Saturday, May 9, 2009
Major Park Development Begins Before Public Consultation Do!
The Government of Manitoba has given the green light to Tim Hortons to develop a children's camp in a hitherto undisturbed part of Nopiming provincial park. The project, which has begun even before the public could be consulted, has raised the ire of environmental groups like the Manitoba branch of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. To read more and sign a petition against the development, click here.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Update to "Big Cattle Operation Worries Local Resident"
A long-time resident of Roblin, Manitoba, CA, Ray Spencer, says the onus will apparently be on him if he wants to proceed with his concerns about a big cattle operation north of town, near Boggy Creek.
A provincial inspector went to the ranch to investigate his complaint.
But Spencer says the Minister of Conservation, Stan Struthers, has now informed him, he'll have to prove the lake has been polluted by the cattle, before any action can be taken under provincial regulations.
Spencer says he is angry that cattle producers don't seem to have to abide by the same sort of strict waste disposal regulations as, for example, cottage-owners do.
He says he was sure there were rules that would govern such situations. And he is disappointed there apparently are not.
The owners of the operation, John and Kelsey Dawn Beasley, have so far declined to reveal the size of their total herd.
But, an informed source (a person who lives in the general area but wants to remain anonymous), believes the Beasleys may be grazing as many as 3,000 to 4,000 cattle over several sections of land.
=======
Letter to the Editor - The Review - Tues. Apr.21-'09
Dear Editor,
We appreciate the concern expresssed by Larry Powell & Ray Spencer over the well being of Langan Lake. Our family resides within a half-mile of the lake, draws our water form the aquifer around and regularly consume fish from it.
We also fel our ranching business has been mispresented as society often gets misguidied by opinions and prejudices rather than facts.
Firstly, we we are not an intensive livestock operation. We are a large scale, low density cattle ranch. We are stewards of the land and have a great responsibility developing an understanding of rangeland ecosystems and management principles necessary to support them. Sustainable agriculture systems are based on ecological soil management practices which replenish and maintain soil fertility by providing optimum conditions for soil biological activity. We consider our entire land base when making management decisions as our entire land base is located within the Shel River watershed. We reduce off-farm iputs & the environmental hazards associated with chemical applications & the reliance on non-renewable resources while building the organic matter back up in our soils. Sustainable grain farming also follows these principles as valuable inputs cannot be lost into the waterways. It would be like flushing money down the toilet.
Our goal it to produce a safe, sustainable product of superior quality while enhancing our landscape for the next generation. Our cattle are not confined at any time, in any season. We have a year round grazing system that incorporates winter feeding on perennial pastures. Our winter feeding system is primarily bale grazing. We utilize the sytem to lower our costs of production, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and tractor hours, improve our soil health and improve our watershed by reducing erosion and improving our range condition.
Our grazing system is a detailed and thoughtful process that we constantly monitor, reassess & makke changes accordingly. By incorporating a deferred, rest-rotational system, we have to change the sequence of use of our fields from year to year so that a given field is never grazed the same two years in a row. This is also integrated to our winter management. We rotate our winter feeding sites so we are wintering on a different field every year to recapture our nutrient depletion when it walks off our place via pounds of beef or hauled off via hay or silage. Some limitations include limited access to water and shelter & we are constantly making improvements such as planting shelter belts, improving off site water systems & reducing direct access to waterways.
Please understand tha we too are only human & addressing these issues as quickly as possible as they are of great importance to us. For example with the assistance of Lake of the Prairies Conservation District and the National Farm Stewardship Program, we have developed 3 portable off-site water systems, built over 5 miles of exclusion fencing (& planning to do more) & planted more than 6,000 trees to establish adequate shelter for wintering.
We have completed the Environmental Farm Plan, have a registered manure management plan and have met or exceeded those standards in our management. We are also undergoing a long-term nutrient management project with Mantiba Agricultre & the Roblin Soil Conservation District under Covering New Ground. Soil testing our winter feed sites creates baseline data that proides a means to assess our nutrient levels & make management decisions accordingly. For instance, by trend analysis we are able to determine how our forages are utilizing the nutrients provided by our winter management practices.
By feed testing & keeping detailed records of our feeding practices allows us to determine what goes in the roa & what is put on the ground, what has left via runoff & volatilizationnnn & what has been utilized by th plants, the following growing season. We monitor our Organic Matter Levels with the goal of increasing OM within the soil profile, therefore reducing erosion & increasing the soil's ability to filter & retain nutrients. We monito soil texture & moisture changes, soil pH & conductivity, as well as the changes in ground cover, species composition & yield.
Furthermore, we appreciate the lovely piciture that appeared along with the article as one can see that less than half of the wintering site is covered with leftover feed residue. Our spring time plan for that field includes firstly broadcasting a mixture of legume & grass seeds to replenish the forages, as the wintering site has now provided us with an excellent seedbed todo so. The cows will work thsoe seeds into the soil via hoof action as they clen up the feed residue. Secondly, a prolonged rest period will be provided to allow the seedlings to establish & the existing forages to grow & utilize the nutrients provided.
