"... where less intensive food production can heal the land and reverse climate change, even though less intensive farms that make less food per acre need more acres and more deforestation to make the same amount of food. Many liberals repulsed by Mr. Kennedy’s unscientific bias against vaccines and Tylenol share his unscientific bias against agri-chemicals, genetically modified organisms and industrial agriculture.... This is a scientific truism that MAHA misses: The dose makes the poison. You shouldn’t swallow an entire bottle of Tylenol, but it’s a safe product, and it would take a higher dose of glyphosate than Tylenol to kill someone. Some rats might — might! — have gotten sick from ingesting glyphosate, but the proportion of it in their diets was almost certainly thousands and maybe millions of times higher than the proportion in yours. In any case, it’s much less damaging than the alternatives...."
From
"Spraying Roundup on Crops Is Fine. Really" (NYT).
There's an interesting political reshuffling going on here. I think there are a lot of people who are devoted to the improvement of American food who are going to feel slighted by the accusation that they're caught in a "fantasy of agricultural purity" and too dumb to understand the old saw "The dose makes the poison." Don't focus on what may have happened to some rats. Let the scientists balance the good and the bad and tell you the conclusion: Roundup is fine. Now, shut up and resume microdosing.
This is another way Democrats can drive its natural constituents into the arms of Republicans. They could have had Kennedy on their side. They didn't want him.
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61 comments:
It's not just rats. They've done research on human cell lines that show glyphosate is an endocrine disrupter. It acts like estrogen and turns on estrogen receptors in cells, regardless of the dose. I get that you have to balance risks and benefits and that there are definite benefits to weed control, but the opinion piece is needlessly inflammatory. Someone, somewhere said when you mix science and politics you get politics. So true!
The Trump political era is largely a reaction against the Democrat's demands for ideological purity. This started way back in the 1990s with their rejection of pro-life and pro-gun people (e.g., John Dingell, Liberman).
RFK Jr. literally defined one flavor of the left until flipping to join Trump in 2024. His views mirrored many Democrats. They ranted against glyphosate for decades. They ranted against all GMOs. They bemoaned that farmers couldn't farm unless their grain was tested for cheating by big bad Monsanto.
Every Democratic Party action since Trump's surprise win in 2016 has involved maintaining power despite election outcomes and despite internal denials of Party History and facts. This is what happens when entitled psychopaths in power deal with cognitive dissonance. The Demon-crats of today are crippled by mental issues from the top of the Party to the bottom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_(2020_film)
Times would be pushing all the crackpot stiff if they thought it would get Trump. Here they have a problem don’t they?
natural constituents. Heh.
I mean the Obama election gave them proof they never had to ‘pivot to the center’ again, they could hash together a few diverse crossover demos and plow ahead with whatever tickled them. Besides they controlled the future with academia and also the narrative since they kicked out all the conservative media. They had it made…
There's probably a word for the technique of claiming there's a war on one narrowly defined thing and then claiming it's part of the war on some very broadly defined thing and then criticizing generally the people waging the war (which is really the point of the endeavor) but it doesn't come readily to mind although I feel fairly certain it was not one of the arrows in Charlie Kirk's quiver.
This is another way Democrats can drive its natural constituents into the arms of Republicans
…lately I get the impression host is one of those all-natural constituents, hopefully waiting for some, any reason to team up with Dems again but frustrated they’re giving her nutin’
@Eric the Fruit Bat: There's probably a word
Demagoguery works for me:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogue
While at a small college in Maryland in 1982, I recall taking a graduate level Toxicology class taught by three PhDs from NIH. It was outside of my major and I took it because it sounded interesting. During the very first lecture, we were taught that anything, in the right dose, can kill you. If you drink enough water in a short period of time, it could kill you. Additionally, there were lots of discussions on the effects of mutagens and teratogens on fetal development. I think we are seeing those effects in young people today.
This is another way Democrats can drive its natural constituents into the arms of Republicans. They could have had Kennedy on their side. They didn't want him.
they didn't Just have Kennedy.. They had Tulsi Gabbard..
They had them BOTH.
and they didn't just Throw them away; they chased them into the Republican camp.
and replaced them with Braindead Biden, and Kumsucker Kammy.
Think about THAT for a while
While articles like this do push Left-leaning people who care about the food supply and non-Carbon environmental issues away, it isn't a given that those people will wind up in the Republican camp. That one article a bit back that was about the upscale naturalist community in Ohio showed that even if there is a shared appreciation for avoiding unnecessary chemical involvement some of the natural political divisions persist and can give rise to some tension. Republicans have a big opportunity they just need to learn from the Democrat's mistake and not demand ideological purity from, potential, new converts. Despite what many anti-Trumpers might bemoan, I would say that Trump is characterized by being quite flexible on many positions. That flexibility is inherent in the art of the deal as it were.
