I would like to correct a few misconceptions regarding glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp. 1. As far as I have gleaned from those who should know, glyphosate does not affect insect and amphibian health although RoundUp does. This is because the detergents in most commercial preparations are the culprits. If you need to kill aquatic weeds, there are some generic glyphosate preparations without detergents that are listed for that application. If you use soap or detergents at home, you are a contributor to destruction of aquatic biodiversity. 2. Most genetically engineered crops have at least three useful genes inserted and one of them is likely to be Bt toxin. In the case of corn, this is to prevent corn borer. There is some speculation that bees collect pollen from corn although they don't pollinate it and, depending on how the gene is promoted, it could be in the corn pollen. 3. Glyphosate is not immediately destroyed on contact with soil and this was never claimed by Monsanto to my knowledge. It is immediately inactivated by binding to polar soil particles and very slowly destroyed by soil bacteria with a half life of several weeks. 4. The Material Safety Data Sheet for glyphosate indicates that the lethal dose for rats is slightly higher than table salt. So as a rat-poison, it is much more economical to use salt. _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>