France bans glyphosate products with harmful co-formulants after yanking Roundup from garden centers

Wednesday, April 20, 2016 by: Isabelle Z.
Tags: France, glyphosate, regulatory ban

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(NaturalNews) France is instituting a ban on glyphosate products that are mixed with certain additives, because of the risk they pose to human health. This news comes just two months after the French ecology minister, Segolene Royal, called for such a ban to be put in place.

The French Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety Agency informed manufacturers that herbicides that combine glyphosate and tallow amine will soon be banned. The body's deputy director general, Francoise Weber, said that the move came in response to a declaration by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) that the combination posed bigger risks compared to glyphosate on its own.

Tallow amine is a surfactant that is added to glyphosate-based herbicides to boost their efficacy. It is part of Monsanto's Roundup, which will be affected by the ban. The company is calling the move "political," and insists that the chemical is safe despite evidence to the contrary, such as a 2006 study that showed it caused "alterations in respiratory surfaces" in animals.

France banned Roundup sales in garden centers last June because of its link to cancer, and Royal has pushed for an outright ban on herbicides containing glyphosate across the EU.

Back in November, EFSA rejected the claim by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that glyphosate was a "possible carcinogen," but conceded that the adverse health effects of herbicides could stem from the inclusion of other co-formulants.

Glyphosate can poison Europe for another seven years

The European Parliament recently backed re-authorizing glyphosate for another seven years, which falls short of the 15 originally requested, but is still quite a long time for these toxic substances to be allowed in the environment.

Although they stated that its use should only be limited to professionals, and advised that it not be used in public locations like playgrounds and parks, the move is being met with quite a lot of criticism in the face of the growing scientific body of evidence that proves the chemical to be dangerous.

Monsanto has a history of covering up glyphosate dangers

Both the European Commission and Monsanto have known since the 1980s that the substance has been linked to birth defects, but the findings were dismissed by the EC. Glyphosate has also been connected to endocrine disruption and various types of cancer, such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It can also damage DNA, and is a neurotoxin.

It's not just human health that is affected; it can be retained in soil and harm soil ecology and fertility. Its high water solubility puts aquatic wildlife at risk; it has been shown to kill off several species of frogs and adversely affect water quality. It has also been shown to contaminate ground water supplies in the U.S. and Spain.

A study from the University of Caen showed that the inert ingredients in Roundup, such as tallow amine, amplified its toxic effect on human cells, and this effect was even noted at concentrations far more diluted than what is typically used on lawns and farms.

Monsanto was quick to call this study flawed, but the molecular biologist who headed the study, Gilles-Eric Seralini, said that the study used standard toxicological methods, and the study stood up to three rounds of rather rigorous peer review. Despite being the subject of a smear campaign by Monsanto, Seralini continued to study the chemical and received a Whistleblower Award in 2015 for his efforts.

Of course, glyphosate isn't the only toxic chemical lurking in the food many of us buy and eat. The book Food Forensics by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, uncovers many of these hidden dangers, and outlines actionable steps to help you avoid these foods and their harmful side effects.

The French ban is certainly a good start, but the use of this dangerous substance is still remarkably widespread. One can only hope that other countries will soon follow suit to protect the health of their citizens.

Sources include:

EcoWatch.com

SOTT.net

NaturalBlaze.com

TheLibertyBeacon.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

Science.NaturalNews.com