It has come to the public's attention through the Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle article published May 25th, 2009 entitled, Herbicide could be used in Ladysmith's watershed, that the Town of Ladysmith is concerned over TimberWest's proposed spraying of glyphosate within the township's watershed.

The article stated that, "Mayor Rob Hutchins suggested council get feedback from Vancouver Island Health Authority's medical health officer before anything happens."

Rather than just make a blanket statement, based simply on my own personal ethos of Do No Harm, I have taken it upon myself to conduct some research into the possible and probable hazards inherent in the chemical compound, glyphosate.

Firstly, with most studies being conducted by Monsanto, the company responsible for producing Roundup (main ingredient glyphosate), there are obvious conflict of interest concerns as to full disclosure and the truthfulness of their claims.

Following a lengthy, convoluted and detailed description on the pros and cons of glyphosate use, Wikipedia(1) gave the following conclusion, which is relevant as to, whom to believe?

Legal cases

False advertising

In 1996 Monsanto was accused of false and misleading advertising of glyphosate products, prompting a lawsuit by the New York State attorney general.[73]

On Fri Jan 20, 2007, Monsanto was convicted of false advertising of Roundup for presenting Roundup as biodegradable and claiming that it left the soil clean after use. Environmental and consumer rights campaigners brought the case in 2001 on the basis that glyphosate, Roundup's main ingredient, is classed as "dangerous for the environment" and "toxic for aquatic organisms" by the European Union. Monsanto France planned to appeal the verdict at the time. [74]

Scientific fraud

On two occasions the United States Environmental Protection Agency has caught scientists deliberately falsifying test results at research laboratories hired by Monsanto to study glyphosate.[75][76][77] In the first incident involving Industrial Biotest Laboratories, an EPA reviewer stated after finding "routine falsification of data" that it was "hard to believe the scientific integrity of the studies when they said they took specimens of the uterus from male rabbits".[78][79][80] In the second incident of falsifying test results in 1991, the owner of the lab (Craven Labs), and three employees were indicted on 20 felony counts, the owner was sentenced to 5 years in prison and fined 50,000 dollars, the lab was fined 15.5 million dollars and ordered to pay 3.7 million in restitution.[81][82] Craven laboratories performed studies for 262 pesticide companies including Monsanto.

Monsanto has stated that the studies have been repeated and that Roundup's EPA certification does not now use any studies from Craven Labs or IBT. Monsanto also claims that the Craven Labs investigation was started by the EPA after a pesticide industry task force discovered irregularities.[83] (End of quote)

Next, I turned my attention to what respected environmental groups may have discovered about the use of glyphosate. The Sierra Club of Canada has concluded that:

"Glyphosate is a herbicide that is constantly lauded as benign. These affirmations are based on studies examining the active ingredient only. In the field, our lawns, our communities however, a different result has emerged. Glyphosate has caused a host of acute and chronic effects ranging from red blood cell destruction to increased propensity for miscarriages. The effects on wildlife, from fish to birds and also non-target species have been observed at doses lower than the application rates suggested." (2)

Probably the most conclusive and useful information for the Town of Ladysmith may be found in The Journal of Pesticide Reform, Winter 2004 Edition, Volume 24, Number 4, as a whole. In brief, the Journal's Herbicide Fact Sheet states:

"Glyphosate herbicides (one common brand name is Roundup) are the mostly commonly used herbicides in the U.S.and the world. In agriculture they are widely used with genetically-modified glyphosate-tolerant crops, but they are also widely used in yards, gardens, and other nonagricultural areas.

Symptoms of exposure to glyphosate include eye irritation, burning eyes, blurred vision, skin rashes, burning or itchy skin, nausea, sore throat, asthma and difficulty breathing, headache, lethargy, nose bleeds, and dizziness.

Glyphosate and glyphosate-containing herbicides caused genetic damage in laboratory tests with human cells, as well as in tests with laboratory animals.

Studies of farmers and other people exposed to glyphosate herbicides have shown that this exposure is linked with increased risks of the cancer non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, miscarriages, and attention deficit disorder. For each of the hazards identified in these studies there are also laboratory studies with results that are consistent with the studies of exposed people.

There is also laboratory evidence that glyphosate herbicides can reduce production of sex hormones.

