effective as a pre-emergence herbicide. Glyphosate by binding to soil help even desiccation of crops as well to be cultivated evenly, saving time and economy. (Short-term crops)
Just two months ago Sri Lankan Tea industry received the first major blow by the ban of Glyphosate, as Japan has rejected last two consecutive consignments of tea from Sri Lanka, as the tea leaves have been found with residues of MCP, a replacer weedicide of Glyphosate. This will escalate further to eliminate the tea industry as the traditional and attractive foreign exchange earner if Glyphosate ban persisted any further.
*WHO - 2 A Carcinogenic category 2015 – represents “There is not enough evidence of carcinogenic for human, but there is evidence of carcinogenic in animals mechanistically similar to Humans”.
This promulgation was challenged for misinformation by many quarters as of trader aligned and that brought WHO to sit with FAO for a fresh promulgation the following year 2016 - a joint meeting of the United Nations (FAO) Panel of Experts on Pesticide Residues in Food and the Environment and the World Health Organization Core Assessment Group on Pesticide Residues reported that studies conducted in mammal animal models showed that oral applications of glyphosate at doses as high as 2000 mg/kg was “not associated with genotoxic effects in an overwhelming majority of studies", and that glyphosate was "unlikely to be genotoxic at anticipated dietary exposures". It also reported that glyphosate is unlikely to be carcinogenic in rodents and concluded that glyphosate was "unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans" from dietary exposure.
There may be numerous court cases by individuals due to the Trader Competition to suppress the safest weedicide; Glyphosate-salts as the most successful weedicide and replaced all the other weedicides among its users. The Glyphosate was not air dropped suddenly over-night, but itself a product of extensive research for safer weedicide against the other more higher toxic weedicides such as Carbosulphan, Propanophos, Diazinon etc. all which have to be sprayed multiple times, compared to the just one spray of Glyphosate base until the harvest of a particular short-term crop and as a result, rapidly replaced the all the weedicides easily at the end users, for safer, cheaper and less time consuming to eradicate the weeds against grown crops. Other companies do not want to be just mere onlookers of their products slamming the bottom of the sales, and Dr. Charles. W. Jameson a member of the International Agency for Cancer (IARC) was got caught in the ulterior motives of the companies producing the named highly toxic weedicides, was responsible for erroneously categorise Glyphosate as 2A Carcinogen* and no wonder he doesn’t want to just sit back and watch his own nose-cut failed attempts to fault the Glyphosate as a carcinogen, that is how this toxicologist became a prime technical witness for an individual court case against the "Round- U"P company Monsanto – this individual as a groundsmen had been using the Glyphosate round the year many times and his individual tolerance would have been very low due to various bodily and environmental reasons that wouldn’t have come into contention onto the damages claiming suit, amounting to million dollars, who would not like a manifold pay for single job done?
By. Dr. S. Mahadeva, Mobile Veterinary Surgeon UN-FAO,
National Consultant Wildlife Veterinarian, Department of Wildlife Conservation,
Visiting Lecturer - Examiner Medical - Microbiology and Zoonotic Diseases Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna.
There may be numerous court cases by individuals due to the Trader Competition to suppress the safest weedicide; Glyphosate-salts as the most successful weedicide and replaced all the other weedicides among its users. The Glyphosate was not air dropped suddenly over-night, but itself a product of extensive research for safer weedicide against the other more higher toxic weedicides such as Carbosulphan, Propanophos, Diazinon etc. all which have to be sprayed multiple times, compared to the just one spray of Glyphosate base until the harvest of a particular short-term crop and as a result, rapidly replaced the all the weedicides easily at the end users, for safer, cheaper and less time consuming to eradicate the weeds against grown crops. Other companies do not want to be just mere onlookers of their products slamming the bottom of the sales, and Dr. Charles. W. Jameson a member of the International Agency for Cancer (IARC) was got caught in the ulterior motives of the companies producing the named highly toxic weedicides, was responsible for erroneously categorise Glyphosate as 2A Carcinogen* and no wonder he doesn’t want to just sit back and watch his own nose-cut failed attempts to fault the Glyphosate as a carcinogen, that is how this toxicologist became a prime technical witness for an individual court case against the "Round- U"P company Monsanto – this individual as a groundsmen had been using the Glyphosate round the year many times and his individual tolerance would have been very low due to various bodily and environmental reasons that wouldn’t have come into contention onto the damages claiming suit, amounting to million dollars, who would not like a manifold pay for single job done?
By. Dr. S. Mahadeva, Mobile Veterinary Surgeon UN-FAO,
National Consultant Wildlife Veterinarian, Department of Wildlife Conservation,
Visiting Lecturer - Examiner Medical - Microbiology and Zoonotic Diseases Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna.
No comments:
Post a Comment