"Freedom" thread or something

The T wrote: I find it quite relevant.

Monsanto makes herbicide to kill weeds. It contains a salt called glyphosate that inhibits the production of enzymes in the plant that make it natural resistant to pathogens, so the naturally occurring pathogens in the soil can now kill the plant. The toxicity of glyphosate is comparable to domestic table salt (in fact domestic table salt can kill weeds too - pour table salt on a dandelion and it will whither and die - table salt is an "approved" herbicide for organic farming). Salts are not harmless (arsenic is a salt), this is known, the concentrations and relative toxicity are the key points to consider, eventhough glyphosate is as toxic as table salt, it is handled and used as if it were more toxic as a natural precautionary measure - only an idiot or a suicidal person would ingest sufficient quantities (at least a kilogram) of neat glyphosate to cause harm - by comparison one leaf of the Foxglove plant grown freely in many gardens will kill you (if you have young children do not grow foxgloves).   Once the plant has died the glyphosate binds to the soil where microbial action breaks down the chemical to carbon dioxide - the period it takes to do this is called the half-life and is dependant upon many environmental factors, in normal healthy soil this takes a few days but it can take several weeks under very extreme conditions.   Glyphosate is indiscriminate - it kills all plant-life and cannot tell a weed from a crop so when it is applied it kills everything, you cannot use it to "weed" a ready planted crop. However, since plants are incapable of taking up glyphosate from the soil, (it has to be applied directly to the plant leaves or stems), and since under normal circumstances it has a short half-life, crops can be planted in soil treated with glyphosate.   As glyphosate is taken up through the plant cells, to allow it to penetrate the plant cell effectively it is mixed with a surfactant that breaks down the cell membrane. In Monsanto's Roundup this surfactant is an ethoxylated adjuvant called polyethoxylated tallow amine (or POE-15 or POEA), which is about as toxic as soap, because (and the "tallow" in the name is a big clue... as any Fight Club fan knows) that is precisely what it is - a soap. (in fact soap is a good pesticide - put domestic soap on roses and it kills greenfly and aphids - soft soap is an "approved" pesticide for organic farming, often as a carrier for other naturally occurring "green" pesticides). As a species we pour gallons of soap over ourselves on a daily basis and then slather ourselves in moisturiser to combat the astringent properties of soap on skin cells - that a high concentration of neat polyethoxylated tallow amine damages human cells in a petri dish is not an earth-shattering revelation - any soap will do that.   Essentially Roundup is salty soap of a very specific formulation of chemicals that have long complicated names like isopropylamine salt of glyphosate and polyethoxylated tallow amine that are the IP of Monsanto.   Because glyphosate attacks the enzyme production in all plant-life, Monsanto have genetically engineered wheat that is resistant to glyphosate so that fields can be "weeded" with glyphosate after the crop has been sown, Monsanto call these Roundup Ready®. Since weeds inhibit the growth of crop plants and contaminate harvesting this is seen as a desirable thing for mass food production.   Genetic engineering is not Frankenstein technology, plant growers and nurserymen have been genetically engineering plants for thousands of years - every cultivated plant is the result of genetic engineering, what we are talking about is the difference between direct genetic modification and indirect genetic modification. Since direct genetic modification applies directly to the genome the checks and measures required should be (and are) significantly more stringent as a matter of course regardless of any ethical or emotional considerations.   To date no GMO wheat has been approved.