Report: Monsanto’s Roundup system threatens extinction of monarch butterflies

[Heretic]

In case anyone was wondering, that's probably not a good thing for us.

Yeah, I don't believe it's what Herbert Spencer meant man to do with his phrase "survival of the fittest".

[aGENT]

Not to be mean, but other than looking pretty, what does the Monarch do to better this planet?

Pollination. It's kind of a big thing.

The're also a food source for numerous species of birds etc.

They're like an integral part of the ecosystem man...

[Chalky]

Not to be mean, but other than looking pretty, what does the Monarch do to better this planet?

It's a pollinator. That is a very important aspect of ecology. Given humans have already decided not to save Bees, we should be very careful not to destroy the Butterfly.

EDIT: Sorry JR, I didn't scroll and see you had just said pretty much the exact same thing.

[Offensive Threat]

It's a pollinator. That is a very important aspect of ecology. Given humans have already decided not to save Bees, we should be very careful not to destroy the Butterfly.

Milkweed is necessary for monarch Butterflies to reproduce but it kills honey bees. ( the way the pollen is attached to the insect the honeybee is usually not strong enough to disengage from the plant and is trapped to die there)

[RUPERTKBD]

Pollination. It's kind of a big thing.

The're also a food source for numerous species of birds etc.

They're like an integral part of the ecosystem man...

I always wondered what JR looked like.

Now we know he's a 60's version of Paul Stanley...

[aGENT]

I'm guessing not a lot of farmers on this board

Canada is full of people who want what is best for the environment, which is a good thing. Unfortunately most people (the average citizens) have little or no knowledge of food production and the challenges it faces. With no education on the subject, people are easily swayed by propaganda. Look at A&W new "no added hormone campaign". You can always tell how much a person knows about agriculture by the arguments they use against the technology. With all do respect, the arguments often used are flawed. I encourage you all to do your own research from peer reviewed journals. There is ALOT if information out there so it can be hard to filter through the BS. There are over 2000 peer reviewed papers on the subject actually, and over 600 of those are independently funded. They all support the technology that Monsanto and other biotech companies produce. Farmers need every tool at their disposal if we are going to feed 10 Billion people by 2050. Don't be the person that blindly opposes technology you know nothing about.

Comprehensive, 30 YEAR study showing that organic farming, in comparison to "conventional" ( ) farming:

-Matches conventional yields.

-Outperforms conventional yields in years of drought.

-Builds rather than depletes organic soil matter for better sustainability.

-Uses 45% less energy/is more efficient.

-Produce 40% less greenhouse gases.

-Are more profitable.

-Increases ground water recharge and reduces runoff.

-Decreases toxic runoff to groundwater supplies.

http://66.147.244.123/~rodalein/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/FSTbookletFINAL.pdf

[Offensive Threat]

Comprehensive, 30 YEAR study showing that organic farming, in comparison to "conventional" ( ) farming:

-Matches conventional yields.

-Outperforms conventional yields in years of drought.

-Builds rather than depletes organic soil matter for better sustainability.

-Uses 45% less energy/is more efficient.

-Produce 40% less greenhouse gases.

-Are more profitable.

-Increases ground water recharge and reduces runoff.

-Decreases toxic runoff to groundwater supplies.

http://66.147.244.123/~rodalein/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/FSTbookletFINAL.pdf

Organic is more profitable because they charge a massive premium at the retail level.

[Green Building]

Organic is more profitable because they charge a massive premium at the retail level.

Depends on where you shop, and if you are shopping when things are abundant and in season. Quality over quantity anyways. I'll always spend a bit more money and get a more flavourful and nutrient rich piece of fruit or vegetable that was grown without sprays or other chemicals its regular counterpart.

Just like anything though organic isn't always better, and those goods can be subject to the same speed cropping that results in bland flavours. I'll pay the premium for quality if I feel it's justified.

Comprehensive, 30 YEAR study showing that organic farming, in comparison to "conventional" ( ) farming:

-Matches conventional yields.

-Outperforms conventional yields in years of drought.

-Builds rather than depletes organic soil matter for better sustainability.

-Uses 45% less energy/is more efficient.

-Produce 40% less greenhouse gases.

-Are more profitable.

-Increases ground water recharge and reduces runoff.

-Decreases toxic runoff to groundwater supplies.

http://66.147.244.123/~rodalein/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/FSTbookletFINAL.pdf

Any farmer (and they do have a tough gig out on the fields, so props to the career choice) will admit that crop rotation and knowing what crops fertilize the soil for future years is the best thing for the soil, as well as the overall crop health. They will also admit that leaving fields empty results in a loss of revenue, so they load up and fertilize which, over the course of several seasons, leaves the ground parched of proper nutrients. They literally kill the underground ecosystem that has been perfected by nature over millions of years and expect things to be just fine by sprinkling a little magic on the ground.

