What is Fracking?

Fracking or Hydraulic Fracturing. TeleSUR explains the process and dangers of this technique.

Dangerous and Close: Fracking Puts the Nation's Most Vulnerable People at Risk

Environment America Research & Policy Center's new report exposes the proximity of fracking near schools, hospitals, day care centers and nursing homes, risking the health of our children and other vulnerable populations.

Who said 'You Are What You Eat' ?

A collage!

Others have shared these books and sites with me recently.....

david perlmetter MD



Inspiring RECIPES


Recommended by a friend, great site:

StrongWomen


WHEAT BELLY

MoJo: Monsanto GM Soy Is Scarier Than You Think

Monsanto GM Soy Is Scarier Than You Think

Roundup Ready crops have more pesticide residue than their non-GM counterparts—and are less nutritious, a new study finds. [READ MORE]

 

Support Food and Farming Journalism That Really Matters

I'm Mother Jones' food and agriculture correspondent, and I need your help.

Every week, I bring you in-depth reporting on food news that really matters to your health and the environment. To continue this great work, I need you. Mother Jones is a nonprofit, and our investigative fund is still $30,000 short. We've only got a few days left to fill the gap.

There's an urgent need for intelligent food reporting. Think: food safety, pesticides, antibiotics, BPA, your health…which outlet do you trust to report the truth? If you value our fiercely independent voice, please donate $5 to our investigative fund.

We only have a few days to make up our shortfall. But if each person reading this sentence gave just $5, we'd beat our goal within the hour.

Please help. It takes less than 60 seconds to make your tax-deductible donation, and you can give on your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Please donate now via credit card or PayPal.

Many thanks. I (and fans of healthy food everywhere) really appreciate your help.

Sincerely,
Tom Philpott [READ MORE]

 

 

RSN: The Dimming Prospects for Human Survival, The American Government Is Open for Corruption, Rick Scott's Florida Voter Purge Was Illegal ......

It's Live on the HomePage Now:
Reader Supported News

---

FOCUS: Charles Pierce | The American Government Is Open for Corruption

Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes: "The remarkable story of how we have come to privatize political corruption in this country reached another milestone today as the Supreme Court, John Roberts presiding, handed down its decision in McCutcheon."
READ MORE

 

 

FOCUS: Noam Chomsky | The Dimming Prospects for Human Survival

Noam Chomsky, AlterNet
Chomsky writes: "A central conclusion is that the U.S. must maintain the right of a nuclear first strike, even against non-nuclear states."
READ MORE

 

BREAKING: Supreme Court Strikes Down Campaign Contribution Limits

Aaron Blake, The Washington Post
Blake reports: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued one of its most significant campaign finance rulings ever, striking down the overall campaign contribution limits."
READ MORE

NSA Confirms Warrantless Searches of Americans
Spencer Ackerman, James Ball, Guardian UK
Ackerman and Ball report: "US intelligence chiefs have confirmed that the National Security Agency has used a 'back door' in surveillance law to perform warrantless searches on Americans' communications."
READ MORE

KBR (Halliburton) Under Investigation for Fraud
Scott Higham, The Washington Post
Higham reports: "Two members of a powerful congressional committee on Tuesday asked one of the nation's largest government contractors to produce numerous internal corporate files, signaling a widening investigation into claims that the company covered up reports of fraud."
READ MORE

Appeals Court: Rick Scott's Florida Voter Purge Was Illegal
Josh Israel, ThinkProgress
Israel reports: "Gov. Rick Scott's (R-FL) 2012 voter purge was so error-riddled that 30 Republican local elections officials refused to carry it out and his hand-picked Secretary of State had to apologize for it."
READ MORE

Afghan Women See Hope in the Ballot Box
Rod Nordland, The New York Times
Nordland reports: "For the first time, a woman - Habiba Sarobi, the former governor of Bamian Province - is running for vice president on a leading national ticket."
READ MORE

Tar Sands Emissions Linked to Serious Health Problems in Alberta
Andy Rowell, Oil Change International
Rowell reports: "In a landmark report to Alberta's energy regulator, a panel of experts has concluded that odors from a controversial tar sands processing plant are linked to human health impacts."
READ MORE

 

 

This and that....

