Interesting ...

[Michael Gochfeld]

Listen carefully to hear what they are singing.   MGochfeld

Paul Cherubini wrote:
> 
> Hank,  the frog / herbicide study was a lab study and may have no
> relevance to field conditions.  We learned this lesson with the
> monarch butterfly Bt corn scare which turned out to be nothing.
> Here in California's central valley  it is routine to hear hundreds
> of frog "singing" at night in late winter in agricultural areas where
> atrazine and Roundup are used heavily.
> 
> Now monarch scientists are increasingly saying herbicides like
> Roundup pose a "major" or even "catastrophic" threat to the
> monarch. Examples:
> 
> http://whyfiles.org/083isotope/4.html
> 
> He [O.R. (Chip)Taylor} says a major new threat is the widespread use
> of corn and soybeans that are genetically resistant to herbicide
> like Roundup. Roundup-resistant crops allow farmers to spray
> Roundup, which kills just about anything green.If the herbicide
> becomes virtually ubiquitous, the side effects could be
> enormous. "We are cleaning up U.S. agriculture, the weedy fields, in a way
> that they've never been cleaned up before," Taylor says. "Monarchs, birds,
> and other animals depend  on weediness" in crop fields. Yet the potential
> of herbicide-resistant crops is to eradicate weeds. '
> 
> Dr. Lincoln Brower Nov. 22, 2000:
> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2000/11/1122_monarchs.html.
> 
> All over the United States herbicides are replacing costly
> mowing as the primary method of controlling weeds
> along roadsides, power line right-of-ways, and
> agricultural fields‹areas that together comprise much
> of the monarch¹s breeding grounds. "Herbicide use at that level,"
> says Brower, "is  catastrophic for monarchs."
> 
> But University of Nebraska weed scientists say just the opposite:
> http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/weeds/g384.htm
> 
> "There are several reasons common milkweed is on the
> increase in Nebraska. Less tillage is used in crop production
> today than in the past, creating more favorable conditions for
> plant establishment and growth. HERBICIDES [e.g. Roundup]
> ARE WIDELY USED TODAY WHICH OFTEN DO NOT
> HARM COMMON MILKWEED BUT CONTROL MOST
> ANNUAL WEEDS THAT WOULD
> OTHERWISE COMPETE WITH IT Cultivated land in eastern
> Nebraska is in row crops most of the time, which provides
> a favorable environment for common milkweed. Irrigation and
> fertilizer use are practices that enhance common milkweed as
> well as crop growth."
> 
> "Under present row crop production methods common milkweed
> is spreading and infestations are becoming more severe. Surveys
> indicate common milkweed has increased markedly in row crops
> during a four-year study in eastern and south central Nebraska
> (Table I). Tillage implements cut and drag root sections of the plant,
> which spreads it. Reduced tillage systems provide favorable
> conditions for the development, growth and spread of this
> plant. Use of irrigation water and fertilizer also creates a
> favorable environment for common milkweed."
> 
> 
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