We were arguing about toxicity on another website, and one guy said that he had been working with a tank-truck-full of glyphosphate, and some hose fitting broke under pressure.
He said that he was drenched head-to-toe and some of what shot into his mouth and nose went right down his throat. Never noticed a problem, his leaves didn't even turn yellow.
He was arguing that we SHOULD believe anything Monsanto tells us, so his credibility might be a little lower than Internet-average. But his behavior on that website was always "he told the truth AS HE SAW IT" . And was VERY resistant to ALL counter-arguments.
And he went on to explain to us how "climate change" is obviously a fantasy, and all the data we cited were part of a universal conspiracy by everyone calling themselves "scientists" to deceive us, apparently so they could keep getting grants, or for more nefarious reasons.
But I do believe that he was drenched with field-strength glyphosphate, got some down his throat, then did not notice (or admit to) any downside afterwards.
Personally, it's not the acute toxicity of well-made glyphosphate-only Round-Up that worries me.
There are probably ecological consequences of using (or over-using) a chemical that is touted as "harmless".
It appears that MOST weeds are now developing or borrowing resistance, due to bad practices like relying solely on one herbicide for too long with rotation.
Allegedly, due to the "non-toxic" labeling and mis-use, now some food reaching supermarkets is said to have detectable glyphosphate.
At levels acutely toxic to humans? Almost certainly not.
At levels that some people do not want in their mouths? Almost certainly yes.
At levels that MIGHT lead to subtle health problems after very extended exposure?
No one can prove no. The evidence might suggest "probably not", but if you want proof that it will NEVER have ANY efect on ANYONE - that's unprovable even if true.
Set the standard high enough, and everything fails.
Orange marmalade would be labelled "not for human consumption" if it wasn't natural and given a "pass". There are compounds in orange peels that ARE grossly toxic (in concentrations greater than in marmalade). Perhaps glyphosphate is 10 or 20 times less toxic than marmalade, but that might NOT pass FDA standards because glyphosphate is "artificial".
Why we are allowed to eat hot dogs with nitrates, seared over smokey flames! The nitrites in the meat are toxic on their own, and heat + nitrites + smoke = N-nitroso compounds and nitrosamines (both VICIOUSLY carcinogenic), polycyclic hydrocarbons etc.
I was at a beach picnic by the MIT Food and Nutrition department, and they laughed and laughed at how toxic what they were eating was. One vegetarian grad student reminded them that it WAS carcinogenic, and reminded them of all the rats with tumors half as heavy as their entire body in the4 animal room.
Their attitude was "well, yeah, but no one lives forever".
That was back in the early 70s. I think that, since then, a lot of non-nutritionists seem to believe that if only they ARE careful enough about what they eat, they WILL live forever.
Nuh-unnh!
It's a jungle out there. Red in tooth and claw.
(Now, if I eat hot dogs or kielbasa, I only boil them, never sear them, blacken them, or get them smokey. I saw some of those rats with N-nitroso-caused tumors, and I don't want to go THAT way!)
My attitudes are skewed by working in a chemical factory for 6 years, with Class 5 carcinogens, nitric acid, anhydrous sulfuric acid, and STRONG caustic solutions. The building next door used phosgene and their kettles generated and sometimes released a little cyanide. So when I read about people worried that 60 years of eating nothing but BT corn MIGHT cvause soemthing that a close eenou8gh examination MIGHT be able to detect in 0.1% of the population, I feel (wrongly) like Crocodile Dundee.
"THAT's not toxic!" (points to glyphosphate)
THIS is toxic!" (points to a cloud of phosgene or sulfuric acid mist)
But people planning their diet are not academicians deciding whether to kill 5% of their rats this month, or maybe 10%.