Truly ridiculous mindset.

Luckily, there are some people who are aware of this and grow properly. Their food tastes better almost %100 of the time because it IS better almost %100 of the time.

[hsedin33]

Not to be mean, but other than looking pretty, what does the Monarch do to better this planet?

What do humans do to better this planet?

[Western Red]

Also, when Roundup is sprayed on garden center plants, the bees that pollinate said plants and flowers bring the toxic pollen to the hive and poison the larvae and themselves. It's really a sad thing.

[Green Building]

Also, when Roundup is sprayed on garden center plants, the bees that pollinate said plants and flowers bring the toxic pollen to the hive and poison the larvae and themselves. It's really a sad thing.

That's one of the reasons I hesitate to begin my urban beekeeping. As much as the idea fascinates me I have no control over where my bees gather their pollen. At least when I buy from my regular beekeeper I know his boxes spend time up in the mountains where human pollution is more secondary than not.

http://www.naturalnews.com/048661_honey_glyphosates_Roundup.html

Jesus, there are a lot of ads on that page. skip 'em here:

Sorry for the honey bee article hijack key2thecup, seemed relevant though.

A recent study by researchers from Boston University and Abraxis LLC found significant amounts of glyphosates in a food that you wouldn't necessarily expect: honey.

Five categories of food items were tested from Philadelphia grocery stores: honey, corn and pancake syrup, soy milk, tofu, and soy sauce. Sixty-two percent of the conventional honeys and 45% of the organic honeys sampled had levels of glyphosates above the minimum established limits.

It's hard to ignore the presence of glyphosate in a large portion of our food supply. Glyphosate is the main ingredient in Monsanto's star herbicide, Roundup. It is interesting to note that the level of glyphosates was much higher in honey from countries that permitted GM crops; honey from the U.S. contained the highest levels.

Even the Organic Honey?

So how did so many of the 69 honey samples, including 11 organic samples, tested contain such high levels of glyphosates? There are two reasons for this. Given that a single honeybee can fly over 6 miles to find nectar and bring back a total of 250 pounds of nectar a year, modern life is set up so that it is almost impossible for them to avoid harmful substances. Pesticides, herbicides, and toxins released into the air from factories and cities make it impossible for all but the most remote beehives to maintain 100% purity.

There's also the issue of the wax that bees use for their hives. Bees are at risk for Varroa mites, an external parasite that reproduces in the hives, so conventional beekeepers frequently use pesticides to get rid of them. Beeswax retains chemicals, so over time, these chemicals build up and make their way into the honey. While the use of pesticides directly on the beehives isn't an issue for beekeepers using organic methods, the issue is where they source their wax. A survey of pesticide residues in beehives found that over 98% of them contained at least one pesticide. With such a large amount of wax contaminated, it's likely that organic beekeepers who purchase commercially available wax will be unable to avoid these toxins.

[Heretic]

What do humans do to better this planet?

A lot.

[Offensive Threat]

A lot.

Not to mention that without intelligence all of existence is pointless.

[nucklehead]

Are you saying that without mankind this planet would not thrive? Because in the grand scheme of things we have not been on the planet very long.

[nuck nit]

What do humans do to better this planet?

A lot.

You guys need to make a trip to Asia.

So many people,laughable human rights,no animal rights,not a thought for the environment.

Here folks throw their trash out of their cars and from motorbikes into the oceans,roadsides,streams,rivers,ditches-everywhere.

I pay $2 month for garbage pickup in a fairly exclusive area but still folks throw their garbage into empty lots cuz they don't want to pay $2 a month.

People-kids,adults,teenagers with guns shooting birds in your back yard,netting the birds to sell them for a buck or two,dumping everything into the ocean,always throwing garbage anywhere they wish,burning plastics and garbage all over,no recycling of toxic wastes or hazardous anything-just dump it or burn it.

Puppies and kittens thrown on to streets to die in a ditch or get run over , any animal that can net a buck is captured and sold in a market, police only interested in getting off their duffs if they can make a buck out of it .

The majority of the world live here and all this dumping and burning and environmental destruction is coming your way.

It already has and it is a quickening.

There is near complete lack of intelligence,leading to a pointless extinction.

[aGENT]

Organic is more profitable because they charge a massive premium at the retail level.

Actually the price disparity (particularly in the US) is because, it's not subsidized up the wazoo like "conventional" farming (which BTW is entirely ass-backwards). Tax dollars should go to subsidizing healthier, more sustainable, less polluting farming, not supporting giant agricultural-corp farming. But that would require voters to stand up to their massive lobbying efforts (and the inevitable lawsuits).

But the better profitability actually comes from having to pay FAR less to those companies for their poisonous seeds, fertilizers, more water use etc. Or do you actually have something concrete to refute what the comprehensive 30 year study says?