If anyone would like to tour our operation or has any concerns please feel free to contact us. Hopefully a better appreciation has been created of the management of our rangeland ecosystems & we are more than happy to disseminate knowledge & techniques to individuals interested i the science & are of rangeland stewardship.
We also invite Larry Powell & Ray Spencer to meet with us & provide positive input & solutions to some of their concerns over our management practices.
Sincerely,
Whether I privately agree with Mr. Spencer, or you, John & Kelsey, is of absolutely no consequence here. My job was to accurately record the events and opinions expressed in the story. As far as I know, I did. If there were factual errors or misquotes in the story, no one has pointed them out to me.
I believe the points I've already made, also render as misleading the headline attached to your own letter-to-the-editor, "Beasleys appreciate Powell's and Spencer's concerns,"
I'd like to set the record straight on another count, too. You informed me on the 'phone, Kelsey Dawn, that I had been the one to call in a provincial inspector to examine your operation. I did not. As a reporter, it would not have been proper for me to have done that. I would invite anyone to re-read the very headline of the story, then re-read the first line. ".....Ray Spencer has asked.....Water Stewardship to look into..." So I believe it was abundantly clear it was Mr. Spencer, not myself, who did this. And he has never hesitated in saying this publicly. So why would anyone conclude that it was me? In your e-mail to me, Kelsey Dawn, you said, "You are completely justified in your actions and I appreciate your concern over this water quality issue." But why direct that at me? It was Mr. Spencer who raised those concerns. I just reported on them.
So I'll be reserving my right as a journalist to continue to convey to the public, concerns about newsworthy matters of legitimate public interest and importance. This is sometimes controversial. And controversy is not always pretty.
But I believe it is a price we must pay for an informed public and a healthy democracy.
Sincerely, Larry Powell Roblin MB
====
Kelsey Dawn said...
Larry,
Just wanted to clarify a few things in your previous response.
We didn't attach the headline in the letter to the editor, I am not sure who did.
I also didn't say you were the person who contacted manitoba conservation, you misunderstood. Furthermore, because you were so very quick to assit Ray via reporting a story on us (an action that to me seemed a little onesided towards your own opinions), I contacted you. I don't have a contact for Ray. Also I feel you are more willing to communicate with me than Ray is.
And finally the amount of cattle we run is not the issue, it is how those cattle on managed on the landscape that is the issue. Frankly how many cows we run is like asking us what our net worth is, it's none of anyone's business, but if a person is that curious I guess they could count cows from the roadside and see for themselves.
Lastly, thanks for coming out to the riparian workshop, I hope you enjoyed it. I know that I had a great learning experience. It is always a good thing when you are given more options & tools to utilize in ranch management.
Sincerely,
Kelsey
===
Larry Powell said...
Kelsey - I'm glad you're reading and responding to these articles. It is a good way to reach some mutual understanding on things, sometimes.
You are right about the headline - it would have been Ed, the newspaper editor who wrote that -
I was thinking of submitting the "open letter" to you as another letter to the editor. But I changed my mind.
I really have no appetite to perpetuate a running "feud" in public. (At least not beyond the limited readership of this blog.) I'm sure you don't, either.
I was happy to attend the workshop.
While the story I've written on it may not be in the form you would have liked, either, I have re-worked it several times from the original draft and made it, I believe, balanced and fair.
(Now posted on my blog.)
I also believe you, Michael and Eric did a good job in explaining the merits of riparian management.
So, while I raise the question of a "mixed message," I see no reason why readers, once they see the details, will not just as easily agree with Eric - i.e. that there isn't one.
I'd welcome your input on this latest story, or anything else in future, too.
I will always publish your response.
Larry
====
Another Comment;
Why the hell should Struthers care after all they let cattle enter both the
(Please read the response of the owners of the operations, the Beasleys to the story, below and the author's response to that, immediately after.)
In a story in the weekly newspaper, the Roblin Review in April, Spencer said those who fish in a small lake next to the ranch, were worried it might get contaminated by the waste from the nearby cattle.A provincial inspector went to the ranch to investigate his complaint.
But Spencer says the Minister of Conservation, Stan Struthers, has now informed him, he'll have to prove the lake has been polluted by the cattle, before any action can be taken under provincial regulations.
Spencer says he is angry that cattle producers don't seem to have to abide by the same sort of strict waste disposal regulations as, for example, cottage-owners do.
He says he was sure there were rules that would govern such situations. And he is disappointed there apparently are not.
The owners of the operation, John and Kelsey Dawn Beasley, have so far declined to reveal the size of their total herd.
But, an informed source (a person who lives in the general area but wants to remain anonymous), believes the Beasleys may be grazing as many as 3,000 to 4,000 cattle over several sections of land.
=======
Letter to the Editor - The Review - Tues. Apr.21-'09
Dear Editor,
We appreciate the concern expresssed by Larry Powell & Ray Spencer over the well being of Langan Lake. Our family resides within a half-mile of the lake, draws our water form the aquifer around and regularly consume fish from it.
We also fel our ranching business has been mispresented as society often gets misguidied by opinions and prejudices rather than facts.