Studies of glyphosate contamination of water are limited, but new results indicate that it can commonly contaminate streams in both agricultural and urban areas.

Problems with drift of glyphosate herbicides occur frequently. Only one other herbicide causes more drift incidents.

Glyphosate herbicides caused genetic damage and damage to the immune system in fish. In frogs, glyphosate herbicides caused genetic damage and abnormal development.

Application of glyphosate herbicides increases the severity of a variety of plant diseases." (3)

Another document worthy of Mayor and Council's consideration is the, Public Health Goal for Glyphosate in Drinking Water - Draft Form as Prepared by: Pesticide and Environmental Toxicology Branch Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency.

Of particular note is the section under Drinking Water, which states:

Glyphosate may contaminate drinking water supplies.

"Glyphosate may enter water via runoff, from over spray, or from spray drift. In water, it adsorbs strongly to sediment and particulate matter in the water column. It may also form insoluble complexes with metal ions and precipitates. In water, glyphosate does not degrade readily. Under laboratory conditions, no appreciable degradation of glyphosate was observed in dechlorinated tap water via chemical, microbiological or photolytic processes 78 days, with or without aeration (Anton et al., 1993). Sediment adsorption and biodegradation represent the major dissipation processes in aquatic systems (Goldsborough and Brown, 1989). Laboratory experiments showed that the rate of biodegradation may vary, depending on the experimental conditions, e.g., the availability of oxygen, temperature, and type of sediment. The time needed for 50 percent degradation of glyphosate in a test system with water and sediment was estimated to be less than 14 days under aerobic and 14-22 days under anaerobic conditions (WHO, 1994).

The half-lives of glyphosate in three forest ponds in Manitoba, Canada that were aerially sprayed in August were approximately 1.5 to 2 days; glyphosate was not detected in any sample by day 38 (Goldsborough and Brown, 1989). However in two field studies (Feng et al., 1990 and Monsanto, 1990a, as cited in WHO, 1994), it was noted that under certain conditions, glyphosate and its degradation product, AMPA, could persist in the pond sediment for up to one year.

The off-target movement of glyphosate had been studied (Smith et al., 1996) in Newfoundland, Canada. A 2 percent solution of Roundup® was sprayed evenly at the rate of about 11.4 to 13 L/hectare to a site called Massey Drive that was located on a fractured lime stone bed. Drinking water wells from the sprayed site were sampled at 1, 2 and 4 weeks after the first spray and at 1, 2, 4, 13 and 32 weeks after the second spray. Glyphosate was detected in well water at the Massey Drive site at levels ranging from 0.0072 to 0.045 mg/L. Levels peaked two weeks post-spray at 0.025 mg/L in well water and then dropped off to 0.004 mg/L by the fourth week of sampling. After the second treatment, the concentration in the well increased to a maximum of 0.045 mg/L at seven weeks post-spray and again dropped off. This study showed that though glyphosate is known to adsorb strongly to soils, this factor alone did not prevent off-target movement of glyphosate on a limestone bed where the topsoil was replaced with gravel, and thus the potential for off-target movement of chemical was increased." (4)

Lastly, I highly recommend that Mayor and Council consider the Report as addressed to the Lake County Board of Supervisors concerning new evidence titled Information on the contamination of Glyphosate also known as Roundup (5)

In closing, and by way of anecdotal evidence, I visited a local store that sells Roundup and asked the person qualified and trained in the selling of all herbicides and pesticides for advice on usage. For reasons of privacy and as I do not have permission, I will not name the outlet or the person. However, I was strongly advised not to use this product on my property. I was also told by the staff person it was "wished (the store) did not have Roundup for sale on the shelves.”

I await your response on how you plan to deal with this situation, based on the information provided and, in conclusion, thank Mayor and Council trusting you will give serious consideration to this research material then use your authority to stop TimberWest from spraying glyphosate within the Ladysmith watershed.

By Rita Dawson, Ladysmith

References

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate

(2) http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/programs/health-environment/pesticides/glyphosate-fact-sheet.shtml

(3) http://www.pesticide.org/glyphosate.pdf

(4) http://oehha.ca.gov/water/phg/pdf/glyphosate_draft.pdf

(5) http://www.vineyardwatch.org/C_Loren_Roundup01.html

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