Roundup Weedkiller Weeds-R-Us 9 September 2018

Roundup Weedkiller

Weeds-R-Us

9 September 2018

We’re serving up weedkiller in Cheerios, sandwiches, corn chips and everything soy. We were sold a bill of goods. Not to worry; totally harmless. First successful lawsuit has challenged Monsanto’s in-house research assurances. A few million in litigation pain, and a jolly good start.

My cousin lost her life, leaving two little kids, via a Glyphosate-infiltrated well–Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma thirty years ago, age 27. Many neighbors had the same issue and were ailing. I attended her funeral; she was the first to die.

They lived in rural, flat Virginia–hot, humid. They were not farmers but plenty Roundup-based farming in her area. Sprays tended to settle and not disperse.

Have often thought with pity of the American Midwest, former breadbasket of the world–now laid waste by GMO corn and soy mega-plantings, mega-sprayed. (Also those who spend big bucks to live alongside heavily-sprayed–at night–golf courses)

My commodities broker lived in the Midwest, an old farm boy into the GMO-corn-ethanol canard, but cognizant of herbicides approaching eco-saturation, land, air and water. He worried about having children, and longed for a family.

When I organic-farmed in dairy country in the Blue Ridge Mts. of Virginia, the dairy farms had stopped crop-rotation, and gone to no-till corn (spray the living daylights out of the land instead–dead roots help prevent erosion.) Farmers who sprayed looked like death warmed over, liver-poison-sallow. The deep valleys and wind didn’t stop wind drift of their Ag-sprays, but dispersed much of it.

When I finally went down for the count from Power Co. right-of-way !surprise! use of 2,4-D, I couldn’t tolerate spray drift anymore, Had to sell the farm and get a year’s worth of holistic medical intervention. Had dropped to less than 4% female body fat while ill.

The MD said, no more acute or chronic exposures; eat only organically grown food…

Decided then, that if I lived, doubtful at the time, I would find somewhere with contiguous ranches and family farms deciding for sustainable agriculture.

Did so and consider myself blessed, though with an attitude-problem toward regulatory agencies and the revolving doors with bayer/monsatan and their ilk.