The way things go these days, Dems may soon be advising tio drink glyphosate every day, just because this is the opposite of Bobby K.
This goes back to the original stupidity of the environmental movement: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, a boomer Bible that few people have actually read. Pesticides were worse than ordinary industrial emissions: used on a large scale, borne by wind and water, etc. Even if dose is small, can accumulate in the body over time. Sometimes a person would fall into a vat of chemicals and die shortly after. Rachel knew the old pesticide, arsenic, was worse. She didn't want to give up any of the crop yields. She never proposed banning DDT.
She had to pretend she could predict the future. Already an epidemic of environmental cancer, but this depended on flawed reasoning. Other causes of death had been reduced in salience, or eliminated. Cancer had increasing salience in an aging population, even with no actual increase in the risk to someone at say 60.
Rachel's mentor/boyfriend smoked, and didn't think this caused cancer. She agreed with him. Highly selective distrust of tech.
Now glyphosate is good for us, per the NY Times? Man...the left is so lost.
When you've taken the side of Hamas, poisoning your own farm crops, poisoning your babies inside the womb, or hell...just killing the babies before they are born, taking the side of illegal immigrants over your own national security, the side of hardened criminals over everyday citizens on a train or bus or in your own home, on the side of a massively corrupt teachers union over your own kids education, well...maybe you've lost the script.
Maybe you really are the bad guys after all.
RFK doesn't sound anti-science. He seems to want more studies, then honestly reporting the results. RFK also has a "when in doubt, leave it out" philosophy. Is there any harm coming to anyone by the food industry reducing the use of artificial colors?
Contrast that against funding a bio lab developing more dangerous viruses, then lying about virtually everything when the virus escapes containment.
I love glyphosate. I live in a suburb, use it a half-dozen times per year and don't get it on myself. Ag workers are in a different situation, and face a multitude of dangers. They would take more stringent precautions.
If our choice is between RFK and his cautions about Tylenol for pregnant ladies, and pregnant ladies gulping Tylenol to dunk on Trump, only one side sounds crazy.
"This is a scientific truism that MAHA misses: The dose makes the poison." Now do cyclamates.
Pretty soon we'll have TikToks of AWFL's drinking Roundup - please don't, ladies - we prefer to manage our futures through electoral means.
Roundup is a terrific agricultural tool, but we probably shouldn't be using it on things we keep in the pantry.
...and isn't it funny how the Progressive Left insists on defining people as 'anti-science' as a way of 'othering' them, in a way that has nothing to do with their scientific beliefs, in fact quite the contrary? Isn't Junior' the one that wants double blind studies to prove hypotheses about vaccines, among other things?
I would be very surprised to learn that RFKJ doesn't understand the role that ag chemicals have played in the miraculous feeding of the world. But now that we know we can feed this many people (and more!), how would it be anything but a win for farmers and eaters alike to use the very least amount necessary of those chemicals?
Is glyphosate really the problem? Maybe it's the biodegradation byproduct created from glyphosate, AMPA.
This is according to the Gemini AI large language model that Google lets us use for free:
Yes, there is a linkage between AMPA receptors and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), primarily through dysregulation of AMPA receptor trafficking and function in key brain regions. Genes linked to autism can disrupt the normal process of AMPA receptors moving to and from the neuron's surface, affecting excitatory neurotransmission and synaptic strength. Research using animal models has shown that modulating AMPA receptor function can impact behaviors relevant to autism, such as social deficits, highlighting AMPA receptors as potential therapeutic targets.
Foods most likely to contain AMPA residues include grains, beans, and soy products.
Instead of getting emotional and wallowing in the hive mind perhaps it makes more sense to ask the right questions of our large language model overlords:
Bayer currently owns the patents on the technology behind Roundup, as Bayer acquired Monsanto, the original developer of the herbicide and its associated Roundup Ready crops, in 2018. However, Monsanto originally developed and marketed Roundup in 1974 and held the chemical's patent until 2000, after which other companies could produce it. The patents for the Roundup Ready crops themselves have largely expired, allowing for the creation of non-patented versions of these seeds.
Holy shit. RFK Jr. got the NYT to come out in favor of ROUNDUP!!!
I am personally on the fence--but WOW.
