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Friday, 25/01/2019 21:40
Glyphosate is a commonly used agricultural herbicide that Lawson Mozley explains, “is considered a safe herbicide due to the small amounts that can be applied to control weeds, as well as its low toxicity, and short life as an active compound in the environment. “
Lawson Mozley, a sixth-generation farmer, explains more about how glyphosate is applied to crops in this post.
“For almost all chemicals that farmers apply, we mix a concentrate into water and apply the mixture with a large sprayer (most common). In the case of Roundup PowerMax, this means that we mix 0.4-32 fluid ounces of Roundup into 20 gallons of water per acre. For perspective, this is between about 2 and half teaspoons to a quart milk bottle per acre, which is approximately the size of a football field, mixed into about as much water as a small SUV gas tank would hold. We then apply this amount to the area of a football field, which means that this wets the plants just enough to sparkle as light reflects on the water droplets, probably less moisture than you see when you clean your kitchen counters with Lysol. The way that farmers use Roundup is far from drenching, and because of its broad application to many weed species, it actually allows us to apply a smaller number of herbicides in less applications.”
It’s important to note that, as Lawson explains in the post linked above, all herbicides have labels that must be followed that include maximum application rates that tell the applicator how much of a chemical can be used and during what stages of plant growth. Additionally, the use of every herbicide on food crops in the United States is evaluated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against a standard of reasonable certainty that the use would cause no harm to human health and the environment.
There is an acceptable daily intake (ADI) set for every herbicide, and as Dr. David Saltmiras, science fellow and toxicology manager at Bayer Company, explains in a previous post:
“Just to be on the safe side, the EPA sets the acceptable daily intake (ADI) a minimum of 100-times lower than any does level that showed any kind of toxicity in any study conducted.” Find more information on how the EPA determines the safety of herbicides, like glyphosate, used on food crops in David’s full response."
You might also be interested in this document which covers frequently asked questions about glyphosate.
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