Glyphosate pathogen new to science

Discussion in 'The big picture' started by matto, Jan 21, 2012.

  1. matto

    matto Junior Member

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    Don Huber, Emeritus Professor at Purdue University and senior scientist on USDA's National Plant Disease Recovery System, has been a plant physiologist and pathologist for over 40 years. His academic career began with 8 years as a cereal pathologist at the University of Idaho, and the next 35 years at Purdue University where he specialised in soil-borne disease control, physiology of disease, and microbial ecology. For the past 20 years, he has conducted extensive research into the effects of glyphosate on crops, in response to the increase in crop diseases on glyphosate-applied fields.

    Since his letter to the US Secretary of State Tom Vilsak was leaked in February 2011, there has been a great deal of controversy over what Huber described as a pathogen “new to science” and abundant in glyphosate-tolerant GM crops (see [2] Emergency! Pathogen New to Science Found in Roundup Ready GM Crops?, SiS 50). As he concluded in the letter:

    "We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders. This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem".

    His talk linked glyphosate to reduced nutrient availability in plants, increasing plant diseases, the emergence of a new pathogen, animal illness and possible effects on human health (see [3, 4] Glyphosate Tolerant Crops Bring Death and Disease, Scientists Reveal Glyphosate Poisons Crops and Soil, SiS 47).

    Pathogen new to science

    The conversion of US agriculture to monochemical herbicide practice has resulted in the extensive use of glyphosate herbicides. Coincidentally, farmers have been witnessing deterioration in the health of corn, soybean, wheat and other crops, and epidemics of diseases in small grain crops. All are associated with the extensive use of glyphosate, which has increased further since the introduction of glyphosate-tolerant, Roundup Ready (RR) crops.

    Glyphosate immobilises nutrients required to maintain plant health and resistance to disease. This weakening of the plants defence could explain the infestation of GM crops with the new pathogen, which has now been observed in horse, sheep, pigs, cows, chicken, multiple animal tissues including reproductive parts (semen, amniotic fluid), manure, soil, eggs, milk, as well as the common fungal pathogen that is currently infesting RR crops, Fusarium solani fsp glycines mycelium. All are coming into contact with glyphosate either through direct exposure or consumption through animal feed. It is also highly abundant in crops suffering from plant Goss’ wilt and sudden death syndrome.

    The pathogen can be cultured in the lab, and has been isolated from livestock foetal tissue, replicated in the lab and re-introduced back into the animals. It appears to be very common and may well be interacting with the effects of glyphosate on both plants and animals, exacerbating disease and causing reproductive failure in livestock (see below). Although great expectations have been placed on Huber to publish his findings, he insists that before this can be done, further resources are necessary to be able to characterise the 'entity' and identify what type of species it is, including sequencing of its genome. This is a slow process and once complete, it is his intention to publish the work in a peer-reviewed journal.

    Understanding glyphosate's mode of action

    Recognising glyphosate’s mechanism of action is the key to understanding how it may exert detrimental effects on the health of crops, animals, and the environment alike. Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide that interacts with a range of physiological processes in the plant and its environment. Although it is most commonly recognised to work through inhibition of the plant enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) involved in the production of aromatic amino acids in the shikimate pathway, it was actually first patented as a strong metal-chelator that binds to metals including manganese, magnesium, iron, nickel, zinc and calcium, many of which are important micronutrients acting as co-factors for plant enzymes in different physiological processes including the plants’ defence system. Indeed, it is actually through chelation of manganese that the EPSPS enzyme is inhibited.

    Rendering plants more susceptible to disease through glyphosate’s pathogenic activity is actually the way it exerts its herbicidal activity.

    This is done not just through immobilising nutrients in the plant but also impacting the agricultural system as a whole. Consistently, if glyphosate does not reach the root of a plant or the plant is grown in a sterile soil, the plant is not killed.

    Once in the soil, glyphosate is later immobilised through the chelation of cations, and is therefore very stable and not easily degraded. However, phosphorus (including phosphorus fertilisers) can desorb the herbicide, making it active once again in the soil.
    .

    Glyphosate immobilises nutrients critical for plant defence system and other functions

    One of Huber's important discoveries was the close correlation of all the known conditions affecting the disease 'take-all' with the availability of manganese to the plant and its physiological effect on resistance to this pathogen.

