Re: removing lawn

At 08:52 AM 8/3/2007, Cathe' wrote:
A study published in the March 1999 Journal of American Cancer Society reveals clear links between the world's most widely used herbicide (glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer.

Part of the problem with assigning a hazard to Roundup is that it is very labile once applied.  It has a 24 hour lifetime before it breaks down into glycine, formaldehyde, and phosphoric acid, all naturally found in the environment.  It makes a nice food supply for molds, bacteria, and other microflora and microfauna.  I would not worry about its cancer-causing properties unless you inhale a huge amount of the aerosol or otherwise ingest it directly.

As I understand it, the dispersant is of more concern, mostly to the environment.  I think it has been diethanolamine, but I do not have any idea what it is currently.

A long time ago, I interviewed Monsanto for a job as an organic chemist on their Roundup program, when they were performing heroic efforts to gain Federal approval .  All previous herbicides were very persistent in the environment, and the testing protocols demanded that they account for every percentage of the herbicide and its metabolites.  These compounds were relatively easy to spot and analyze in environmental samples. 

Not so with glyphosphate.  Detection and analysis was very difficult with a molecule that very rapidly disappears and generates metabolites that are identical to very basic biochemicals.  With much expense and effort, they found a way to demonstrate its relatively benign nature.

So the very features that make it useful from an environmental point of view made it difficult to prove its innocuousness to the environment.  As I said, this is not necessarily as true of the dispersant, which may have been changed to minimize environmental concerns well past my time of involvement with Roundup.

Richard F. Dufresne
2119 US 220 Alternate South
Candor, North Carolina 27229 USA
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