[aGENT]

That's one of the reasons I hesitate to begin my urban beekeeping. As much as the idea fascinates me I have no control over where my bees gather their pollen. At least when I buy from my regular beekeeper I know his boxes spend time up in the mountains where human pollution is more secondary than not.

http://www.naturalnews.com/048661_honey_glyphosates_Roundup.html

Jesus, there are a lot of ads on that page. skip 'em here:

Sorry for the honey bee article hijack key2thecup, seemed relevant though.

You might be interested:

https://action.sumofus.org/a/bayer_lawsuit_oneoff/2/2/?akid=9674.7718149.jpDRGI&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=4

We've just received a letter from a major corporate agribusiness firm threatening legal action unless we stop our campaign to save the bees.

The letter came from a contractor for Bayer, one of the biggest producers of bee-killing pesticides in the world--which means we could be facing a long, drawn out legal fight against corporations with incredibly deep pockets.

After talking it over, we've decided there's no way we're going to stop working to save the bees.

Also this:

http://action.sumofus.org/a/bayer-bees-lawsuit/

Wow. Bayer, BASF and Syngenta are suing the European Commission to overturn a ban on the pesticides that are killing millions of bees around the world.

A huge public push won this landmark ban -- and we can't sit back and let Big Pesticide overturn it while the bees vanish.

Last summer, 37 million bees were discovered dead on a single Canadian farm. And unless we act now, the bees will keep dying. We have to show Bayer and Co. now that we won't tolerate them putting their profits ahead of our planet's health.

Sign the petition to tell Bayer, BASF and Syngenta to drop their bee-killing lawsuits now.

The dangerous chemicals Bayer and Co. make are neonicotinoids, or neonics. Neonics are soaked into seeds, spreading through the plant and killing insects stopping by for a snack. These pesticides can easily be replaced by other chemicals which don't have such a devastating effect on the food chain. But companies like Bayer, BASF and Syngenta make a fortune from selling neonics -- so they'll do everything they can to protect their profits.

The EU banned these bee-killers in May 2013, after a massive public campaign and a clear scientific finding from the European Food Safety Authority that neonics pose huge risks to bee populations. Let's defend this landmark ban for the bees and our food supply.

Sign the petition now to tell Bayer, BASF and Syngenta to drop their aggressive lawsuits!

Worse still, a EU report that could have banned dozens of pesticides has been buried -- due to industry's massive lobbying. We cannot allow Bayer and Co. to intimidate European authorities. The current ban on bee-killing pesticides is up for review soon, so let's make sure their lobby efforts aren't successful this time!

Bayer is an enormous company with a ton of public-facing brands. Neonics are a big part of its bottom line, but it can't afford poor publicity on a global scale. And if word gets out that Bayer is wrecking our ecosystem and threatening a creature responsible for pollinating a third of all our crops, the company will have to back down.

SumOfUs have been right at the front of the global campaign to save our bees. We came together to fight Bayer at a huge independent garden store show in Chicago, where the German chemical maker was out in force. Tens of thousands from the SumOfUs community have also taken action to demand that big stores Home Depot and Lowe's stop selling the bee killing chemicals. But if we don't keep standing up to Bayer, we can't win.

Sign the petition to tell Bayer, BASF and Syngenta to drop their bee-killing lawsuits now.

[Green Building]

You might be interested:

https://action.sumofus.org/a/bayer_lawsuit_oneoff/2/2/?akid=9674.7718149.jpDRGI&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=4

Also this:

http://action.sumofus.org/a/bayer-bees-lawsuit/

I didn't know they were suing, but I'm not surprised. From their point of view, pesticides are still accepted by a majority of people so of course they'll fight for theirs, and their lost revenue.

From my point of view, I hope they lose the lawsuit.

I read an article in January that had an all-telling phrase about the mindset of farming today. It was based on farmers reactions to the invasion of pests after the neonicotinoid ban, and how farmers have been "forced to go back to older chemistry".

Maybe they could try going back a little further than that.

[Dittohead]

Roundup is designed to kill weeds in crop fields. Milkweed is a weed that grows in crop fields, among other places. Now, because Monsantos roundup works as intended, they are evil.

Milkweed grows in places other than farmers fields. Various types grow all over Canada and the US. Why would the loss of milkweed just in farmers fields and surrounding areas cause an extinction level event for the butterflies?

Because some people like to fearmonger and spread lies.

Glyphosate degrades rapidly and does nor persist in the environment for very long. People claiming round up used at garden centres poison bees are wrong. if the weed or plant that has been treated will die quickly so therefore no bees will be pollinating it.

[aGENT]

Glyphosate can actually remain active for a year or more depending on soil make up,environmental conditions (frozen soil) etc.

Beeswax is also a natural preservative fyi which will preserve (and accumulate) toxins as well.