The Round Up on Round Up By Brian Simpson

     Here is all the recent news fit to print on what is happening with the much used chemical, Roundup. First spray is that  Monsanto released ghost-written papers dealing with the safety of this chemical, which is a scientific no-no:
  https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-12-09-monsanto-released-ghostwritten-papers-safety-of-their-pesticides.html

“The academic journal Critical Reviews in Toxicology has issued corrections to articles that it published reviewing glyphosate’s safety. According to the corrections, Monsanto failed to fully disclose its involvement with five articles printed in the journal entitled, “An Independent Review of the Carcinogenic Potential of Glyphosate.” Not surprisingly, the articles concluded that the chemical was not likely to cause cancer in humans. It turns out that the review was written by experts overseen by a consulting firm that Monsanto hired. In a rare “expression of concern,” the journal’s publisher, Taylor & Francis, admitted that the authors of the review didn’t explain why they were not transparent when the article was submitted and went on to outline some of the wrongdoings. This confirms what Natural News and other independent news outlets – not to mention many Roundup Cancer attorneys – have been saying for many years: Monsanto ghostwrites science and deceives the public to make it appear as though its top-earning herbicide does not actually cause cancers like non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

However, while national law firm Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman said the corrections were a positive step, they pointed out that they failed to address all of the violations that have been found to date. For example, one correction says that Dr. John Acquavella was paid by Monsanto directly to participate on one of the panels of experts, receiving $20,000. However, other review authors also received money from Monsanto, with Larry Kier getting more than $27,000 from the firm for another of the reviews; this was not corrected by the journal. Monsanto emails confirm that Dr. Kier worked in the same role as Dr. Acquavella. Other emails point to the possibility that review author Dr. Tom Sorahan also received payment from Monsanto. In addition, another correction by the journal says that Monsanto scientist William Haydens had “pointed out some typographical errors.” The law firm has documents that show his involvement went much deeper, drafting, organizing and editing the reviews, including writing the draft introduction chapter. It is also worth noting that the previous reviews that were cited in the papers were also ghostwritten by Monsanto. Moreover, Haydens admitted in an email planning the review papers that they could keep costs down by doing the writing themselves and having scientists sign their names to it.”

     These safety issues are important for us all, going beyond agricultural workers, or even gardeners spraying weeds. So much of this gunk has been used that it has become the DDT of this age and may be everywhere:
  https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-01-16-science-pouring-in-probably-eating-roundup-herbicide.html

“Most people have no idea just how widely used this chemical is. Now that Monsanto has genetically engineered crops to stand up to heavy doses of the chemical, it’s being sprayed on more food crops than ever. It is then taken up into the plants that we eat – as do the farm animals that we often end up eating as well. According to a study by Norwegian scientists, American soy crops contain excessive glyphosate levels inside the food crop. In fact, the levels they found were “extreme” even by Monsanto’s own standards, which they defined as 5.6 milligrams for each kilogram of plant weight; the levels found in the study were 9 milligrams per kilo on average. This might be enough to send you scrambling in the opposite direction of tofu, but even if you don’t happen to eat it, you’re not out of the woods. That’s because GE soy and corn – two  more crops that are often engineered to be Roundup-ready – are in the ingredients lists of many processed foods, hiding under terms like lecithin, mono-diglyceride, textured vegetable protein, and soya, to name a few. In fact, a report from the Environmental Working Group found that 26 out of the 28 common breakfast foods they tested contained higher levels of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, than they consider safe for children. The foods involved will be all too familiar to most American households, including cereals, oat products, and snack bars from popular brands like Cheerios and Quaker.”

     That is worrying news, and all the more reason to grow organic food for your family, if you can, or at least purchase it, if you can afford it by cutting costs.