Prof. Joe Cummins finds evidence that Roundup Ready causes sudden death and other diseases by boosting fusarium in the soil.
-----Mensaje
original-----
De: Steve Tvedten [mailto:steve@getipm.com]
Enviado el: Lunes, 22 de Diciembre de 2003 04:53 p.m.
Para: Paul Helliker
Asunto: Round-up Ready Sudden Death Syndrome.........................
ISIS Press Release 30/11/03
Round-up Ready Sudden Death Syndrome
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Prof. Joe Cummins finds evidence that Roundup Ready causes sudden death
and other diseases by boosting fusarium in the soil.
Sources for this report are available in the ISIS members site (http://www.i-sis.org.uk/full/RRSDFull.php).
Full details here (http://www.i-sis.org.uk/membership.php)
For several years, scientists have investigated the impact of herbicides,
particularly glyphosate (Round-up) on soil microbial communities. These
investigations revealed increased colonization of the roots of Round-up Ready
(RR) soya with the fungus Fusarium in midwestern fields during 1997 to 2000. At
the same time, large scale cropping with herbicide-tolerant cultivars was found
to increase soil-borne plant pathogens; Brazilian soils showed increased
microbial activity for several seasons. There is clear evidence that repeated
glyphosate applications over several seasons increases soil-borne pathogens.
During the first year of glyphosate application on RR soya, a severe sudden
death syndrome epidemic occurred in several RR cultivars. The RR cultivars were
susceptible to sudden death from infection by the fungus Fusarium solani. Sudden
death syndrome of soya is a disease of economic importance in North America.
Follow-up studies showed that different cultivars of soya showed different
levels of resistance to the sudden death fungus and suggest that glyphosate
tolerant and non-tolerant cultivars responded similarly to infection by Fusarium
solani.
According to Jeremy Bigwood (www.mycoherbicide.net), a scientist from
Agriculture Canada, Myriam Fernadez, had reported as yet unpublished studies
showing that wheat fields that had been treated with glyphosate had elevated
levels fusarium head blight, a serious disease of wheat.
Andy Coghlan of the New Scientist further reported:
"The potential problem was spotted a few years ago by Myriam Fernandez of the
Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre run by Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. She noticed that in some fields where
glyphosate had been applied the previous year, wheat appeared to be worse
affected by fusarium head blight - a devastating fungal disease that damages
grain and turns it pink. In Europe alone, fusarium head blight destroys a fifth
of wheat harvests. The fungi that cause the disease also produce toxins that can
kill humans and animals. In a follow-up study, Fernandez measured levels of the
blight in wheat fields. "We found higher levels of blight within each tillage
category when glyphosate had been used in the previous year," says
her colleague Keith Hanson. And his lab study showed that Fusarium graminearum
and F. avenaceum, the fungi that cause head blight, grow faster when glyphosate-based
weedkillers are added to the nutrient medium."
Unfortunately, Agriculture Canada has not fast tracked publication of such
important results when they are advocating registration of RR wheat.
In conclusion, there seems to be a clear link between the use of herbicide
and accumulation of pathogenic fungi in the soil. The RR soya cultivars fared
poorly under the impact of the sudden death fungus. Wheat fields treated with
Round-up appear to be sensitive to the head blight disease. Such findings should
have triggered prompt and extensive reviews on the use of Roundup and Roundup
tolerant GM crops by our North American regulators. Instead of which, the two
governments of North America appear to be advocating registration of RR wheat.
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This article can be found on the I-SIS website at
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/RRSD.php