Firstly, we we are not an intensive livestock operation. We are a large scale, low density cattle ranch. We are stewards of the land and have a great responsibility developing an understanding of rangeland ecosystems and management principles necessary to support them. Sustainable agriculture systems are based on ecological soil management practices which replenish and maintain soil fertility by providing optimum conditions for soil biological activity. We consider our entire land base when making management decisions as our entire land base is located within the Shel River watershed. We reduce off-farm iputs & the environmental hazards associated with chemical applications & the reliance on non-renewable resources while building the organic matter back up in our soils. Sustainable grain farming also follows these principles as valuable inputs cannot be lost into the waterways. It would be like flushing money down the toilet.
Our goal it to produce a safe, sustainable product of superior quality while enhancing our landscape for the next generation. Our cattle are not confined at any time, in any season. We have a year round grazing system that incorporates winter feeding on perennial pastures. Our winter feeding system is primarily bale grazing. We utilize the sytem to lower our costs of production, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and tractor hours, improve our soil health and improve our watershed by reducing erosion and improving our range condition.
Our grazing system is a detailed and thoughtful process that we constantly monitor, reassess & makke changes accordingly. By incorporating a deferred, rest-rotational system, we have to change the sequence of use of our fields from year to year so that a given field is never grazed the same two years in a row. This is also integrated to our winter management. We rotate our winter feeding sites so we are wintering on a different field every year to recapture our nutrient depletion when it walks off our place via pounds of beef or hauled off via hay or silage. Some limitations include limited access to water and shelter & we are constantly making improvements such as planting shelter belts, improving off site water systems & reducing direct access to waterways.
Please understand tha we too are only human & addressing these issues as quickly as possible as they are of great importance to us. For example with the assistance of Lake of the Prairies Conservation District and the National Farm Stewardship Program, we have developed 3 portable off-site water systems, built over 5 miles of exclusion fencing (& planning to do more) & planted more than 6,000 trees to establish adequate shelter for wintering.
We have completed the Environmental Farm Plan, have a registered manure management plan and have met or exceeded those standards in our management. We are also undergoing a long-term nutrient management project with Mantiba Agricultre & the Roblin Soil Conservation District under Covering New Ground. Soil testing our winter feed sites creates baseline data that proides a means to assess our nutrient levels & make management decisions accordingly. For instance, by trend analysis we are able to determine how our forages are utilizing the nutrients provided by our winter management practices.
By feed testing & keeping detailed records of our feeding practices allows us to determine what goes in the roa & what is put on the ground, what has left via runoff & volatilizationnnn & what has been utilized by th plants, the following growing season. We monitor our Organic Matter Levels with the goal of increasing OM within the soil profile, therefore reducing erosion & increasing the soil's ability to filter & retain nutrients. We monito soil texture & moisture changes, soil pH & conductivity, as well as the changes in ground cover, species composition & yield.
Furthermore, we appreciate the lovely piciture that appeared along with the article as one can see that less than half of the wintering site is covered with leftover feed residue. Our spring time plan for that field includes firstly broadcasting a mixture of legume & grass seeds to replenish the forages, as the wintering site has now provided us with an excellent seedbed todo so. The cows will work thsoe seeds into the soil via hoof action as they clen up the feed residue. Secondly, a prolonged rest period will be provided to allow the seedlings to establish & the existing forages to grow & utilize the nutrients provided.
If anyone would like to tour our operation or has any concerns please feel free to contact us. Hopefully a better appreciation has been created of the management of our rangeland ecosystems & we are more than happy to disseminate knowledge & techniques to individuals interested i the science & are of rangeland stewardship.
We also invite Larry Powell & Ray Spencer to meet with us & provide positive input & solutions to some of their concerns over our management practices.
Sincerely,
John & Kelsey Beasley
Roblin
====Roblin
An open letter to John and Kelsey Beasley.
I'm sorry that you seem to have confused my news story about your cattle operation; ("Spencer asks province to check out cattle operation" - Roblin Review - Apr 7 p.16) with a personal expression of my opinion. It was not. I acted as a reporter. I wrote the story. I reported on Mr. Spencer's concerns. Then I interviewed you, John. I got your response on the record and reported on that. Period. That is what reporters do. Pretty standard stuff. So the opinions expressed in the piece were not my own. They belonged solely to the people quoted in it, namely Mr. Spencer and you, John. Both were quoted at some length and both received very close to the same amount of space. Whether I privately agree with Mr. Spencer, or you, John & Kelsey, is of absolutely no consequence here. My job was to accurately record the events and opinions expressed in the story. As far as I know, I did. If there were factual errors or misquotes in the story, no one has pointed them out to me.
