Page 12 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2017

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using pesticides at home, but I didn’t consider use at our parks and schools. I am an environmental engineer, who spent my early career cleaning up toxic waste, so I should have known better. Two years ago I was unaware. Then a personal experience woke me up.
While playing with my kids at the neighborhood park, I learned from a neighbor that the parks department was planning a large application of weed killer. Due to scarring from sidewalk construction, weeds grew next to the park’s long pathway that runs next to the sand box and play structure, and ends at our neighborhood creek. Would it be safe for my kids to roll around in this area after pesticide was applied, and could it harm the creek? For the first time, I felt compelled to do the research.
Monsanto first discovered glyphosate’s weed killing abilities in the 1970’s, at a time when the dangerous health e ects of older pesticides were becoming known. It was found to have low acute toxicity, and was advertised to be “safe as salt”. Glyphosate works by disabling a metabolic pathway found only in plants and some microorganisms. As a result, the pesticide was initially considered completely safe for humans and wildlife, so safe that some salesmen would actually take a drink to prove it. This catchy advertising still pervades general opinion. I have encountered multiple “RoundUp® drinkers” first-hand, people who believe, in theory anyway, that RoundUp® is safe to drink.
The Catalyst: Pesticides in my Neighborhood Park
Glyphosate and RoundUp® History and Myths
Another myth is that glyphosate quickly breaks down into safe components, a story that research and simple environmental testing disprove. Glyphosate and its also-toxic principle metabolite AMPA are reliably detected in our lakes and streams, rain and snowmelt, urine, and even our beloved California wine. When we consider that glyphosate is also patented as an antibiotic, its potential for negative impact to our environment and food system become even more clear.
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has thus far not a rmed this finding, which has resulted in the continuation of the status quo. However, recent revelations put into question the
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