Don't Frack New York shared Frack Action's photo.

 

Like & Share!
 

MUST SEE: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart covers fracking with a special piece from Assif Mandvi exposing widespread water contamination, health impacts and gas industry lies in Pennsylvania.

Share widely: http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/w5j292/the-benefits-of-fracking





Daily Kos's photo.

 

The owners of Hobby Lobby have been fighting to exclude birth control coverage in the insurance plans covering their employees, most of whom are women. They've ...done so under the misguided belief that covering this essential health care item violates their personal religious beliefs. Simply put, your boss has no business making health care decisions for you.

While the Supreme Court weighs the case, you can take action right now. Sign the pledge to boycott Hobby Lobby and commit to spending your hard-earned money with companies who respect the basic health care needs of women and believe medical choices should be between you and your doctor.

SIGN THE PLEDGE: BOYCOTT HOBBY LOBBY: http://wefb.it/FE2005



The importance of WIND ENERGY reducing severe wind storms in China by absorbing wind energy was previously stressed.

WIND ENERGY makes sense!

Environmental Action shared Mosaic's photo.

 

As opposed to fracking, which worsens earthquakes. Thanks League of Conservation Voters. Share with anyone who is trying to claim they prefer fracking to wind energy. Which would you rather have in your town?
 

Just when you thought clean energy couldn't get any better...

Thanks League of Conservation Voters for sharing!

California League of Conservation Voters, San Francisco League of Conservation Voters




Daily Kos's photo.

 

‪
#‎Truth‬
Thanks to Stop the World, the Teabaggers Want Off

Bold Nebraska

2 hrs ·

The Center for Media and Democracy points to a recent federal court ruling that reinforced the EPA's power to protect the nation’s waterways and natural resources as an invitation for the EPA to put a stop to KXL.

 

New Angles to Stop KXL: EPA Could Put the Brakes on KXL

 

Things might be looking up for opponents of Keystone XL discouraged by the State Department’s highly suspect Final Environmental Impact Statement that seemed...

prwatch.org

Bold Nebraska

Hooray! Solar beat out natural gas in a head-to-head bidding process for new energy generation in Minnesota.
We can build our energy. ‪#‎NoKXL
‬

 

In bid against gas, Minnesota regulators say solar can proceed

 

A proposed $250 million distributed solar project appears to have held its own in a Minnesota regulatory process that put it in competition with three natural gas...

midwestenergynews.com


 

CounterCurrents: How Much War Does Washington Want?, ...Radioactive Wastes, Ten Reasons Why Food Will Be Scarce In A Warmer World, et al

Dear Friend,

If you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/subscribe.htm. You can also follow us on twitter, http://twitter.com/countercurrents and on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/countercurrents

In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org


Snowden Speaks On Obama Reforms As Supporters Call For End of His Persecution
By Jon Queally

http://www.countercurrents.org/queally260114.htm

Edward Snowden, the former NSA employee-turned-whistleblower whose disclosures to journalists about the unknown extent of surveillance on Americans and the world population have now spurred major reform proposal by President Obama, publicly responded to the president's announcement late Tuesday, calling it "a turning point" in the effort to "reclaim rights" and restore the people's voice on issues of privacy and government spying


Ten Reasons Why Food Will Be Scarce In A Warmer World
By Sophie Yeo

http://www.countercurrents.org/yeo260314A.htm

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN's climate science body, prepares to release its new report on the effects of climate change, an Oxfam “scorecard” shows how governments, international organisations and investors have failed to create a world that can deal with more frequent shocks to global food supply


Women Ecowarriors
By Vandana Shiva

http://www.countercurrents.org/shiva260314.htm

When it comes to real solutions to real problems faced by the planet and people, it is the subjugated knowledge and invisible work of women based on co-creation and co-production with nature that will show the way to human survival and well being in the future


Energy – Life – Economy
By Lionel Anet

http://www.countercurrents.org/anet260314.htm

We should start thinking about replacing civilisation, which is working for the few dominant people so they can control us, before irreparable damage is done to the biosphere and humanity


