Letters for March 5, 2016

Letters for March 5, 2016

Glyphosate backed by science

Diane LaBedz made an effort to shake us all up about glyphosate (TGI Feb. 27). What she left out (perhaps also left out by VeganWarriors.org and NaturalNuts.com) was that the Netherlands only banned Roundup for personal use. The big agricultural operations are completely unaffected!

The debate over glyphosate is really a battle of good science over bad, agenda-based science! Even water or table salt is toxic at way too high doses. The FDA and the EPA make their declarations based on reasonable expectations of doses for you and I as well as those who work with the 750 products.

They say that glyphosate is safe. They have volumes upon volumes of epidemiology studies. These aren’t perfect, of course; but, they are a powerful way to look for connections in real human populations. These are especially good to pair up with animal and cell studies.

Here is a review of all the recent literature (peer reviewed studies) for all three study types: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22202229. It is one of three recent reviews that all come to the same conclusion: “… the available literature shows no solid evidence linking glyphosate exposure to adverse developmental or reproductive effects at environmentally realistic exposure concentrations.”

So where is all the fearfulness coming from? Can it be from a nonscientific method approach with a prearranged agenda? If you tried to get the concentrations we see in some animal studies, you’d have to eat half a kilogram of glyphosate a day. One study soaked frog eggs in a concentrate of glyphosate that was 11,000 times greater than what is present in the environment in order to get birth defects in frogs. Despite the lack of replication for this, partly due to keeping details secret, he got a trip to Kauai on the lucrative lecture tour.

Yes, W.H.O. declared it a “probable” carcinogen in a very controversial statement currently under fire from scientists worldwide; but, they made it Class 2A, lower than alcoholic beverages which are class one carcinogens. Now I’d like you to put your beer down for just a moment and consider what Diane will be coming after next!

Pete Antonson

Lawai/Manila

Trump’s political success a result of ‘dumbing down’ of America

For the past several months I’ve been wondering when Americans would come to their collective senses. Then I realized how ludicrous it was of me to even think that. This country is being duped — effectively hijacked — by a very dangerous con man, Donald Trump, who more closely fits the definition of a Nazi than he does an American: “One who is likened to a German Nazi : a harshly domineering, dictatorial, or intolerant person.” (from Merriam-Webster)

And by “country” I mean those Americans who are one or more of the following: predominately white, poorly educated, ultra-conservative, or are a part of the 83 percent who identify themselves as Christians or evangelicals, but who are actually about as far away from being a Christian, or an evangelical, as you can get.

This “dumbing down” of America didn’t happen overnight. It’s been festering for years. The root cause? High on the list is the disintegration of the family and the failure to properly raise and educate our children.

H. L. Mencken said this: “The aim of public education in the United States is not to fill the young … with knowledge and awaken their intelligence … Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim … is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.”

Will we find the courage to take down this repugnant blight who embodies everything America doesn’t stand for?

We’ll soon find out.

Steven McMacken

Lihue