    Micronutrients are the activators or inhibitors of many critical physiological functions. Thus, a deficiency or change in availability of these regulatory elements can greatly affect plant growth and resistance to diseases and pests. Those metabolic pathways producing secondary anti-microbial compounds, pathogen-inhibiting amino acids and peptides, hormones involved in cicatrisation (walling off pathogens), callusing, and disease escape mechanisms can all be compromised by glyphosate.
    Micronutrients are also necessary for other processes in a plant.

    Manganese for example is not only involved in co-activating the EPSPS enzyme, with up to 25 other enzymes known to be affected by manganese chelation. Such enzymes are necessary for photosynthesis, in assimilating carbon dioxide in the electron transport chain, along with zinc. It also helps in the synthesis of chlorophyll and in nitrate assimilation.

    Numerous enzymes requiring other mineral co-factors are also affected, among them enzymes of the shikimate pathway, to which EPSPS belongs, are responsible for plant responses to stress and the synthesis of defence molecules against pathogens, such as amino acids, lignins, hormones, phytoalexins, flavenoids and phenols.

    Consistent with what is known about the role of micronutrients and glyphosate, the levels of key minerals have been measured in transgenic RR soybeans and found to be lower than those in isogenic non-transgenic varieties. Manganese was reduced by as much as 45 %, while iron was reduced by 49 % [5]. Similar deficiencies in mineral content have been found in non-GM varieties, suggesting that the glyphosate, and not the RR transgene, is responsible for reducing mineral availability [6].

    Glyphosate reduces photosynthesis, water uptake, amino acid production as well as lignin, a molecule conferring mechanical strength of the plant and crucial for conducting water through plant stems [7, 8].

    As Huber stated, the consequences of these nutrient deficiencies is that "crops don't look as good, are not as productive or rigorous, and are slower growing" (see Figure 2). He noted yield drags of 26 % for RR soybeans. Furthermore, with current concerns for global warming, plants that are up to 50 % less water-efficient, such as RR crops, are counter-productive and can only exacerbate problems.

    Huber stressed that there is nothing in the glyphosate tolerant crops that operates on the glyphosate applied to them. Consequently, although they have enough resistance to prevent them from dying (conferred by the EPSPS transgene), their overall physiological function is compromised by glyphosate. It therefore affects GM as well as non-GM crops through residual levels of glyphosate in the ground.

    In addition to chelating nutrients in the plants, glyphosate can lower mineral content through damaging beneficial soil organisms, including microbes producing indole-acetic acid (a growth-promoting auxin), earthworms, mycorrhizae associations, phosphorus & zinc uptake, microbes such as Pseudomonads, Bacillus that convert insoluble soil oxides to plant-available forms of manganese and iron, nitrogen-fixing bacteria Bradyrhizobium, Rhizobium, and organisms involved in the biological control of soil-borne diseases that reduce root uptake of nutrients.





    https://www.gmwatch.eu/latest-listi...-usda-scientist-reveals-hazards-of-glyphosate
     
  2. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Pardon my language but to quote my wife, "Why is this shit still legal?"
     
  3. Wombat

    Wombat Junior Member

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    Because the wheels of Government turn slowly. I graduated as a Pharmacist in 1970 - during our course we were taught a certain drug readily on the market was suspected of causing sudden death - particularly with alcohol - it was sold as a pain killer usually in combination with paracetamol - a poor combination due to vastly different metobolosm rates. Great Britain and Europe finally banned it about 18mths ago followed by the States about 12months ago - It is being withdrawn from the Australian market on the 1st March this year - what's that ..42years? Not bad - wonder how many people died in that time?
     
  4. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Scary stuff. What is the name of the drug Wombat?
     
  5. Wombat

    Wombat Junior Member

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    dextropropoxyphene - present in Capadex, Di-Gesic, Doloxene and Paradex
     
  6. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Hmm, that explains much with regards to the new Tylenol lawyer legal ads on tv now. Seems when you take it for a long time, in large doses it can harm your liver or destroy it.

    That's pretty damn sad that the goverments cannot keep up with technology in anyway, from SOPA / PIPA to this.
     