India's Deep Geological Repository For Radioactive Wastes (DGRRW)
Coming up In Idukki- Theni portion Of The Western Ghats
By VT Padmanabhan, Leslie Augustine & Joseph Makkolil

http://www.countercurrents.org/vtp260314.htm

In April 2010, around the time INO's Pottipuram site was finally decided and informal approval from the Central Ministry of Environment was received, IMSc submitted a project application to the Tamil Nadu State Enivironmental Impact Assessment Authority's (TN SEIAA). We presume that the plant in question is a 'Deep Geological Repository' (DGR) for storing high-level radioactive waste from nuclear reactors that the DAE officials have been talking about during the past couple of years


How Much War Does Washington Want?
By Paul Craig Roberts

http://www.countercurrents.org/roberts260314.htm

What the entire world faces, every country, every individual regardless of their political orientation, is a Washington-engineered confrontation with Russia and China. This confrontation is enabled by Washington’s bought-and-paid-for European and UK puppet states. Without the cover provided by Europe, Washington’s acts of aggression would result in war crimes charges against the government in Washington. The world would not be able to enforce these charges without war, but Washington would be isolated


Mahmoud Abbas vs Mohammed Dahlan: The Showdown Begins
By Ramzy Baroud

http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud260314.htm

The saga continues with all of its unpleasant details. Fatah supporters who are neither loyal to Abbas nor Dahlan, know well that there movement must fight for and reclaim its revolutionary identity, the very reason behind its existence in the first place


The Deviants Of Tel Aviv
By Fazal M. Kamal

http://www.countercurrents.org/fmkamal260314.htm

The unfortunate people of Palestine are destined to be subjected to ethnic cleansing and everything else the Israeli leaders are accustomed to doing in the occupied territories against every interest of the oppressed and repressed Palestinians. And Israel is committing all the crimes in full view of the world and yet no one seems capable of slowing it down, to say nothing of making it cease and desist from further recklessness


Democratic Institutions And Fascism: A Critique Of Ramachandra Guha
By V. Arun Kumar

http://www.countercurrents.org/vakumar260314.htm

Ramachandra Guha’s article The Fear of Fascism argues that India's democratic institutions are too strong to let fascist win. But the matter of the fact is that the "strong democratic institution" in this country itself is saffron [Hindutva] flavoured. From legislative to judiciary to executive and from military to police everywhere the colour of Hindutva is visible. Guha somewhere forgets the role of hegemony. Hindutva as an ideology is successful in giving saffron odour to the democratic institutions of this country


The Spirit Of The War For Liberation Of Bangladesh
By Farooque Chowdhury

http://www.countercurrents.org/chowdhury260314.htm

The spirit of liberation of the masses of people is defined by the interests of the classes that form the people, not by the interests of classes standing opposed to the people. Conflicting interests confront and one dominates the rests, and the dominance, if not by the people, distorts the spirit of liberation of people


The Anti-Defamation League’s Deceit Helps Sink A Judgeship
By David Boyajian

http://www.countercurrents.org/boyajian260314.htm

After two fair and lengthy hearings, the eight elected members of the Massachusetts Governor’s Council, in a 4-4 tie vote on March 5, refused to confirm attorney Joseph Berman to be a Superior Court judge. It was a defeat for Governor Deval Patrick, who had nominated Mr. Berman. But the Council took its responsibilities seriously and rendered a well-considered judgment. Councilors voiced many concerns about the nominee. Foremost was a lack of truthfulness


Creative Resistance: Why We Need To Incorporate Art Into Our Activism
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers

http://www.countercurrents.org/flowers260314.htm

Art has added energy to advocacy — and it reaches people at deeper emotional levels, conveying what cannot be said with mere facts


Air Pollution Causes ‘One In Eight Deaths’
By Sophie Yeo

http://www.countercurrents.org/yeo260314.htm

Air pollution killed seven million people in 2012, confirming that it is now the world’s largest environmental health risk. The figures, released today by the World Health Organisation, are more than double previous estimates. It means that in 2012, air pollution was responsible for one in eight total global deaths