Here is another answer from the Gemini AI:
Yes, the Bayer company was involved in the Holocaust through its participation in the German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate I.G. Farben. As a core component of this cartel, Bayer was complicit in severe Nazi atrocities, including using slave labor and conducting medical experiments on concentration camp inmates.
NYT said...
It reflects a fantasy of agricultural purity where less intensive food production can heal the land and reverse climate change.
Obama said...
"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal".
Take two aspirin and call me in the morning, LOL
They could have had Kennedy on their side. They didn't want him.
No, we didn't want. Who wants a brainworm addled recovering heroin addict and former drug dealer who is only where he is in life because
Monsanto and Bayer (Roundup cases)
In 2018, Kennedy and his legal partners at Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman secured a significant verdict against Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer that same year.
The case: In the landmark trial of Dewayne "Lee" Johnson v. Monsanto, Kennedy was part of the legal team that represented a former school groundskeeper suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The lawsuit argued that his cancer was caused by exposure to Monsanto's glyphosate-based herbicide, Roundup, and that the company intentionally concealed the health risks.
The outcome: The jury awarded Johnson an initial $289 million in damages, which was later reduced to $78 million on appeal.
Broader impact: The verdict opened the door for tens of thousands of similar cancer cases against Monsanto and Bayer. In 2020, Bayer paid more than $10 billion to settle these lawsuits.
DuPont
The case: In 2007, Kennedy was on a legal team that won a substantial jury verdict against the chemical giant DuPont. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of residents in Spelter, West Virginia, whose communities had been contaminated by zinc from a DuPont plant.
The outcome: The jury ordered DuPont to pay $55.5 million in damages.
Further litigation: In 2017, Kennedy's firm also helped secure a $670 million settlement for over 3,000 Ohio and West Virginia residents whose drinking water was contaminated by the toxic chemical C-8, which DuPont had released into the environment.
ExxonMobil
The case: In the 2010 case of Kennedy & Madonna LLP v. ExxonMobil, Kennedy's firm took on the oil company for its pollution of Newtown Creek in Brooklyn, New York. The lawsuit was based on decades of legacy refinery spills that had contaminated the area.
The outcome: The legal action forced ExxonMobil to begin the cleanup process, addressing tens of millions of gallons of oil that had been spilled.
Subsequent actions: In 2016, Kennedy sent a memo to the New York Attorney General's office urging the state to ban ExxonMobil from doing business there, citing the company's alleged history of misleading the public about climate change.
Not bad for a brain worm addled son of wealth and privilege
. . .because his last name is Kennedy. If he was the son of RFK the plumber he would have been dead, in prison, or living on the street.
More deforestation??? The govment has 25.7 million acres in CRP, conservation reserve program, which pays people like me not to farm. CRP farmers, like me, are actually encouraged to plant trees. It is mind boggling how much healthy, whole food can be grown on one acre without chemicals.
Personal experience (YMMV): I started having digestive problems. I thought it was either lactose intolerance, but eliminating dairy didn't help. My doctor recommended that I eliminate gluten. Bingo! But gluten free products suck for the most part. So I tried baking bread with an ancient, organic grain. Success! Then I thought, "Why not try just plain organic wheat?" Again, success! After doing some research I discovered that non-organic wheat farmers get their fields to ripen all at the same time by spraying them with...Roundup. What is one of the side effects of Roundup? Digestive problems! I recently went to Germany for 10 days. I had heard that people with my problem were able to eat regular wheat products over there. I found that to be true. They source wheat that is not sprayed with Roundup. A friend of mine had watched a documentary about growing black beans. Those farmers also spray with Roundup to ripen crops at the same time. *sigh*
".... . .because his last name is Kennedy. ...."
Yes, that must be it.
I can’t wait until all the tick-tock videos showing AWFL pregnant people gulping down Roundup to own the Cons.
Oops. Sorry Aggie. Probably should read comments before posting.
If our choice is between RFK and his cautions about Tylenol for pregnant ladies, and pregnant ladies gulping Tylenol to dunk on Trump, only one side sounds crazy.
Nice straw man. Other than the monkeys flying out of your butt who has suggested that you take extra Tylenol to stick it to Trump ?
All you need to get a verdict is the right jury. I am certainly open to hearing about proof of endocrine disruption due to glyphosate in the doses we get them in food, but all I can find using scholar.google.com are "suggestions" that it *may* be so.
If Sydney has a link to that study, I would be very interested.
"who has suggested that you take extra Tylenol to stick it to Trump ?"
Nice straw man.
