The return of Agent Orange
CounterPunch
by Firmin DeBrabander
07/15/10
For years critics ominously warned that, as is the nature of ‘nature,’ weeds would eventually evolve to withstand Roundup. Monsanto brushed aside such concerns, saying it would be ages before anyone had to worry about something like that. The glory days lasted about a decade. The superweeds evolved faster than anyone imagined — and with a vengeance. Farmers accustomed to drenching their fields with Roundup are now battling a monster breed of pigweed that, the New York Times reports, ‘can grow three inches a day and reach seven feet or more … so sturdy that it can damage harvesting equipment. Nature has issued quite a challenge to our ‘weed solution.’ The chemical industry has decided to respond in turn with Agent Orange. To be precise, Dow Chemical is working on seeds that are resistant to 24-D, a component of Agent Orange … presumably because it intends on spraying farmland with wartime defoliant. This is alarming on a number of fronts. But let’s be clear on one thing at the outset: we don’t necessarily need Agent Orange to deal with weeds. The Amish don’t. Never have. Superweeds — like superbugs (or superbacteria) emerging in concentrated chicken farms — are the product of industrial agriculture, which aims to squeeze as much as possible from the land, and has selected monoculture as the optimal means of doing so...
http://counterpunch.org/debrabander07132010.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Monsanto
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=industrial+agriculture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Agent+Orange
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Roundup
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Firmin+DeBrabander
by Firmin DeBrabander
07/15/10
For years critics ominously warned that, as is the nature of ‘nature,’ weeds would eventually evolve to withstand Roundup. Monsanto brushed aside such concerns, saying it would be ages before anyone had to worry about something like that. The glory days lasted about a decade. The superweeds evolved faster than anyone imagined — and with a vengeance. Farmers accustomed to drenching their fields with Roundup are now battling a monster breed of pigweed that, the New York Times reports, ‘can grow three inches a day and reach seven feet or more … so sturdy that it can damage harvesting equipment. Nature has issued quite a challenge to our ‘weed solution.’ The chemical industry has decided to respond in turn with Agent Orange. To be precise, Dow Chemical is working on seeds that are resistant to 24-D, a component of Agent Orange … presumably because it intends on spraying farmland with wartime defoliant. This is alarming on a number of fronts. But let’s be clear on one thing at the outset: we don’t necessarily need Agent Orange to deal with weeds. The Amish don’t. Never have. Superweeds — like superbugs (or superbacteria) emerging in concentrated chicken farms — are the product of industrial agriculture, which aims to squeeze as much as possible from the land, and has selected monoculture as the optimal means of doing so...
http://counterpunch.org/debrabander07132010.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Monsanto
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=industrial+agriculture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Agent+Orange
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Roundup
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Firmin+DeBrabander
rudkla - 16. Jul, 09:26
