Glyphosate Sprayed on GMO Crops Linked to Lake Erie’s Toxic Algae Bloom

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Glyphosate Sprayed on GMO Crops Linked to Lake Erie’s Toxic Algae Bloom

Glyphosate, the controversial main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup and other herbicides, is being connected to Lake Erie's troubling algae blooms, which has fouled drinking water and suffocated and killed marine life in recent years.

 

A dead fish surrounded by algae in Lake Erie during a record-setting algae bloom in 2011.

Photo credit: Tom Archer/NOAA

Phosphorus—attributed to farm runoff carried by the Maumee River—has long been identified as a leading culprit feeding the excessive blooms in the western Lake Erie basin. Now, according to a new study from chemistry professor Christopher Spiese, a significant correlation has been established between the increased use of glyphosate to the percentage of dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) in the runoff.

As No-Till Farmer observed from the study, DRP loads in Lake Erie increased in the mid-1990s at the same time that farmers began the widespread cultivation of crops genetically engineered to withstand multiple applications of Roundup.

"For every acre of Roundup Ready soybeans and corn that you plant, it works out to be about one-third of a pound of P [phosphorus] coming down the Maumee," Spiese told the agricultural publication.

Here's how the team came to the conclusion, as No-Till Farmer reported:

Through his own and others' research, Spiese found that depending on the types of metal in the soil, glyphosate does release P. For example, when glyphosate is applied to soil containing iron oxide-hydroxide, P is immediately released. But almost nothing is removed when it's an iron oxide material.

Finally, Spiese took soil samples all over the Maumee watershed, applied P to them and then sprayed glyphosate to see how much P was released vs. soil that wasn't sprayed with glyphosate after 24 hours. He saw desorption occurred all over the watershed, but certain areas were higher than others, specifically in the southeastern corner.

Based on the average two glyphosate applications growers make every year, Spiese estimates that overall, 20-25 percent of the DRP runoff is caused by glyphosate. But depending on the location within the watershed, that percentage could be much lower or much greater.

"Some of those sites, it's less than a percent. Other sites it's almost 100 percent," he says.

Previous studies have tied glyphosate to the phosphorous fueling Lake Erie's blue-green algae. In 2009, Ohio Sea Grant researchers, Drs. R. Michael McKay and George Bullerjahn of Bowling Green State University, found that glyphosate could only be detected in the lake at certain times of year—after crops are planted.

"Our research is finding that Roundup is getting into the watershed at peak farming application times, particularly in the spring," McKay said.

Approximately 1,000 metric tonnes (about 2.2 million pounds) of Roundup is applied in the Lake Erie watershed per year , and it is being detected in adjacent waterways particularly in the spring, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) noted from McKay and Bullerjahn's study.

The researchers also found that the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) in the lake are capable of using phosophonates.

"It turns out that many cyanobacteria present in Lake Erie have the genes allowing the uptake of phosphonates, and these cyanobacteria can grow using glyphosate and other phosphonates as a sole source of phosphorus," Bullerjahn said.

Attached link

http://www.ecowatch.com/glyphosate-sprayed-on-gmo-crops-linked-to-lake-eries-toxic-algae-bloom-1906543478.html

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7 Comments

  1. Glyphosate is a systemic chelator patented as a biocide, kills anything and worse, Roundup has additives to penetrate cell walls better.

    The main issue with it is that it kills gut bacteria at any trophic level, any size organism as it's systemic and non-specific killing off many benign species.

    A common misperception by farmers promoted by biotech is that Roundup fades in 90-days or so and that's blatantly not true retention in soils is dependent upon clay percentage.

    It takes very little clay in soils to persist Roundup for years, thus farmers use WAY TOO MUCH of it for any reason thinking it's OK because that's the hype.

    A big soak-down is going on using Roundup as a "burn down" to get rid of leaves and make processing cheaper just before harvest any crop!

    This puts Roundup into the food parts at a high level, by 10-ppm in blood liver & kidney damage begin and 40-ppm is legal otherwise there wouldn't be much to sell, eh?

    So when this gets into groundwater, then waterways it alters populations of species more resistant to affects than others and no longer a part of the previous ecosystem.

    This usually ends up with negative results as here with a remnant survivor species being "bad" when it's likely prior population proportions wouldn't have allowed them to dominate.

    Roundup should be removed from the food-chain immediately, it's a global health hazard in the end, now in all the wines recently tested had it, consider that.

  2. Many, many people around the lakes use Roundup not just those with GM crops...many people use it for controlling weeds in their gardens and driveways and around their fishing cabins and it is correct to say that it is fouling the lake but do not focus blame on GM crops.....it is the general use of Glyphosate that is the problem.

    1 Comment reply

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  4. Be careful on what you read.

    My logic:  glyphosate has been used for some time, now its the toxic algae cause and affect?

    i agree with E Hugh Petterson comments.  We are so excited  to pinpoint a cause and affect we are willing to jump to conclusions.

    3 Comment replies

    1. Roundup uses glyphosate which is patented as a "biocide" it kills anything alive by being a chelator, binding to all needed minerals a body needs, and worse, in Roundup are additives that penetrate cell walls making it even worse than only glyphosate.

      Seralini won his lawsuit, his proof of Roundup causing tumors was unintended, he was testing for toxicity, not cancers, Monsanto went and installed an "editor" to reject his published work causing such an academic uproar they had to back off.

      Roundup in food kills stomach bacteria and that leads to many serious health problems, there's nothing safe about Roundup, it's criminal having it in the food-chain.

    2. IF YOU HAVE any evidence assuring the GM Safety, Bring it on here. Will have a look. Bring something scientifically done. Something acceptable and accepted by Science Community - meaning reliable resource. 

      Chemicals and those GM are not innocent until proven guilty. Okay ? Go get your act together and show me the proof. 

    3. Be careful - Do your literature study well. There is no safety assurance in GM.  You older generations sprayed so much, and dont have much time left on earth, it may not make much difference. But it does to younger generations.  Go bless yourself and family with Tumor and Cancerous diseases. God's Gift to you 

  6. Why do you have a focus on GMO Crops -  these pesticides and others are also sprayed on many other types of crops ??  Is this an effort to denigrate GM crops ??  Could algae blooms also be influenced by other chemical compounds introduced into the water from anti-foul, from exhaust gases of internal combustion motors, I wonder just what else could be having adverse effects ?

    3 Comment replies

    2. Error for Link (2ed)

      Farmers using ​even more ​pesticides with ​GM crops ​

       https://thewaternetwork.com/article-FfV/gmo-environmental-risks-genetic-engineering-and-food-iG38bA1IgM3bEroy-4WZXA

    3. There has been NO literature confirming the safety of 

      Roundup® agricultural herbicides, widely applied all over the world, because it is Cheap and Effective. 

      Would you feed your child with GM Crop. Is that what you are advocating ?

      If so, Go Ahead, have GM Food a lot of them at your dinner and breakfast, lunch

  7. Some will say this is environmentalist hype, others will say this is evil capitalist corporate consequences.  Whatever blame name used this is not nature, not good and correctable.   The question is who is going to pay, and in reality the consumers (people) will pay.  If the big firms that are charged with causing this pay, that cost will be passed on, so better leadership is needed.  Since rules keep ball players from cheating, rules are needed to stop this from happening.   It is those who hate laws that laws are imposed upon.  The imposition of required ethics that corporations hate.  

    1 Comment reply