Monsanto’s Roundup Altering the Physical Shape of Amphibians
Monsanto’s Roundup, which is the most popular herbicide used today, has been found to ignite morphological changes in amphibians. The research, conducted using tadpoles, found that environmentally relevant concentrations of Roundup are enough to cause two species of amphibians to actually change shape. This is the first research to show that herbicides can have such an affect on animals.
Monsanto’s Roundup Ignites Morphological Changes in Amphibians
Setting up outdoor tanks closely resembling the environment of natural wetlands, study researcher Rick Relyea, University of Pittsburgh professor of biological sciences in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and director of Pitt’s Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, added 3 tadpoles to each tank and exposed them to a range of Roundup concentrations over a 3 week period. The cages also contained large predators, which naturally cause changes in tadpole morphology. These natural changes include a larger tail, due to chemical emissions.
While it wasn’t surprising to see morphological changes take part due to the naturally emitted chemicals from predators, it was rather shocking to find out that Roundup had the same effects — causing the tails of the tadpoles to grow in size. What’s more, the combination of the naturally emitted chemicals and Roundup caused the tadpoles’ tails to grow twice as large. Seeing as tadpoles alter body shape in order to properly survive in its environment, the forced changes from herbicides like Roundup can put the animals at a disadvantage.
“This discovery highlights the fact that pesticides, which are important for crop production and human health, can have unintended consequences for species that are not the pesticide’s target. Herbicides are not designed to affect animals, but we are learning that they can have a wide range of surprising effects by altering how hormones work in the bodies of animals. This is important because amphibians not only serve as a barometer of the ecosystem’s health, but also as an indicator of potential dangers to other species in the food chain, including humans,” says Relyea.
In addition to physically altering tadpoles, Roundup has also been shown to be contributing to the decline of butterfly populations, though in a different way. Similar to how pesticides have been contributing to the bee decline, Monsanto’s Roundup has been tied to the decrease in the population of monarch butterflies by killing the very plants that the butterflies rely on for habitat and food.
As more research continues to be done, researchers continue to keep finding more pitfalls caused by Monsanto’s creations. We currently know enough to cease use of the corporation’s products, but there are undoubtedly further concerns yet to be revealed.
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| Mike is the co-founder, editor, and researcher behind Natural Society. Studying the work of top natural health activists, and writing special reports for top 10 alternative health websites, Mike has written hundreds of articles and pages on how to obtain optimum wellness through natural health. |
Post writing is also a excitement, if you know afterward you can write
if not it is complicated to write.
Montesanto is currently doing their bit to buy out the western australian government ministers, we have already got to the "let some farmers try" bit and as montesanto is such a corrupt coorporation we've now come to the bit where they have allowed a GM farmer to let GM seed spoil on to a neighbors farm and therefore the next step will be "the courtcase" where montesanto will corrupt our laws and lawyers and judges and colon barnett and his greed driven cronies in the national party who will bow to the mighty dollars of this the most evil of coorporations.
But Colin barnett is just doing it for his own money, who cares about being a politician anymore? Long ago the word "politician" has ceased to mean "representative of the people", once you are voted in on many lies and by corruptly buying national party votes with TAXPAYER money you just keep going, montesanto will be ALL over WA within a few years and by then it's too late to stop them.
Kudos Mr.Barrett: Excellent expose.
Should our great leader get a second term we will all be starving and freezing in the dark waiting for our government provided amphibians.
http://www.magnifiedview.com/2010/09/17/yodas-lit…
Right on MR.Barrett: WRITE ON!
Cordially, [email protected],com
P.S. "May you live in interesting times." Ancient Chinese curse