I believe the points I've already made, also render as misleading the headline attached to your own letter-to-the-editor, "Beasleys appreciate Powell's and Spencer's concerns,"
I'd like to set the record straight on another count, too. You informed me on the 'phone, Kelsey Dawn, that I had been the one to call in a provincial inspector to examine your operation. I did not. As a reporter, it would not have been proper for me to have done that. I would invite anyone to re-read the very headline of the story, then re-read the first line. ".....Ray Spencer has asked.....Water Stewardship to look into..." So I believe it was abundantly clear it was Mr. Spencer, not myself, who did this. And he has never hesitated in saying this publicly. So why would anyone conclude that it was me? In your e-mail to me, Kelsey Dawn, you said, "You are completely justified in your actions and I appreciate your concern over this water quality issue." But why direct that at me? It was Mr. Spencer who raised those concerns. I just reported on them.
So I'll be reserving my right as a journalist to continue to convey to the public, concerns about newsworthy matters of legitimate public interest and importance. This is sometimes controversial. And controversy is not always pretty.
But I believe it is a price we must pay for an informed public and a healthy democracy.
Sincerely, Larry Powell Roblin MB
====
Kelsey Dawn said...
Larry,
Just wanted to clarify a few things in your previous response.
We didn't attach the headline in the letter to the editor, I am not sure who did.
I also didn't say you were the person who contacted manitoba conservation, you misunderstood. Furthermore, because you were so very quick to assit Ray via reporting a story on us (an action that to me seemed a little onesided towards your own opinions), I contacted you. I don't have a contact for Ray. Also I feel you are more willing to communicate with me than Ray is.
And finally the amount of cattle we run is not the issue, it is how those cattle on managed on the landscape that is the issue. Frankly how many cows we run is like asking us what our net worth is, it's none of anyone's business, but if a person is that curious I guess they could count cows from the roadside and see for themselves.
Lastly, thanks for coming out to the riparian workshop, I hope you enjoyed it. I know that I had a great learning experience. It is always a good thing when you are given more options & tools to utilize in ranch management.
Sincerely,
Kelsey
===
Larry Powell said...
Kelsey - I'm glad you're reading and responding to these articles. It is a good way to reach some mutual understanding on things, sometimes.
You are right about the headline - it would have been Ed, the newspaper editor who wrote that -
I was thinking of submitting the "open letter" to you as another letter to the editor. But I changed my mind.
I really have no appetite to perpetuate a running "feud" in public. (At least not beyond the limited readership of this blog.) I'm sure you don't, either.
I was happy to attend the workshop.
While the story I've written on it may not be in the form you would have liked, either, I have re-worked it several times from the original draft and made it, I believe, balanced and fair.
(Now posted on my blog.)
I also believe you, Michael and Eric did a good job in explaining the merits of riparian management.
So, while I raise the question of a "mixed message," I see no reason why readers, once they see the details, will not just as easily agree with Eric - i.e. that there isn't one.
I'd welcome your input on this latest story, or anything else in future, too.
I will always publish your response.
Larry
====
Another Comment;
Why the hell should Struthers care after all they let cattle enter both the
Icelandic River and Lake Winnipeg near Riverton, for years now. He's blind to the pollution aspect, can't understand what he can't see. Thats my thought on the subject.
Peter Marykuca
Peter Marykuca
Monday, May 4, 2009
From Abalone to Whales: Aquatic Species in Canada Face Risk of Extinction

Iconic land mammals like the polar bear aren't the only species facing an uncertain future from climate change in the Arctic. Bowhead Whales may be recovering in Canada’s Arctic, for now. But they're not "out-of-the-woods" yet.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Superweed Explosion Threatens Monsanto Heartland
By CLEA CAULCUTT - France 24 - SUNDAY 19 APRIL 2009

“Superweeds” are plaguing high-tech Monsanto crops in southern US states, driving farmers to use more herbicides, return to conventional crops or even abandon their farms.
Read more here...

“Superweeds” are plaguing high-tech Monsanto crops in southern US states, driving farmers to use more herbicides, return to conventional crops or even abandon their farms.
Read more here...
The Swine Flu Scare Lays Bare the Meat Industry's Monstrous Power
Animal husbandry now more closely resembles the petrochemical industry than the happy family farm. Click on title for more ...
======
======
Swine Flu Is Related to Virus Born on U.S. Hog Factories in 1998
AND
A FOOD SYSTEM THAT KILLS
New from GRAIN - April 2009
AND
A FOOD SYSTEM THAT KILLS
New from GRAIN - April 2009
SWINE FLU IS MEAT INDUSTRY'S LATEST PLAGUE
COMMENT:
Johanne Dion said...
Johanne Dion said...
Very few seem to want to ask the question: how do these epidemics start and what can we do to avoid them? Seems to me that factory farming is just begging for these new virus mutations while creating pools of superbugs by using micro-dosing of antibiotics.
A productive thing than anybody in an industrialized country can do is to buy pork and ham that comes from a family size, almost organic pig farm, and avoid all prepared meats that come from big mainstream companies that have promoted these intensive, packed inhuman factory farms. The only way to get companies like Smithfields to change their ways is through their wallet.
Anybody who lives in a small village like mine that has had a 5,800 pig farm imposed upon them, like I have, will agree with me. Ask the people of La Gloria, Mexico.
Johanne Dion
Richelieu,
Province of Quebec,
Canada
April 30, 2009 4:07 PM
=========
Johanne Dion said...