Sri Lanka: Motions And Emotions
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

http://www.countercurrents.org/ilangamuwa260314.htm

The President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his hypocrite diplomats were busy making appointments and telephone conversations not only with the African and Latin American leaders and their envoys, but also with some of the trusted allies to gain support against the third UN resolution on Sri Lanka, which is going to be tabled today at the Human Rights Council


Rejection Of The Anticipatory Bail Application Of Teesta Setalvad Is Shocking
By Concerned Citizens

http://www.countercurrents.org/cc260314.htm

We, the undersigned express our deep shock at the rejection of the anticipatory bail application of Teesta Setalvad and four others in what is being called the Gulberg Embezzlement Case, by the City sessions court of Ahmedabad. From its beginning, the so-called embezzlement has been the concoction of elements instigated by the state government of Gujarat, including the Gujarat Crime Branch. In January 2014, an FIR was registered against the five accused for defrauding the members of the Gulberg Society of funds meant for the building of the Gulberg Memorial commemorating the state sponsored carnage

RSN: West Virginians Raise Alarm As Research Links Coal Mining to Cancer, Birth Defects, A Young Mother in Mississippi Could Face Life in Prison for Giving Birth to a Stillborn Child, et al

FOCUS: Ralph Nader | Obama to Putin: Do As I Say Not As I Do

Ralph Nader, The Nader Page
Nader writes: "Every day, presidential actions by you violate international law because they infringe upon national sovereignties with deadly drones, flyovers and secret forays by soldiers - to name the most obvious."
READ MORE

It's Live on the HomePage Now:
Reader Supported News

*REGULAR DONORS: GO SUSTAINER SUBSCRIBER, IT'S BETTER It's way better to go the Sustainer Subscriber route. You get no fundraising emails and we get another small but very important budget building block. Just sign up for a monthly donation on our donation page, and we do the rest. Our sincere thanks for all you do. / Marc Ash - Founder, Reader Supported News*

Okay, I'll make a donation.

---

Frank Rich | Putin Has Not Restarted the Cold War - Yet

Frank Rich, New York Magazine
Rich writes: "Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin reclaimed Crimea as part of Russia, celebrating with a chest-thumping address at the Kremlin, in which he denounced Western opposition to his actions and justified them on historical grounds."
READ MORE

Iraq Death Toll Reaches 500,000 Since Start of US-Led Invasion, New Study Says
Kerry Sheridan, Agence France-Presse
Sheridan reports: "Nearly half a million people have died from war-related causes in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003, according to an academic study published in the United States on Tuesday."
READ MORE

Dirigible Drones Will Watch the World From 13 Miles Up
Allen McDuffee, Wired
McDuffee reports: "With UAVs crowding navigable airspace and plans underway to put giant mega-satellites into orbit, it was just a matter of time before a drone-satellite hybrid was developed to fit between the two spaces."
READ MORE

A Young Mother in Mississippi Could Face Life in Prison for Giving Birth to a Stillborn Child
Nina Martin, ProPublica
Martin writes: "Rennie Gibbs's daughter, Samiya, was a month premature when she simultaneously entered the world and left it, never taking a breath."
READ MORE

Insurance Giant Raises Its Profit Forecast Amid Surging Obamacare Enrollment
Sy Mukherjee, ThinkProgress
Mukherjee writes: "WellPoint, the insurance giant that encompasses the Anthem and Blue Cross Blue Shield brands, has raised its 2014 profit forecast after gaining more than a million new customers largely thanks to the Affordable Care Act."
READ MORE

West Virginians Raise Alarm As Research Links Coal Mining to Cancer, Birth Defects
Erin L. McCoy, YES! Magazine
McCoy writes: "'I lose my breath,' he tells me through the phone. Bone is 56 and suffers from asbestosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and black lung."
READ MORE

 

 

It's Live on the HomePage Now:
Reader Supported News

*DONATED BECAUSE IT MATTERS: It may sound generic or cliche but I donated because it matters. I'm just a grad student at UCLA not making much money yet, so I only give what I can but every little bit makes a difference. Without our contributions, Reader Supported News cannot persist and without independent, reader supported groups like RSN, big, corporate owned and sponsored news wins and that would be a big loss for "We The People." This is what the founders of our country had in mind, not big media and misinformation giants like Fox News. I really hope that more and more RSN readers and the media consuming American public in general come to realize. Your reader truly. / Nicholas Thibeault*

Okay, I'll make a donation.

