4 ms·
That's not really true. Intensive herbicide use in agriculture has been around for a long time. Sugar cane plantations used so much sodium arsenite in the 1800s
by ch4s3 5y ago
That's not really true. Intensive herbicide use in agriculture has been around for a long time. Sugar cane plantations used so much sodium arsenite in the 1800s that it regularly killed working animals and farm employees. Glyphosate was developed to be less toxic to humans and to require far less to be appied 100 pounds per acre vs 1 ton per acre of older herbicides. Yes, 1 ton per acre was the dosage rate for carbon bisulfide, borax, and arsenic trioxide prior to glyophosphate's development in 1974. Even when glyphosate is used as a desiccant it's still used at lower rates than the chemicals it replaced, and is far less dangerous for farmers.