AMATEUR GARDENING ARTICLE ON WEEDKILLER

Here's an extract from an article in the Amateur Gardening Magazine.........

"Glyphosate,the ingredient in best selling weedkillers such as Roundup does NOT pose a risk of cancer, two studies concluded last month.
In the first probe, four panels of scientists assessed the spray, following a report in 2015 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer [IARC] which declared that Glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic to humans".
The scientists carried out a "detailed critique" of the IARC's findings and decided that glyphosate doesn't pose a risk of cancer at all.
The study, published in the journal "Critical Reviews in Toxicology" summed up "Following a review of the evidence the panel concluded that data does not support the IARC's conclusion that glyphosate is a "probable human carcinogen". It added "consistent with previous regulatory assessments, [the panels] further concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carsinogenic risk to humans".
Last month, the US Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] outlined it's position on glyphosate too.
The EPA produced a 227 page paper, which summed up:
"The strongest support is for "not likely to be carcinogenic to humans at doses relevant to human health."
Organic campaigners had called for glyphosate to be banned on the basis of the IARC's study. This summer the EU re-approved glyphosate for just 18 months after debate raged following the IARC's alleged cancer link. Chemicals Giant Monsanto, the firm behind glyphosate wanted a 15 year licence."

 

Was there no rebuttal by the IARC?

 

@Zigs They're talking about you again!

 

There's no mention of one, Shiney. IARC is a sub agency of the World Health Organisation which is located in Lyon, France. I'm not a fan of the WHO as it has become a bureaucratic monster which is typically slow to react practically to any crisis....the example being the Ebola outbreak. I think IARC was under pressure from the various organic protesters and organisers globally and within the EU.

Not to my knowledge, Scrungee, as the anti-glyphosate organisations were calling for the outright ban on the chemical not just a partial ban. In fact, they were even more determined that the ban should be aimed at the professional use of it knowing that the ban of amateur use of it would naturally follow.

 

"Typical Tap Water Content:

• Chlorine.
• Fluorine compounds.
• Trihalomethanes (THMs)
• Salts of: arsenic. radium. aluminium. copper. lead. mercury. cadmium. barium.
• Hormones.
• Nitrates.
• Pesticides.

What's in your drinking water?


Many prominent scientists are alarmed by the content of some drinking water and actively seek to change the processes involved. The practice of making water safe to drink actually involves adding large amounts of extremely poisonous chemicals to it. Key scientists are now providing evidence that long-term ingestion of small amounts of chemicals like these could be the cause of some major health problems.

Here is a list of just a few of the chemicals routinely added to our water supply:

• Liquified chlorine
• Fluorosilicic acid
• Aluminium sulphate
• Calcium hydroxide
• Sodium silicofluoride

Even if the water leaves the source in a relatively clean state, don't forget that your water travels through pipes, which may have been underground since Victorian times. It is almost impossible for the water not to become contaminated by something undesirable.



Fluoride in water

Another very important health hazard is fluoride, which is added by some water authorities in the UK, and is also present in many toothpastes and mouthwashes. Around 10% of the UK’s water supply is fluoridated, despite a huge and ever-growing body of evidence that the science behind this mass medication programme is questionable to say the least.

Fluoridation of water is banned in all other European countries.

 

Seems like a good reason to stick to beer and wine.

 

Who needs a good reason........any reason will do!!

 

I don't know how effective filtering the water is but we do it anyway. Our drinking water is filtered through a carbon filter. Our cooking water is filtered through a resin filter. It may be a total waste of time but we do it anyway.

The only very noticeable difference is that the carbon filter definitely removes the chlorine taste and smell and the resin filter removes the limescale. As we live in a very hard water area the limescale is a real nuisance and our water is very highly chlorinated for some reason. So we're happy with what we're doing.

Replacing the filters costs us about £60 per year.