---

FOCUS | Robert Reich: Elizabeth Warren or I Could Run for President in 2016

Aaron Blake, The Washington Post
Blake reports: "Former labor secretary and liberal economist Robert Reich suggested Thursday night that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) - or even he - could run for president in 2016."
READ MORE

 

 

...pipeline has spilled 400 barrels (16,800 gallons) in North Dakota...

The Cornucopia Institute's photo.

I don't want this to be true but I want this to be true if that's what it takes for a world wide ban

 

 

The mystery of what is causing thousands to die each year from a fatal kidney disease may now be solved, with evidence pointing to the world’s most heavily used... herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) as the primary culprit. More here: http://www.cornucopia.org/2014/03/11548 ‪#‎roundup‬ ‪#‎contamination‬See More

 

Bold Nebraska

Here are some highlights from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's visit to Omaha this week to speak about climate, public health, renewable energy and why Keystone XL is not in our nation's interest.

The video also includes remarks from Iowa State Sen. Rob Hogg, attorney Dave Domina and Nebraska rancher Randy Thompson.

Read more about the event:
http://boldnebraska.org/whitehouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bold Nebraska

A Hiland Partners oil pipeline has spilled 400 barrels (16,800 gallons) near Alexander, North Dakota. The spill is thought to have been originated from a seal in a joint in the pipeline.

Pipelines spill; it's not if, it's when.

‪#‎NoKXL‬

Crews cleaning up after pipeline spill in western North Dakota

inforum.com

ALEXANDER, N.D. – Crews are cleaning up an oil spill in McKenzie County after an above-ground section of pipeline leaked, releasing about 400 barrels.

 

 

 

 

Climate Progress

Anyone heard these "theories" before?

 

Florida Congressman Questions ‘Theories’ That Humans Contribute To Climate Change

thinkprogress.org

It's a "personal responsibility," like gun violence, says Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL).

 

 

Fracking hell?

Bold Nebraska

Nausea, headaches and nosebleeds, invasive chemical smells, constant drilling, slumping property prices — welcome to Ponder, Texas, where fracking has overtaken the town.

 

Fracking hell: what it's really like to live next to a shale gas well

theguardian.com

As the drilling began, Kronvall, 52, began having nosebleeds, nausea and headaches. Her home lost nearly a quarter of its value and some of her neighbours went into foreclosure. "It turned a peaceful little life into a bit...

Fascinating health connections!

You're Drinking the Wrong Kind of Milk

And we're not talking about soy or almond, either.

—By Josh Harkinson

| Wed Mar. 12, 2014

Tar Sands Lies

350.org

The Canadian government isn't telling the truth about tar sands pollution.

Dr. O'Connor takes care of people made sick by the tar sands, and he will tell you the truth.

Click LIKE and SHARE to make sure his voice gets heard.

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/alberta-doctor-tells-us-canada-%E2%80%98lying%E2%80%99-about-tar-sands%E2%80%99-health-effects

 

The Republican Clown Car

Amazing delusions!

Krugman writes: "Rising inequality has obvious economic costs: stagnant wages despite rising productivity, rising debt that makes us more vulnerable to financial crisis. It also has big social and human costs."

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. (photo: AP)

Paranoia of the Plutocrats

By Paul Krugman, The New York Times

28 January 14

ising inequality has obvious economic costs: stagnant wages despite rising productivity, rising debt that makes us more vulnerable to financial crisis. It also has big social and human costs. There is, for example, strong evidence that high inequality leads to worse health and higher mortality.

But there's more. Extreme inequality, it turns out, creates a class of people who are alarmingly detached from reality - and simultaneously gives these people great power.

 

The example many are buzzing about right now is the billionaire investor Tom Perkins, a founding member of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. In a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Perkins lamented public criticism of the "one percent" - and compared such criticism to Nazi attacks on the Jews, suggesting that we are on the road to another Kristallnacht.

