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Understanding how pesticides work

3/1/2015

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hey gang,
in my fact I had a recommendation to remove existing grasses with a herbicide such a roundup. THe commentary I received from many of our fans is that:
1: roundup is a poison that is killing the bees.
2. Roundup sticks around in the environment for a long time
3. some people just hate roundup!

So I thought it a good idea to provide a little education. Firstly roundup is a glycophosphate herbicide. 
Herbicides kill grasses and plants. This generally works by attacking a plants growth mechanisms. Animals and insects do not have these particular mechanisms so largely are unaffected by these herbicides.
Secondly there is an issue of concentration. Chemicals have to be present is sufficient concentration to work. so a herbicide present in tiny amounts below its effective concentration will not work. And there are literally millions of potentially dangerous chemicals present in all things in trace amounts all the time around us and we do not get sick from them,
For example cyanide. This is present in almonds  in trace amounts and you would have to eat a large amount (several KG) to get a lethal dose. Same goes for pesticides and herbicides. in really small amounts it is no big deal.
at the moment the neonicotinoid debate rages on. THe current thinking is small amounts of neonics interfere with the foraging abilities of the bee. This may be possible but again we are talking about really small amounts of pesticides (not roundup) that are potentially causing this. I am skeptical as this is a very hard thing to test.  As how do you measure foraging ability? or the ingested amounts of the trace neonics. It seems to me that loss of habitat and lack of biodiversity are more likely culprits
Hence my third point. Roundup is hated by many of you. It is just  a herbicide that does a job. I wont comment upon Monsanto or gmos or other things as these are not important to saving the bees.  you can destroy grasses alot of ways and roundup just happens to be the most popular.But if you hate it, just flip or till or burn or use another herbicide if that floats your boat. Roundup is the most heavily scrutinized commercially available herbicide around, it has undergone extensive testing in most countries it is sold in and and is recommended by independent government bodies. 
And that is the science, backed up by hard fact and continual scrutiny

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    Author

    Scott is a qualified chemist, business owner, writer,   entrepreneur and inventor. Spends his spare time learning to play the ukulele with his daughters

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