You might like to read and add this interesting article on the subject:
April 30, 2009 4:38 PM
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
"Big Pharma" Poisons the World's Rivers

3/26/2009 - (NaturalNews) - Pharmaceutical pollution is out of control, polluting the waterways of our world to such a disturbing degree that now even the fish are carrying detectable levels of pharmaceuticals in their own bodies! A study conducted by Baylor University... read more...
Also... WORLD'S HIGHEST DRUG LEVELS ENTERING INDIA STREAM
By MARGIE MASON
PATANCHERU, India (AP) — When researchers analyzed vials of treated waste water taken from a plant where about 90 Indian drug factories dump their residues, they were shocked. Enough of a single, powerful antibiotic was being spewed into one stream each day to treat every person in a city of 90,000.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Ocean Dead Zones Likely To Expand
ScienceDaily: Your source for the latest research news and science breakthroughs.
Increasing Carbon Dioxide And Decreasing Oxygen Make It Harder For Deep-sea Animals To Breath
ScienceDaily (Apr. 18, 2009) — New calculations made by marine chemists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) suggest that low-oxygen "dead zones" in the ocean could expand significantly over the next century. As more and more carbon dioxide dissolves from the atmosphere into the ocean, marine animals will need more oxygen to survive. Read more here...

About all that can survive in these dead zones are vast hordes of slimy, amorphous, useless jellyfish (r.). They can inflict painful stings on swimmers who fail to heed warning signs (l.)
Increasing Carbon Dioxide And Decreasing Oxygen Make It Harder For Deep-sea Animals To Breath
ScienceDaily (Apr. 18, 2009) — New calculations made by marine chemists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) suggest that low-oxygen "dead zones" in the ocean could expand significantly over the next century. As more and more carbon dioxide dissolves from the atmosphere into the ocean, marine animals will need more oxygen to survive. Read more here...


About all that can survive in these dead zones are vast hordes of slimy, amorphous, useless jellyfish (r.). They can inflict painful stings on swimmers who fail to heed warning signs (l.)
l.p.
Friday, April 24, 2009
13 Breathtaking Effects of Cutting Back on Meat
By Kathy Freston, AlterNet. Posted April 22, 2009.
Photos by L.P.
Click on "Water" and "Livestock" labels to the right for related stories.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Honeybees Continue to Vanish: Don't Blame Aliens -- It's Our Addiction to Pesticides

The chemicals we use in industrial agriculture cause brain damage to the bees, making it often impossible for them to find their way home.
Click on headline for the full story.
Please also read - Should Pesticide "Regulators" & Politicians Face Penalties for Refusing to Protect Honeybees? and "Lament for the Honeybee" here.
Photo courtesy www.nonofficejobs.com
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
News Release – Green Party of Manitoba
Apr. 19th, 2009 - Brandon, MB.
Read related story here.
The leader of the Green Party of Manitoba, James Beddome, is challenging Premier Doer to make Manitoba the first western province to ban lawn and garden chemicals.
Just weeks ago, Ontario became just the second jurisdiction in the country to do away with the so-called “cosmetic” use of pesticides, long considered a health hazard, especially to children.
Beddome says such a ban would do a lot to enhance the image Mr. Doer has been promoting of himself as a “green” leader.
He further challenges the Premier to call on Ottawa for an immediate halt to the introduction of any further genetically-engineered crops in this country.
Beddome says, contrary to industry hype, GMO crops require more, not less, pesticides to ensure their success.
Meanwhile, there is mounting and credible evidence that these pesticides are harmful, both to human health and the natural environment.
CONTACT: James Beddome - (204) 990-5195
Or Larry Powell - (204) 937-3055
======
Ontario has just passed a new law which comes into effect on Earth Day, this Wednesday as a matter of fact, to ban the use of cosmetic pesticides in that province.
Just click here and search for Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act, 2008
Also read related article here...
=====
Roundup is probably the most familiar and widely-used weed-killer in the world today.
It's used mainly on crops such as canola, which have been genetically modified to resist the chemical.
So the weeds in the treated fields are killed, while the crops survive.
(Ironically, canola has itself become a "weed" in crops sown in subsequent years.
Being Roundup-resistant, ever-more potent chemicals have been produced to kill it!
Where will this all end?
Roundup is also the herbicide of choice for a lot of urban homeowners, who use it trustingly on their lawns and gardens to get rid of such things as dandelions.
.
Thanks in large measure to expensive, pervasive advertising campaigns by its makers, Monsanto Corporation, it has a reputation for being effective and safe.
Empty containers dumped beside a field.
But it is now becoming clear that Roundup is not the benign, harmless product it has been made out to be.
A container collection site in rural MB.
Photos by L.P
A research team at the University of Caen, in France, has found that Roundup kills human tissue within 24 hours of exposure, at just fractions of the concentrations used in agriculture!
Team leader, Prof. Gilles-Eric Seralini (l.)
President of the Scientific Council of CRIIGEN
University of Caen - Laboratory of Biochimistry
Please also help Prof. Seralini fend off an attack from the buitech industry by clicking here.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/defendiSeralini.php
Surprisingly, Roundup has been found to be far more toxic as a mixture that its active ingredient, glyphosate, alone.
