Gaps
in Basta's effectiveness?
AgrEvo claims its relatively new herbicide Basta (glufosinate)
formulation eradicates all weeds with one single treatment, leaving the crops
untouched and saving growers labour and eventually expense.
AgrEvo's trials have demonstrated that two applications of
Basta have indeed left the crops unaffected-but not all the weeds have been
eradicated. Root-stock weeds, such as couch grass and thistles, are only
killed-off above ground allowing re-growth because their hardy roots remain
unaffected by the herbicide. Plants with hairy leaves or bristles are only
partly damaged including, greater and lesser stinging nettles, cleavers, and
marsh woundwort. Farmers have to treat these areas again with a selective
herbicide in order to avoid these plants spreading through otherwise weed-free
fields.
Growers of herbicide-resistant crops have three reasons to
apply selective herbicides later in the season, after already using two or three
applications of Basta:
some crops, particularly rape, have
volunteer plants in the next season after cropping;
some weeds have developed a resistance to
Basta;
some wild species have been genetically
altered by crossing with cultivated ones.
The claim that labour and expense can be
saved is therefore unjustified. Since higher prices for seed have been announced
farmers in fact are facing rising costs and cannot make savings. German
environmental groups are asking who will benefit from these trials of
herbicide-resistant crops, and what led AgroEvo to make such optimistic
promises?
Pestizid Brief, April 1997.
2,4-D
sprayed on PR man in Washington State
Nine months after a hunter was sprayed with the
herbicide 2,4-D, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it will
conduct a comprehensive audit of Washington State's pesticide enforcement
programme.
On 2 November 1996, John Hough, formerly a regional director
for the US Department of Agriculture, was hunting in the 25,000 ha Wahluke
Wildlife Area in eastern Washington State when a helicopter passed overhead.
Despite Mr Hough's efforts to wave off the pilot, he was sprayed with 2,4-D.
He became ill an hour later with severe stomach discomfort and breathing
trouble.
Mr Hough, now an executive with a Seattle public
relations firm, raised an outcry.
Following the incident, the US EPA fined the pilot US $1,500
for applying 2,4-D in too concentrated a form and for not keeping unprotected
persons out of the spray path.
"The penalties do not match the gravity of the
violations," said EPA official Marie Jennings. "While the law sets US $5,000
as the maximum for each violation, the law also places a US $500 limit on
penalties for first offences by commercial applications using this category of
pesticides," she said.
Janet Byron, August 1997.
Railtrack
poisons organic vegetables
Patrick Holden, of the UK organic group, the
Soil Association, is demanding an apology from the rail company Railtrack
because he claims its herbicide glyphosate drifted onto his organic vegetable
patch.
Mr Holden, whose organisation sets the standard for organic
food, returned to his home in Bristol from holiday to find his vegetables
scorched and wilting. On the other side of his fence, a railway embankment had
been sprayed with glyphosate against the pernicious Japanese knotweed.
"My runner beans, cabbages, purple sprouting broccoli and
tomatoes have all been affected-in fact, everything but the knotweed was
affected," said an angry Mr Holden.
Pers. comm. Patrick Holden, 13 August
1997.
Irradiation
replaces methyl bromide-out of the frying pan?
Low-level irradiation could become an alternative to
methyl bromide as a pest quarantine treatment for fruit, according to ongoing
studies by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Irradiation interrupts the development
and reproductive capacity of fruit flies, but a drawback has been that the
irradiation doses thought to be necessary often damages the produce. Research by
the USDA's Agricultural Research Service suggests that lower irradiation
levels would still be effective while minimising fruit damage.
The Food Commission in the UK has long had a long campaign
against the use of food irradiation because of the unknown risks associated with
it.
The Newsletter of the UNEP OzonAction
Programme, July 1997.
Vacuum
cleaners bag pesticides
Many German homes contain high levels of pesticides,
according to a study by scientists from the University of Oldenburg.
Researchers tested the contents of the vacuum cleaner bags of
379 households and found that only two contained no pesticide residues. Over
half the samples contained residues of fly and mosquito control products. Other
pesticides included wood preservatives and flea sprays. Almost every sample
contained residues of the wood preservative PCP-and DDT was found in 73% of
samples, despite having been banned for over 20 years.
Frankfurter Rundschau and Agrow No. 282,
13 June 1997.
Swissair
goes organic
Passengers have persuaded Swissair to use organically
produced food when preparing in flight meals. In phase one of the project 68% of
warm meals and breakfasts will be organic. Phillippe Bruggisser of Swissair says
the airline hopes to provide 90% organic food and drink by the year 2000.
Financial Times, 23 June 1997.
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 37,
September 1997, page 21]