Uma triste fábula

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the world's best-selling weedkiller Roundup, causes malformations in frog and chicken embryos at doses far lower than those used in agricultural spraying and well below maximum residue levels in products presently approved in the European Union. This is reported in research (1) published by a group around Professor Andrés Carrasco, director of the Laboratory of Molecular Embryology at the University of Buenos Aires Medical School and member of Argentina's National Council of Scientific and Technical Research.

Carrasco was led to research the embryonic effects of glyphosate by reports of high rates of birth defects in rural areas of Argentina where Monsanto's genetically modified "Roundup Ready" (RR) soybeans are grown in large monocultures sprayed from airplanes regularly. RR soy is engineered to tolerate Roundup, allowing farmers to spray the herbicide liberally to kill weeds while the crop is growing.

At a press conference during the 6th European Conference of GMO Free Regions in the European Parliament in Brussels Carrasco said, "The findings in the lab are compatible with malformations observed in humans exposed to glyphosate during pregnancy." Reporting of such problems started in 2002, two years after large scale introduction of RR soybeans in Argentina. The experimental animals share similar developmental mechanisms with humans.


Daqui e em português.

É preciso coragem!
Faltam sempre as provas científicas de uma confirmação que há fortes impactos na produção de OGM's. O artigo está publicado e as evidências fazem-se sentir nas populações que vivem nas zonas de produção.
Haveria alguma dúvida que uma dose reforçada de químicos que mata todos os bichos e outras ervas não desejadas, teria um forte impacto no ecossistema?
Este é mais um assunto para acrescentar à questão dos OGM's: a questão ética do cultivo. Mesmo pensando que há pessoas que querem consumir OGM, têm de ter em conta a degradação ambiental e social, confirmada por este estudo, dessa produção.