Researchers say inert ingredient in Roundup kills human cells

Posted on Jun 25, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Guest Bloggers, MCS, Research

BOBBY’S SOAPBOX.

By guestblogger Bobby McClintock.

bobby To Hawaii Governor Lingle, Lt. Gov. Aiona, Hawaii State Senators and Representatives, Hawaii State Department of Health, and County Mayors:

For years now, I and others around the world have been complaining about the illnesses caused by these products. For years now, we have been told we are either chemo-phobes or fanatics, sometimes by people on this very email list (you ALL know who you are!). I guess this was easier than doing something about it. No one has tried to help, even when it’s a matter of “equal access” granted under the Americans with Disabilities Act guaranteed to those of us with chemical disabilities (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity- please read the law!). When can we be assured these products will be banned here on our islands to protect everyone’s health?

Bobby McClintock
RED AHI (Respiratory & Environmental Disabilities Association of Hawaii)

Environmental Health News reports:

Roundup “inert” ingredient kills human cells

“Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells,” writes Crystal Gammon in the July 22 issue of Environmental Health News.

Pesticide researchers and activists from the U.S. to Argentina, Japan and Croatia have been calling for public access to, and warnings about, “inerts” (almost 4,000 solvents, surfactants and other chemicals included in pesticides, approved by the U.S. EPA, yet not specified on warning labels because they are not the “active” ingredient aimed at pest control).

“Glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, is the most widely used herbicide in the United States. About 100 million pounds are applied to U.S. farms and lawns every year,” Gammon reports. “Until now, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate [alone], rather than the mixture of ingredients found in Roundup.”

In a study from the University of Caen in France, first published in January, “scientists found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells — even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns.” Their focus was on POEA — polyethoxylated tallow amine — an “inert” detergent in Roundup that they were astonished to discover was far more dangerous than the herbicide itself. “The proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels’ found on Roundup-treated crops, such as soybeans, alfalfa and corn, or lawns and gardens.”

These latest findings are no surprise to Caroline Cox of Oakland’s Center for Environmental Health. She wrote of the dangers of inerts, including POEA, for years while at the Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides in Eugene, OR. Monsanto claims the recent study is flawed; Gilles-Eric Seralini, the molecular biologist that headed the French study, says standard toxicological methods were used.

Cox points out that competitors can discover what is in formulations like Roundup with routine lab analysis. “The proprietary protection laws [for inerts] really only keep information from the public,” she said.

Link to full report.

Bobby McClintock is founder of the Respiratory and Environmental Disabilities Association of Hawaii, an active clearinghouse for information, which Bobby disseminates through an email list serve. She started the association in the late 1990s when giving testimony at the Hawaii State Legislature against water fluoridation and genetically engineered foods. Bobby first became ill with chemical sensitivities in 1985 after she underwent a breast implant following mastectomy for breast cancer.

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