This means that the products mixed with glyphosate to make Roundup are also, by themselves, very toxic.
They too have been touted for years as being "inert" or inactive, implying that they too, are harmless!
Yet Roundup continues to be used in "oceanic" amounts! Why?
============
As well, a study at the University of Pittsburgh has found that Roundup is highly toxic to amphibians, including frogs!
Biology Professor Rick Relyea (r.) found Roundup to be acutely toxic to amphibians.
Could this be a factor in the alarming decline of amphibian populations around the world?
If you accept that creatures such as this are barometers, not only of our natural environment, but of a healthy human population, then we suggest there is reason
for concern here.


The extinct
Red-eyed tree frog (above).
Art by Rosa (Eunche) Lee, a
winner in the '09 Robert Bateman
"Get to Know" Contest.
Yet Roundup continues to be used in "oceanic" amounts! Why?
Despite all of this, Monsanto and other big corporations continues to invent more and more GMO crops that are, in Monsanto's jargon, "Roundup Ready." These include alf alfa and sugar beets.
Amid a groundswell of concern, Monsanto dropped a bid to develop GMO wheat in Canada a few years ago. But, make no mistake. That idea is still very much alive.
Tragically, governments continue to set science aside and approve ever more of what some critics call "frankencrops!"
That’s why we, the Green Party of Manitoba, believe it’s of utmost importance that an immediate hold be placed on the approval of any new GMO crops in Canada until their full impact on health and environment can be investigated.
=======
Late in 2005, (almost four years ago) a Canadian scientist, Myriam Fernandez with Ag Canada’s research Centre in Swift Current, found that wheat crops grown a year after glyphosate had been applied to the field, had higher levels of a fungal disease known as fusarium head blight, than fields where no glyphosate had been applied.
The blight affects mostly wheat, but can also attack barley, corn and oats. It affects both yield and quality of crops and can produce toxic seed.
Fusarium is a serious and pervasive condition that has deprived producers of millions of dollars of revenue over the years.
Fernandez also found, under similar conditions, Roundup seemed to promote another phenomenon called sudden death syndrome in soy beans.
Yet Roundup continues to be used in "oceanic" amounts! Why?
Her finding followed 4 years of study.
Click here, then search for Myriam Fernandez.
(NOTE-her complete study no longer seems to be posted on this site.)
======
For years now, honeybees have been disappearing in alarming numbers in Canada and around the world.
While many factors are believed to be causing this, it is known for sure that certain pesticides, for one, are lethal to the bees.
Click here for the complete, joint, 6 year-old study by the EPA and PMRA…
While Germany, France, Italy and Slovenia have already banned these chemicals, including an especially nasty one called “clothianidin.” (made by Bayer CropScience) North American regulators not only continue to allow this poison to be used, they are approving new ones which are just as potent, if not more so!
So they sit and fiddle, apparently oblivious of the fact that one out of every three spoons-full of food we put in our mouths is there thanks to honeybees, the world’s most efficient pollinators!
Authorities seem to feel that every last cause of bee disappearances has to be identified and proven rather than acting on the ones we already know about!
They even have a convenient term for it. “Colony Collapse Disorder.” It’s characterized as a mystery apparently so deep, let’s not even try to solve it!
Yet clothianadin continues to be used in "oceanic" amounts! Why?
It is a strange phenomenon we see repeatedly….an unexplained and fiercely loyal allegiance of our politicians to large, wealthy and powerful chemical companies who can seemingly do whatever they want!
======
Illness Among Pesticide Applicators in the Northern 'States
As long ago as the early '90s, the University of Minnesota found significantly more birth defects among children in the Red River Valley than in other agricultural regions of that state.
Of these, most were born to men who applied pesticides for a living to wheat, sugar beet and potato crops. And most of those children were conceived in spring, when herbicide use was the greatest.
The children developed significantly more problems with circulation, breathing and genital formation than the general population.
The lowest rates of birth defects were found in what are called "non-crop" regions of Minnesota.
"Birth defects, season of conception, and gender of children born to pesticide applicators living in the Red River Valley of Minnesota, USA.
Garry VF, Harkins ME, Erickson LL, Long-Simpson LK, Holland SE, Burroughs BL.
Environmental Medicine and Pathology Laboratory, 1st Floor Stone Laboratory 1, University of Minnesota,"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12060842 ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.
Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
========================
Spousal effects
Reproductive outcomes in the women of the Red River Valley of the north. I. The spouses of pesticide applicators: pregnancy loss, age at menarche, and exposures to pesticides.
Garry VF, Harkins M, Lyubimov A, Erickson L, Long L.
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota
In addition, these same studies showed that the wives of men who applied chemicals, especially fungicides, had a significant increase in their risk of miscarriages..
And, of the kids born to fungicide applicators, significantly fewer were boys than girls. This suggests this kind of product may even be a determinant in the gender of newborns.
