Latest News...
- Monday, May 23, 2022
Bill Banning Aerial Herbicides on Forestland Vetoed by Mill
Maine Gov. Janet Mills has vetoed a bill to ban aerial spraying of glyphosate in forests
Bill Banning Aerial Herbicides on Forestland Vetoed by Mill (Associated Press, June 26, 2021)
Maine Gov. Janet Mills has vetoed a bill to ban aerial spraying of glyphosate in forestland. Democratic Senate President Troy Jackson spent 17 years fighting the spraying, and finally got the bill passed in 2021, only to have her veto it!
SNAP Comment: a larger buffer zone to protect water will do little to control fires or provide habitat.
filed under Legislation/Regulatory/USA
- Saturday, May 21, 2022
Why Did Health Canada Change Their Mind About Neonics?
Why Did Health Canada Change Their Mind About Neonics? (Canadian Wildlife Federation blog, May 18, 2022)
In 2018, the PMRA recommended that ALL agricultural, ornamental and greenhouse uses be cancelled and phased out over a three to five year period. This is why, in spring 2021, we were shocked when Health Canada did a complete about-face. Suddenly, these pesticides that were so hazardous to aquatic life that their use needed to be terminated, were deemed “largely acceptable with some mitigation.” The agricultural chemical industry provided the PMRA with additional data on contamination levels in the prairies, and these data were used by the federal government to base their reversal decision. While that is not in and of itself a bad thing, these data are now considered to be proprietary by the government.
filed under neonicotinoids and Legislation/Regulatory/Canada
- Saturday, May 21, 2022
How the ghouls of Monsanto influenced science and the media
How the ghouls of Monsanto influenced science and the media (GM Watch, 04 May 2022)
Last week, the award-winning investigative journalist Paul Thacker gave a presentation at Carleton University on Monsanto’s ghostwriting to influence both science and media, detailing Monsanto’s ghostwriting campaign which kicked off in 2015 to attack the World Health Organization’s cancer agency, after it found glyphosate was a “probable carcinogen.” A year after Monsanto began plotting their 2015 attack on IARC, the journal Critical Reviews in Toxicology (CRT) published a special issue titled “An Independent Review of the Carcinogenic Potential of Glyphosate.” But emails show Monsanto directed and edited the studies... In 2015, Monsanto secretly recruited scientists from Harvard, Cornell University and three other schools to write about the benefits of GMO technology. In the case of Harvard’s Calestous Juma, Monsanto suggested the topic and provided a summary and headline.' and a lot more with links.
filed under glyphosate and industry shenanigans/propaganda
- Sunday, May 15, 2022
CN spraying schedule for 2022
across Canada
CN spraying schedule for 2022 for all of Canada. A few 'No spray" but most are pending right now.
filed under Railroads
- Monday, April 25, 2022
Giving Up Glyphosate
The forestry industry’s prized pesticide may be harming people and nature. Is it time to stop spraying?
Giving Up Glyphosate
The forestry industry’s prized pesticide may be harming people and nature. Is it time to stop spraying? (by Moira Donovan, Maisonneuve, 26 January 2022)History of glyphosate spraying if forestry, environmental and health effects and the politics. Also the trial methods that could reduce herbicide use at several points along the process. Ontario and New Brunswick stories.
SNAP Comment: I would like to address the following quote: 'Because mammals and vertebrates don’t have the cellular pathway affected by glyphosate, some scientists and industry players have said that this makes the chemical relatively safe for people.' Whie mammals and people don't have this cellular pathway, the bacteria living within us do and are affected.
filed under forestry/herbicide
- Saturday, April 23, 2022
Neonic Pesticides: Potential Risks to Brain and Sperm
Neonic Pesticides: Potential Risks to Brain and Sperm (Jennifer Sass, PANNA,January 06, 2021) where CDC biomonitoring indicates over 50% of the US population is regularly exposed to neonics as evidenced by their breakdown productsi urine. Neonics have been linked to birth defects, developmental neurotoxicity, reduced thyroid function, sensorimotor deficits in rats, and poor sperm qhalityand quantity.
SNAP Comment: the article does a good job of exploring the various routes of exposure, except one: neonics in flea collars for pets (Seresto brand in the US) and monthly liquid treatments for fleas and lice for pets which form most of the imidacloprid labels in Canada.
filed under children/neonics and neonicotinoids
- Saturday, April 23, 2022
Neonics under fire
Neonics under fire (Jennifer Sass, PANNA blog 21 April 2022)
Maine prohibited use of most neonics on residential landscapes, and New Jersey passed a law that prohibits outdoor, non-agricultural neonic uses. Great links to other posts regarding pollinators and human and animal health including: Neonic Pesticides: Potential Risks to Brain and Sperm (Jennifer Sass, PANNA,January 06, 2021) where CDC biomonitoring indicates over 50% of the US population is regularly exposed to neonics as evidenced by their breakdown productsi urine. It does a good job of exploring the various routs of exposure, except one: neonics in flea collars for pets (Seresto brand in the US) and monthly liquid treatments for fleas and lice for pets which form most of the imidacloprid labels in Canada.
filed under bylaws/USA
- Friday, April 22, 2022
Former Monsanto CEO files for protective order in Roundup case
Former Monsanto CEO files for protective order in Roundup case
Former top exec Hugh Grant does not want to testify in upcoming trial(by Carey Gillam, Unspun (blog))
- Thursday, April 21, 2022
Regina City Council voted in favour of a report on a cosmetic bylaw
Regina City Council voted in favour of a report on a cosmetic bylaw (email from Councillor Cheryl Stadnychyk)
The motion to have a report on a cosmetic pesticide ban passed 7-3. Voting against were Mayor Masters, Terina Shaw and Lori Bresciani.
The report will come back to Council in early 2023. In the meantime, there will be public consultation so it will be important to continue to raise issues and do public awareness.
The mayor spoke against and repeatedly brought up that Manitoba is walking back some aspects of its ban. She also believes that the public doesn’t support a ban and that we are spending $70,000 for a report that won’t go anywhere.
will link the Leader Post article if one comes out.
- Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Canfor ‘pest management’ consultation triggers stakeholders’ concerns about glyphosate herbicide
Canfor ‘pest management’ consultation triggers stakeholders’ concerns about glyphosate herbicide (BC story. Rules about replanted forests likely vary between provinces)
Canfor served notice to forest stakeholders on its five-year ‘pest management plan’ for harvested forest blocks around the Prince George region, but wouldn’t reveal which specific tracts of Crown land are being considered for glyphosate herbicide aer
(Fran Yanor - Local Journalism Initiative Reporter (The Rocky Mountain Goat) Nov 13, 2020)'"Forestry management stipulates replanted forests must be 95 per cent conifer. Timber companies are responsible for replanted trees until they reach the ‘free-to-grow’ stage, when they can survive on their own. To speed growth of new conifers, glyphosate solutions are sprayed from planes across massive cut blocks to wipe out deciduous competition.
“It's not based on (ecological) science,” said Steidle. “It's based on the science of agriculture, an agricultural mindset to maximize yields.”
Mike Morris, Liberal MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie, has lived, hunted, fished and trapped in the Prince George Timber Supply Area (TSA) for upwards of 50 years. During that time, he’s seen dramatic effects from logging and spraying.
Forests in the northern interior naturally have a range of deciduous trees and plants, said Morris. “Glyphosate kills that and virtually eliminates all wildlife populations within the area being: sprayed,” said Morris. “It's pretty tragic.”'SNAP Comment: Glyphosate mostly indirectly eliminates wildlife populations by eliminating their food sources.
filed under forestry/herbicide and glyphosate