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Round Up is a defoliant, it's unlikely to have anything to do with an insect apocalypse. Also while Round Up is probably (over)used, particularly in corn harve

Round Up is a defoliant, it's unlikely to have anything to do with an insect apocalypse. Also while Round Up is probably (over)used, particularly in corn harvesting where it's sprayed to ease harvest and thus is more likely to end up in food products, in normal use it seems to be as safe as a chemical can be. Banning it is very likely to result in other chemicals being used, and they're unlikely to be as safe.

mandmandam 5y ago
Ah yes, because insects have nothing to do with leaves... And glyphosate is the only chemical in it. Wait, neither of those are actually true, are they? Let's have a goo at the top three search results for "round up effect on insects"... > "The chemical compound glyphosate, the world's most widely used herbicide, can weaken the immune systems of insects, suggests a study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health" > "The active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, does not affect insects in the same way it impacts plants, but it does kill insects, either directly -- as in the case of a small number of honeybees in Monsanto's research -- or as a consequence of killing weeds." > "Glyphosate—the most widely used herbicide globally—inhibits melanin production, which could have wide-ranging implications in the health of many organisms, including insects. ... Glyphosate also increased the burden of the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum in A" This doesn't seem like such an "unlikely" candidate to be playing a role to me.
cmrdporcupine 5y ago
It's not a defoliant. It's a systemic herbicide. It kills all plants through to the roots. It's not used to ease harvesting, it's used to kill all the other plants in the environment around the plant that has been engineered for resistance, to boost yields. The harm to insects comes primarily from the lack of biodiversity and lack of flowering plants.

mandmandam 5y ago

Ah yes, because insects have nothing to do with leaves... And glyphosate is the only chemical in it. Wait, neither of those are actually true, are they? Let's have a goo at the top three search results for "round up effect on insects"... > "The chemical compound glyphosate, the world's most widely used herbicide, can weaken the immune systems of insects, suggests a study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health" > "The active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, does not affect insects in the same way it impacts plants, but it does kill insects, either directly -- as in the case of a small number of honeybees in Monsanto's research -- or as a consequence of killing weeds." > "Glyphosate—the most widely used herbicide globally—inhibits melanin production, which could have wide-ranging implications in the health of many organisms, including insects. ... Glyphosate also increased the burden of the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum in A" This doesn't seem like such an "unlikely" candidate to be playing a role to me.

cmrdporcupine 5y ago

It's not a defoliant. It's a systemic herbicide. It kills all plants through to the roots. It's not used to ease harvesting, it's used to kill all the other plants in the environment around the plant that has been engineered for resistance, to boost yields. The harm to insects comes primarily from the lack of biodiversity and lack of flowering plants.