Early, during World War II, anyone known to be of Jewish descent in Germany was segregated and marked by their own people. Soon, these Jewish people (men women, elderly and young) were rounded up and hauled away in train cars commonly used for transporting cattle. It was suspected that they were taken to concentration camps.
The women, children and elderly were separated from the strong young men and never seen again. Their value was only their belongings and the gold in their teeth. If they were musical, maybe they could entertain the elite army personnel.
The strong young men faced hard, forced labour and received very little rations. With train loads arriving every day, even those who were young and strong were replaceable. Later on, it was suspected that most Jewish people who rode on those cattle trains lived a very short life.
It was later discovered that gas chambers were the preferred method of exterminating people held in those concentration camps. I still wonder if those employees of the chemical company that produced that deadly gas knew what they were producing.
When I started to farm in the late 1960s, the best two weed killers farmers had access to were 24D and MCPA. These two were from the same family as 245T which was commonly known as brush killer and used to kill brush and weeds in ditches along railroads and roadways.
245T was also known as Agent Orange and used as a defoliant in wartime. 24D was used to kill broad leaf weeds in corn fields and MCPA was used to kill broad leaf weeds in grain fields because it was less harsh on grain and new seedlings of clovers and alfalfa growing that had been planted with the grain crop.
Later on, 24DB and MCPB were developed. Because they were a butyric version of 24D and MCPA, they were less stressful to the crop.
The first super herbicide introduced was named Atrazine. Although Atrazine was invented in 1958, it was not widely used until the early 1970s. When it was first introduced, it killed all broad leaf weeds, perennial grass, like couch grass and many annual grasses. Within a few years of use Atrazine resistant weeds began to be a problem in farm fields.
By 2010, it was discovered that exposure to Atrazine at levels 30 times less concentration than allowed by law, caused male frogs to turn into females and 75 per cent were totally sterile. Atrazine was the most used herbicide at the time and traces of it were found in ground water and eventually in lakes. Very soon after the use of Atrazine was very restricted and in some cases banned completely. Several annual grass herbicides were also introduced in the 1980s but some were taken off the market only a few years later because they were found to cause cancer.
Enter the glyphosate era. Glyphosate was invented by Stauffer Chemical in 1961 as a descaling agent and chelating agent to clean calcium, magnesium and other heavy metals from boilers and pipes in hot water systems without disassembling the system. By 1970, it was noticed that wherever the old boiler water containing this glyphosate was dumped, all the grass and other vegetation died.
By 1974, the Monsanto company had purchased the patent rights to glyphosate and began marketing it as Roundup. Farmers first began using Roundup to kill off all vegetation before plowing up a field. Roundup was soon announced to be the best weed killer to arrive in decades.
Before long, many chemical or pharmaceutical companies that also owned seed companies began to develop genetically modified (GMO) seeds and crops that were resistant to glyphosate. These new GMO crops were instantly adopted by farmers because they could be sprayed with one application of inexpensive Roundup instead of several sprays with other more expensive chemical sprays.
Both the GMOs and Roundup were approved and deemed safe by both the FDA in the US and by Agriculture Canada.
Farmers gladly paid a premium price for this new GMO seed and didn’t even think twice about signing the form before purchasing the seed by which the farmer promised to only use the resulting crop or grain for animal feed or for sale to an elevator. This meant that the farmer could not keep seeds from the GMO crop for replanting, or do any trials of testing with the GMO crop. This permission granted to the owner of the patented GMO seed or glyphosate itself prevents anyone, any university or even government scientists from doing any trials or tests on the GMOs or glyphosate for performance, health or any other reason without direct involvement or permission from the patent holder. This could explain why after more than 40 years, I have never read a peer-reviewed study about either the health safety or performance of GMOs compared to non-GMO seeds or crops.
Recently, results from two trials by jury have resulted in Monsanto being told to pay multi-million dollar compensation to cancer victims because of prolonged use of Roundup without adequate warning labels on the package, or disclosure of information about dangers associated with Roundup. There are also 9,000 more similar cases waiting to be heard.
Many countries in Asia, Europe and even Russia have restrictions or even bans on GMOs. In North America studies show that 90 per cent of consumers want labeling on packages to state whether the products inside contain GMO material or not. So far there is no such label unless it is placed voluntarily by the seller.
Farmers have an advantage here because they know which crops or products are likely to contain GMOs or have been sprayed with Roundup. It is a challenge to keep these thousands of foods in your head but when it affects your health, your memory becomes sharper.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations. gladcrest@gmail.com