"less intensive food production" can also lead to starvation in poorer areas of the world as quantities of produced food decrease, and the price goes up. Europe is rich, they don't care about food prices that much, although if the US was going through, economically, what Germany has been going through for the past few years, the word "depression" would be on every newscasters' lips, if, you know, a Republican were in office.
WOW> Demos are OK with cancer and toxins in our food supply.
PERFECT.
Love the hostess's last paragraph. When RFKjr was still running for the D nomination, I joked to my D wife that RFKjr will be the last time I could vote for a Kennedy.
Yes, that must be it.
I can't think of another reason. Please expound on your contention.
For years I lived amongst many leftist food purists. This is going to be fun.
This is the evil that comes from the top of the Dem-think Mafia food chain (NYT-D) and trickles down to the minions and hivemind cultists.
Lets see if it works.
3 gigantic bottles of round up in every democratic garage!
I want to see the tik tok videos of leftists dutifully drinking round up.... and spraying it all over their gardens.
At some point perhaps people will recognize that the Democrat party is pure evil. Sad. We need a functioning 2 party system.
BG - @ 9:00
You will arrested for your crimes against the narrative.
Howard said...
Foods most likely to contain AMPA residues include grains, beans, and soy products.
All of those "foods" are poisonous to humans without Roundup getting involved.
They are poisonous to cows too.
Freder Frederson said...
If our choice is between RFK and his cautions about Tylenol for pregnant ladies, and pregnant ladies gulping Tylenol to dunk on Trump, only one side sounds crazy.
Nice straw man. Other than the monkeys flying out of your butt who has suggested that you take extra Tylenol to stick it to Trump ?
HAHAHAHA. Freder is just realizing how stupid and sheep like democrats look right now.
Freder Frederson said...
They could have had Kennedy on their side. They didn't want him.
No, we didn't want. Who wants a brainworm addled recovering heroin addict and former drug dealer who is only where he is in life because
Wow. I didn't realize just how stupid a sheep Freder really was.
I see that they took the main ingredient in Roundup for consumers out in 2022, due to juries who could not resist handing out huge awards based on evidence that they didn't understand anyway, so why not? It might be true! That explains why the stuff I buy labeled "Roundup" doesn't work that great anymore.
Peachy said...
BG - @ 9:00
You will arrested for your crimes against the narrative.
Three hots and a cot...sounds like a vacation to me! ;-)
Murder, rape, torture, violence, pedophilia, redistributive change, ethnic Springs, human rites, etc. #NoJudgment #NoLabels
Democrats follow a contrairian religion: Pro-Choice.
Ray Visotski said...
While at a small college in Maryland in 1982, I recall taking a graduate level Toxicology class taught by three PhDs from NIH. It was outside of my major and I took it because it sounded interesting. During the very first lecture, we were taught that anything, in the right dose, can kill you. If you drink enough water in a short period of time, it could kill you. Additionally, there were lots of discussions on the effects of mutagens and teratogens on fetal development. I think we are seeing those effects in young people today.
My first degree was in agricultural production fields.
Everyone needs to understand the concept of LD50: Lethal Dose required to kill 50% of the population.
There is also acute LD50 and chronic LD50.
When I was in the industry the battle was between "Organic" and "Zero Detectable Residue" camps. Organic won. Organic producers were giant corporates using "approved" chemicals. "Zero Detectable Residue" used integrated pest management systems that included things outside the chemical spray solutions.
The supermarkets ultimately made the decisions.
Same with hornet spray, the stuff used to knock them out of the air as they came at you, not anymore. Now it "enrobes" the hornets in a foam that is supposed to drown them, but it doesn't "enrobe" the ones already angry and flying at you.
So explain to me why food grown and packaged in EU contains far less additives, no GMO, and tastes better.
"So explain to me why food grown and packaged in EU contains far less additives, no GMO, and tastes better."
Europe is rich from centuries of exploitation of the poor across the globe, has hardened its heart toward them, or it would have to come to terms with it's own bloody, rapacious history, is one answer.
If you want to, you can buy organic here, or is that too much trouble, and you would rather decrease food production globally to spare you the trouble?
Spraying Roundup on fields is ok, really ... Said the person who has zero first hand knowledge of how dead the soil of these farms is.
Demthink.
@Freder "If he was the son of RFK the plumber he would have been dead, in prison, or living on the street.". While it's probably true that we wouldn't have heard from him if he wasn't from the Kennedy clan, it's also likely that if he was the son of a plumber he would have grown up normally and not had his drug problems.
Glyphosate is suspected of causing genetic damage.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8316667/
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