FOCUS: Charles Pierce | The Republican Clown Car

Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes: "I'm going to miss Barack Obama's presidency, if only for the fact that his State of the Union address has become an occasion for Republicans to proudly let their freak flags fly."
READ MORE

Steve Weissman | Fascist Beast Back in the Streets of Paris

Steve Weissman, Reader Supported News
Weissman writes: "Yes, many Israelis make use of the Holocaust, just as many in America traded on the undeniable horror of 9/11. That's Shoah business, as Israel's silver-tongued Abba Eban once called it."
READ MORE

James Clapper Calls for Snowden and 'Accomplices' to Return NSA Documents
Spencer Ackerman, Guardian UK
Ackerman reports: "James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, has issued a blistering condemnation of Edward Snowden, calling the surveillance disclosures published by the Guardian and other news outlets a 'perfect storm' that would endanger American lives."
READ MORE

Ray McGovern | No Tears for the Real Robert Gates
Ray McGovern, Consortium News
McGovern writes: "In Official Washington, the gap between image and reality can be wide, but there is a virtual canyon separating the mainstream's awestruck regard for Robert Gates as a 'wise man' and his record as a deceitful opportunist known to his former colleagues."
READ MORE

Rand Paul Wants to Punish Poor Women Who Have Children
Bryce Covert, ThinkProgress
Covert reports: "At a luncheon for the Chamber of Commerce in Lexington, KY, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) floated the idea of capping government benefits for women who have children out of wedlock."
READ MORE

US Says Russia Tested Missile, Despite Treaty
Michael R. Gordon, The New York Times
Gordon reports: "The United States informed its NATO allies this month that Russia had tested a new ground-launched cruise missile, raising concerns about Moscow's compliance with a landmark arms control accord."
READ MORE

Pete Seeger's Greatest Legacy? Saving New York's Hudson River
Suzanne Goldenberg, Guardian UK
Goldenberg reports: "Pete Seeger's greatest legacy after a long life filled with music and activism may have been saving the Hudson river, according to those who worked with him to save the waterway."
READ MORE

 

 

Interesting article by Tom Philpott......

[Eye-opening graphs available in link below.]

Argentina Is Using More Pesticide Than Ever Before. And Now It Has Cancer Clusters.

—By Tom Philpott

| Wed Oct. 23, 2013

 

United Soybean Board/Flickr

Argentina's agricultural transformation over the past 20 years—from prime producer of grass-finished beef to one of the globe's genetically modified crop-producing powerhouses—is often hailed as triumph of high-tech ag. Starting in the 1970s and accelerating recently, high crop prices and various government policies inspired ranchers in the fertile Pampas and Chaco regions to plow up pasture—releasing large amounts to carbon in the process—to plant soybeans, mainly for export markets. In the mid-1990s, when Monsanto rolled out its soybean seeds engineered to resist herbicide, Argentina's new crop farmers were early adapters (see chart to the right).

Sergio H. Lence, "The Agricultural Sector in Argentina: Major Trends and Recent Developmebts," 2010

Today, Argentina is the globe's third-largest soy producer—and nearly 100 percent of its soy crop is genetically altered. The trend has certainly benefited the GMO seed and agrichemical industry—as the below charts show, herbicide, pesticide, and fertilizer use has soared over the past 15 years.

But what about the people who live in the country's agricultural regions? A recent article by Associated Press reporters Michael Warren and Natacha Pisarenko paints a grim picture of life in the farm belt in the age of industrial corn and soy:

In Santa Fe, cancer rates are two times to four times higher than the national average. In Chaco, birth defects quadrupled in the decade after biotechnology dramatically expanded farming in Argentina.

The story quotes a pediatrician and neonatologist names Medardo Avila Vazquez, who has been moved to found a group called Doctors of Fumigated Towns. "We've gone from a pretty healthy population to one with a high rate of cancer, birth defects, and illnesses seldom seen before," he tells Warren and Pisarenko.

