by Gina McGuire
A new study shows that the herbicides commonly used across the United States contain highly toxic and undeclared “inactive” ingredients that are deadly to bumblebees. Published Friday at Journal of Applied Ecology.
The study reviewed several herbicide products and found that most of them contain glyphosate, which is a better ingredient than Roundup and most used Herbicides in the United States and around the world.
While the Disastrous The effects of glyphosate on bee populations are widely recognized, and the toxicity levels of inert ingredients are poorly understood because they do not undergo the same mandatory testing by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“Pesticides are manufactured and sold as formulations containing a mixture of compounds, including one or more active ingredients, and possibly many inactive ingredients,” explained Food Safety Center in a statement. “Inert ingredients are added to pesticides to aid mixing and enhance the products’ ability to adhere to plant leaves, among other purposes.”
The study found that these inert materials can be highly toxic and hinder the bees’ ability to breathe, causing them to drown. While the researchers found that some formulations of the inactive ingredients had no negative effects on bees, one formulation of the herbicide killed 96% of the bees within 24 hours.
According to the summary of the study:
Bees showed a mortality rate of 94% using Roundup® Ready – To – Use® and a 30% mortality rate using Roundup® ProActive®, over a 24-hour period. Weedol® did not cause significant deaths, indicating that the active ingredient, glyphosate, was not the cause of death. 96% of deaths from Roundup® No Glyphosate support this conclusion.
“This important new study reveals a fatal flaw in how pesticide products are regulated here in the United States,” He said Jess Tyler is a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The question now is, will the Biden administration fix this problem, or will it allow the EPA to continue its past practice of ignoring the harms of pesticides in the real world?”
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According to the Food Safety Center there Be Currently 1,102 patented formulas contain the active ingredient glyphosate, each with a proprietary blend of inactive ingredients. In 2017, the group filed a legal petition Asking the Environmental Protection Agency to compel companies to provide safety data for pesticide formulations that contain inert ingredients.
“The Environmental Protection Agency should begin requesting tests for all pesticide formulations to find out the toxicity of bees, reveal the identity of the” secret “additives for the formulations so that scientists can study them, and prohibit the application of the herbicide Roundup to flowering plants when the bees are present and killed, He said Bill Frieze, director of science at the Center for Food Safety. “Our legal petition provided the EPA with a blueprint to work on this issue from full wording. Now they need to take that blueprint and turn it into action, before it’s too late for pollinators.”
ATTN EPA: Unannounced “inactive” components at # Pesticide Products require more scrutiny!
A new study is a different comparison #Glyphosate Formulations, and finding a highly variable toxicity for bumblebees. One combination killed 96% of bees in 24 hours! https://t.co/Iu6TcSifflCenter for Food Safety 4 (CFSTrueFood) April 16, 2021
News report – too linked Cancer in Humans – Originally produced by agrochemical giant Monsanto, which was acquired by German pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Bayer in 2018.
The two companies’ merger has been condemned by environmentalists and food safety groups warned You will grow the largest supplier of genetically modified seeds and toxic pesticides in the world.
Source: Shared dreams
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Gina McGuire is an editing assistant at the Common Dreams newsroom.