  7. Wombat

    Wombat Junior Member

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    Tylenol = paracetamol = Panadol etc Yes long term effects have been known for quite some time but as the drug was not intended for tong term use it was up to presecribers to limit its use. But governments change legislation so these potent drugs can be sold over the counter and in self selection isles of supermarkets, and Doctore won't stand up to patients who demand the drug for fear of loosing the patient, and when a Pharmacist steps in and points out to the Doctor the patient is on thin ice he gets accused of interfering in the Doctor patient relationship and trying to take over the patient management. So things go from bad to worse and sh*t hits the fan and so they look for someone to blame and hit the manufacturers because they have the money and no one whats to take responsibility for their own actions.
     
  8. Wombat

    Wombat Junior Member

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    Or believe in bad science - here on the Sunshine Coast we have 5 old fashioned petrol outlets in small towns with the bowsers on the edge of the footpath. These have been ordered to be removed because someone walking past with a mobile phone could cause an explosion !!!! WTF - this myth has be disproved , bebunked and discredited so many times yet some petty beauracrate has come up with this bright idea to prevent the council being sued
     
  9. bluesapphire

    bluesapphire Junior Member

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    Capadex/Di-gesic both trade names are also addictive. They are poor pain relivers as they actually dont have enough paracetamol in them. They were removed from the PBS some years ago for the addiction problem but seem to have made their way back on it.
    Regarding paracetamol (panadol) which is an effective pain reliever. Check the maximum dose per 24hrs and don't mix the various types, soluble, capsules, tablets and slow release (osteopanadol). Talk to the pharmacist for advice.
    An overdose of paracetamol needs a specific antidote given within a short time or it causes complete liver failure=dead.
    Long term use of paracetamol for chronic pain also may cause liver damage. If you require long term paracetamol for chronic pain make sure you have your liver function checked every 6mths
    Cathy.
     
  10. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    All good to know. thanks.
     
  11. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Oh... wonderful. :(
     
  12. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    milk thistle tablets help the liver when taking any long term medications.

    len
     
  13. bluesapphire

    bluesapphire Junior Member

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    back to the first post...in Organic Gardener Jan/Feb 2012 pg 14...."Glyphosate in air rain and streams.....US Geological Society studies took rain and air samples in the Missisippi Basin over 3 years and found between 60 and 100 per cent of samples contained glyphosate.......and its breakdown product AMPA were frequently detected on surface waters of streams and creeks, particularly in the growing season....due to large amounts of round-up ready GM maize, cotton and soy are grown....monsanto spokeswoman told Organic Gardener "the levels reported are far below the US Enviromental Portection agency drinking water standard for glyphosate" there are some web address listed if anyone wants them for foodfreedom.com

    I have just retyped the main bits but these are the main points of the article....I didn't know drinking diluted round up was acceptable, silly me. I wonder if anyone has done similar studies in Australia.
    Cheers
    Cathy
     
  14. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    we don't have faith in EPA standards we never know when they move the bar to suit the polluters.

    reckon there should be none at all in water or anywhere.

    in rain it means it is ending up in rain water tanks that many use for drinking.

    len
     
  15. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Well if they put flouride in the water deliberately what chance do we have that any other dam thing is not in there. Drinking water suppliers monitor their own supplies............do you trust them?...........they have to assess their own risks and if they don't think some chemical is a risk they won't test for it. Very hard to pin a cancer or disease on the water supply as it is usually a cummulative effect and hard to prove a causal relationship according to the law. too many variables come into it.

    Recycled water, well, I know the greens are all for it but I am dead against it. I don't care about ecoli and turbitity it is the pharmaceuticals left in the water that we all end up drinking. They do not have the membranes in the water treatment plants to remove them all. So everyone will be getting antidepressants, hormones and medications in the drinking water. no thanks.

    See if you can find any health department saying hi grade recycled water is safe to drink. I dont trust government.
     
  16. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    you're right annette,

    they simply do not do human trialling of any chem' for food safety, or of the cocktail of chem's we get at their behest. like GMO they simply tell the gov' it is safe then we get it in our food, hence the glypho' thing, one of the plethora of residues in our food, no wonder ADD ADHD DB2 and other lifestyle diseases on the increase. medications from same GMO co's not tested either they really can't say what might conflict with what in a cocktail.

    len
     
  17. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    https://gmwatch.eu/latest-listing/1...confirms-glyphosate-contaminating-groundwater

    aminomethylphosphonic acid
    https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf049605v


    https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/emon/pubs/fatememo/glyphos.pdf
     

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