Update
GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - This is the third article by Avril Dawson in a series and is a follow-up on, firstly, how the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands recognises the lakes and wetlands between Wilderness and Sedgefield as a sensitive and vital ecosystem, and secondly, how there has been a gradual international move away from using poisons in public and other spaces.
The incident that sparked this series of articles was Glyphosate spraying along the edge of the Langvlei by the Garden Route District Municipality in October 2022.
A group of concerned residents held a site meeting with them soon after at which they became aware of the fact that spraying glyphosate was widespread.
Dawson is a retired high school teacher with a mission to ban the use of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
The elephant in the room had been glyphosate which is the main ingredient in sprays to eradicate weeds and aliens in both agricultural and non-agricultural settings. These sprays can be bought over the counter in nurseries and shops supplying agricultural and gardening needs.
The purpose of this article is to alert users and suppliers to the threat it poses to the health of our planet and all forms of life.
Glyphosate is sprayed extensively including on road edges, in forests, on our food and wherever gardeners and authorities need to remove weeds and aliens.
There is much up-to-date evidence of the toxicity of glyphosate which alarmingly bioaccumulates and can be found even in the North Pole. Because of its pervasive use, we are living with overloads of mercury, arsenic, lead, nickel, chromium and cobalt.
Co-formulants and surfactants in glyphosate-containing herbicides are therefore also toxic, hence the call for its banning by environmentally conscious citizens and experts and the gradual move away from toxic pesticides and herbicides.
Soils have become lifeless and infertile because of the anti-biotic and mineral draining effect of toxic herbicides. Our food alarmingly comes with hidden poisons and deficiencies.
I leave it to the reader to extrapolate the effect of poisons on the human gut biome. Gut bacteria are crucial to our immune system and the production of hormones and biologically active molecules essential for health. I ask, what can go wrong in us if our gut bacteria are compromised?
Can we link diseases to depleted and poisoned soils in which our food grows? These are questions we have to answer honestly with reference to unbiassed research.
More questions we need to answer are:
- Are pesticides more hazardous than herbicides?
- Is even a very low dose of glyphosate safe?
- What about bio-accumulation of small doses?
- Why are the voices of alarm and warning not being heeded?
- What health risks have been noted?
- Who is benefitting from the continued manufacture and sale of poisons?
- Have workers using sprays been adequately protected?
- Are cancer rates higher in the handlers and people who live close to spraying?
- Are children more vulnerable?
- Does pre-natal exposure predispose children to endocrine disruption?
- What other mental, physical and emotional manifestations have been increasing?
- What is happening to our water?
In researching the subject of this article, I have had access to 704 citations and references, shining a light on most of the questions above, and unequivocally warning of the dangers of the use of glyphosate and all poisons sprayed on our food and the environment.
I can supply my main source and her 704 references on request. My email address is: avrildawson01@gmail.com.
My main mission, after bringing the hazards connected to using poisons once again into the public domain, is to give a voice to those who have taken a road less travelled and proved that it is possible to avoid using poisons.
Watch this space for interviews. Finally, any ideas on the issues discussed above are welcome.
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