Southern Manitoba and Pesticide Hazards
A year-&-a-half ago, a bright young researcher at the University of Manitoba, Jennifer Magoon, did an exhaustive and groundbreaking bit of research. Sifting through mounds of records, she cross-referenced the health insurance files of thousands of people in rural southern Manitoba with agricultural maps showing the intensity of pesticide use in the region.
She found a link between the intensity of the use of pesticides, especially insecticides, and moderate to serious health conditions of the people there.
For example, where insecticide use was average, there was a 32.7 percent, or slightly less than a one-in-three chance of lower birth rates, respiratory distress and jaundice among the very young. Where pesticide use was twice that amount, these illnesses increased by a full four percentage points - to 36.7 percent!
And, where insecticide use was average, severe birth defects like spina bifida, Down Syndrome and cleft palate could be expected in 11.8% of newborns. Where pesticide use was doubled, that figure jumped to 12.8%, an increase of one full percentage point.
Magoon calls these numbers statistically significant and very unlikely to happen by chance.
Her recommendations?
Decrease pesticide use and conduct further studies that would pin down a "cause and effect" relationship.
Have either of these things happened?
Rather than decrease pesticide use, governments here and in North America are falling over themselves to approve new GMO crops, like alf alfa and sugar beets. And if you hear a politician or chemical manufacturer claim that GM crops need less pesticides, don't believe it! Field studies show just the opposite is happening.
So not only are the health risks, especially to children, unacceptable, it is becoming clear that GM crops are being developed, not in the interests of our food producers, or consumers, but as cash cows for the chemical corporations.
As for further studies, I haven't heard of any. Have you? I 'd invite you as journalists to make inquiries, to find out why!
-30-
Read related story here.
The leader of the Green Party of Manitoba, James Beddome, is challenging Premier Doer to make Manitoba the first western province to ban lawn and garden chemicals.
Just weeks ago, Ontario became just the second jurisdiction in the country to do away with the so-called “cosmetic” use of pesticides, long considered a health hazard, especially to children.
Beddome says such a ban would do a lot to enhance the image Mr. Doer has been promoting of himself as a “green” leader.
He further challenges the Premier to call on Ottawa for an immediate halt to the introduction of any further genetically-engineered crops in this country.
Beddome says, contrary to industry hype, GMO crops require more, not less, pesticides to ensure their success.
Meanwhile, there is mounting and credible evidence that these pesticides are harmful, both to human health and the natural environment.
CONTACT: James Beddome - (204) 990-5195
Or Larry Powell - (204) 937-3055
======
Ontario has just passed a new law which comes into effect on Earth Day, this Wednesday as a matter of fact, to ban the use of cosmetic pesticides in that province.
Just click here and search for Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act, 2008
Also read related article here...
=====
Roundup is probably the most familiar and widely-used weed-killer in the world today.

So the weeds in the treated fields are killed, while the crops survive.
(Ironically, canola has itself become a "weed" in crops sown in subsequent years.
Being Roundup-resistant, ever-more potent chemicals have been produced to kill it!
Where will this all end?
Roundup is also the herbicide of choice for a lot of urban homeowners, who use it trustingly on their lawns and gardens to get rid of such things as dandelions.

Thanks in large measure to expensive, pervasive advertising campaigns by its makers, Monsanto Corporation, it has a reputation for being effective and safe.
Empty containers dumped beside a field.
But it is now becoming clear that Roundup is not the benign, harmless product it has been made out to be.
A container collection site in rural MB.
Photos by L.P
A research team at the University of Caen, in France, has found that Roundup kills human tissue within 24 hours of exposure, at just fractions of the concentrations used in agriculture!

President of the Scientific Council of CRIIGEN
University of Caen - Laboratory of Biochimistry
Please also help Prof. Seralini fend off an attack from the buitech industry by clicking here.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/defendiSeralini.php
Surprisingly, Roundup has been found to be far more toxic as a mixture that its active ingredient, glyphosate, alone.
This means that the products mixed with glyphosate to make Roundup are also, by themselves, very toxic.
They too have been touted for years as being "inert" or inactive, implying that they too, are harmless!
Yet Roundup continues to be used in "oceanic" amounts! Why?
============

Biology Professor Rick Relyea (r.) found Roundup to be acutely toxic to amphibians.
Could this be a factor in the alarming decline of amphibian populations around the world?
If you accept that creatures such as this are barometers, not only of our natural environment, but of a healthy human population, then we suggest there is reason
for concern here.


The extinct
Golden Toad, (above).
Red-eyed tree frog (above).
Art by Rosa (Eunche) Lee, a
winner in the '09 Robert Bateman
"Get to Know" Contest.
Yet Roundup continues to be used in "oceanic" amounts! Why?
Amid a groundswell of concern, Monsanto dropped a bid to develop GMO wheat in Canada a few years ago. But, make no mistake. That idea is still very much alive.
Tragically, governments continue to set science aside and approve ever more of what some critics call "frankencrops!"
That’s why we, the Green Party of Manitoba, believe it’s of utmost importance that an immediate hold be placed on the approval of any new GMO crops in Canada until their full impact on health and environment can be investigated.