GMO seed giant Monsanto—whose soybean and corn seeds engineered to withstand its own herbicide, Roundup (glyphosate), blanket the nation's farmland—denies responsibility for the possible link between agrichemicals and rising rates of health disorders, the AP writers report. The company "does not condone the misuse of pesticides or the violation of any pesticide law, regulation, or court ruling," A Monsanto spokesperson told Warren and Pisarenko.

Even so, Warren and Pisarenko found pesticide use to be at best lightly regulated. "With soybeans selling for about $500 a ton, growers plant wherever they can, often disregarding Monsanto's guidelines and provincial law by spraying with no advance warning, and even in windy conditions," they write.

Meanwhile, provincial restrictions against spraying too close to residential areas are often honored in the breach. The AP story features multiple accounts of people coming into direct contact with agrichemical sprays—just because they lived near farm fields. In one town, teachers reported students getting doused by chemical sprayers during class. In another, a government study found pesticide traces in the blood of 80 percent of children.

The authors make clear that one major driver of Argentina's surging herbicide use is that weeds there have developed resistance to Monsanto's flagship herbicide, Roundup. Just as they've done in the US, farmers there have responded by jacking up their doses of Roundup and adding "much more toxic poisons, such as 2,4,D, which the US military used in 'Agent Orange' to defoliate jungles during the Vietnam War."

Even Roundup's reputation as a relatively benign agrichemical has come under fire from Argentine researchers alarmed at the effect this chemical deluge might be having on people. In a 2010 paper, a research team led by the University of Buenos Aires professor Andrés E. Carrasco found that "injecting a very low dose of glyphosate [Roundup's active ingredient] into embryos can change levels of retinoic acid, causing the same sort of spinal defects in frogs and chickens that doctors increasingly are registering in communities where farm chemicals are ubiquitous," Warren and Pisarenko report. Monsanto disputes the study's findings, claiming they were undermined by flawed methodology and "unrealistic exposure scenarios."

Meanwhile, the epidemiological evidence—health assessments people living near chemical-intensive farms—is unsettling. In the Chaco region, a study of 2,051 people in six towns turned found "significantly more diseases and defects in villages surrounded by industrial agriculture than in those surrounded by cattle ranches," the AP reports. "In Avia Terai, 31 percent said a family member had cancer in the past 10 years, compared with 3 percent in the ranching village of Charadai."

It's worth noting that that Argentina's Pampas region—another place where both chemical use and rates of cancer and birth defects have risen—is widely known for its highly productive form of traditional agriculture, which produces top-quality grass-finished meat and a surplus of grain as well. Michael Pollan described it in his famous 2009 essay "Farmer-in-Chief":

There, in a geography roughly comparable to that of the American farm belt, farmers have traditionally employed an ingenious eight-year rotation of perennial pasture and annual crops: after five years grazing cattle on pasture (and producing the world’s best beef), farmers can then grow three years of grain without applying any fossil-fuel fertilizer. Or, for that matter, many pesticides: the weeds that afflict pasture can’t survive the years of tillage, and the weeds of row crops don’t survive the years of grazing, making herbicides all but unnecessary.

Pollan even help up the Pampas system as a model for reforming our own chemically ravenous agriculture: "There is no reason—save current policy and custom—that American farmers couldn’t grow both high-quality grain and grass-fed beef under such a regime through much of the Midwest."
But he added, presciently, that "today’s sky-high grain prices are causing many Argentine farmers to abandon their rotation to grow grain and soybeans exclusively, an environmental disaster in the making."

Would GMO Labeling Jack Up Food Prices?

Tom Philpott

Food and Ag Correspondent

Tom Philpott is the food and ag correspondent for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here. To follow him on Twitter, click here. RSS | Twitter

If You Liked This, You Might Also Like...

• How GMOs Unleashed a Pesticide Gusher

  And it's only just begun, a new peer-reviewed paper finds.

• Dow and Monsanto Team Up on the Mother of All Herbicide Marketing Plans

  Working in cahoots with its erstwhile rival Monsanto, Dow is on the verge of unleashing a chemical gusher onto US farmland—with the USDA's blessing.

• How Not to "Feed the World"

  A blistering new Oxfam report debunks the theory that export crops are the best use of land in the developing world.

 

 

http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/10/argentina-cancer-cluster-pesticide