=======
Late in 2005, (almost four years ago) a Canadian scientist, Myriam Fernandez with Ag Canada’s research Centre in Swift Current, found that wheat crops grown a year after glyphosate had been applied to the field, had higher levels of a fungal disease known as fusarium head blight, than fields where no glyphosate had been applied.
The blight affects mostly wheat, but can also attack barley, corn and oats. It affects both yield and quality of crops and can produce toxic seed.
Fusarium is a serious and pervasive condition that has deprived producers of millions of dollars of revenue over the years.
Fernandez also found, under similar conditions, Roundup seemed to promote another phenomenon called sudden death syndrome in soy beans.
Yet Roundup continues to be used in "oceanic" amounts! Why?
Her finding followed 4 years of study.
Click here, then search for Myriam Fernandez.
(NOTE-her complete study no longer seems to be posted on this site.)
======
For years now, honeybees have been disappearing in alarming numbers in Canada and around the world.
While many factors are believed to be causing this, it is known for sure that certain pesticides, for one, are lethal to the bees.
Click here for the complete, joint, 6 year-old study by the EPA and PMRA…
While Germany, France, Italy and Slovenia have already banned these chemicals, including an especially nasty one called “clothianidin.” (made by Bayer CropScience) North American regulators not only continue to allow this poison to be used, they are approving new ones which are just as potent, if not more so!
So they sit and fiddle, apparently oblivious of the fact that one out of every three spoons-full of food we put in our mouths is there thanks to honeybees, the world’s most efficient pollinators!
Authorities seem to feel that every last cause of bee disappearances has to be identified and proven rather than acting on the ones we already know about!
They even have a convenient term for it. “Colony Collapse Disorder.” It’s characterized as a mystery apparently so deep, let’s not even try to solve it!
Yet clothianadin continues to be used in "oceanic" amounts! Why?
It is a strange phenomenon we see repeatedly….an unexplained and fiercely loyal allegiance of our politicians to large, wealthy and powerful chemical companies who can seemingly do whatever they want!
======
Illness Among Pesticide Applicators in the Northern 'States
As long ago as the early '90s, the University of Minnesota found significantly more birth defects among children in the Red River Valley than in other agricultural regions of that state.
Of these, most were born to men who applied pesticides for a living to wheat, sugar beet and potato crops. And most of those children were conceived in spring, when herbicide use was the greatest.
The children developed significantly more problems with circulation, breathing and genital formation than the general population.
The lowest rates of birth defects were found in what are called "non-crop" regions of Minnesota.
"Birth defects, season of conception, and gender of children born to pesticide applicators living in the Red River Valley of Minnesota, USA.
Garry VF, Harkins ME, Erickson LL, Long-Simpson LK, Holland SE, Burroughs BL.
Environmental Medicine and Pathology Laboratory, 1st Floor Stone Laboratory 1, University of Minnesota,"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12060842 ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.
Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
========================
Spousal effects
Reproductive outcomes in the women of the Red River Valley of the north. I. The spouses of pesticide applicators: pregnancy loss, age at menarche, and exposures to pesticides.
Garry VF, Harkins M, Lyubimov A, Erickson L, Long L.
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota
In addition, these same studies showed that the wives of men who applied chemicals, especially fungicides, had a significant increase in their risk of miscarriages..
And, of the kids born to fungicide applicators, significantly fewer were boys than girls. This suggests this kind of product may even be a determinant in the gender of newborns.
Southern Manitoba and Pesticide Hazards
A year-&-a-half ago, a bright young researcher at the University of Manitoba, Jennifer Magoon, did an exhaustive and groundbreaking bit of research. Sifting through mounds of records, she cross-referenced the health insurance files of thousands of people in rural southern Manitoba with agricultural maps showing the intensity of pesticide use in the region.
She found a link between the intensity of the use of pesticides, especially insecticides, and moderate to serious health conditions of the people there.
For example, where insecticide use was average, there was a 32.7 percent, or slightly less than a one-in-three chance of lower birth rates, respiratory distress and jaundice among the very young. Where pesticide use was twice that amount, these illnesses increased by a full four percentage points - to 36.7 percent!
And, where insecticide use was average, severe birth defects like spina bifida, Down Syndrome and cleft palate could be expected in 11.8% of newborns. Where pesticide use was doubled, that figure jumped to 12.8%, an increase of one full percentage point.
Magoon calls these numbers statistically significant and very unlikely to happen by chance.
Her recommendations?
Decrease pesticide use and conduct further studies that would pin down a "cause and effect" relationship.
Have either of these things happened?
Rather than decrease pesticide use, governments here and in North America are falling over themselves to approve new GMO crops, like alf alfa and sugar beets. And if you hear a politician or chemical manufacturer claim that GM crops need less pesticides, don't believe it! Field studies show just the opposite is happening.
So not only are the health risks, especially to children, unacceptable, it is becoming clear that GM crops are being developed, not in the interests of our food producers, or consumers, but as cash cows for the chemical corporations.
As for further studies, I haven't heard of any. Have you? I 'd invite you as journalists to make inquiries, to find out why!
-30-
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