Sri Lanka Bans Monsanto Herbicide Citing Deadly Link To Kidney Disease
By: Collective Evolution. Sri
Lanka has decided to completely ban glyphosate from their country, it’s
the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. In doing so they
join a growing list of countries that have/are doing the same. The ban
comes out of concern that the chemical may be linked to a fatal kidney
disease that could kill agricultural workers. Glyphosate was patented as
a herbicide by Monsanto in the early 1970s, and it is the most widely
used herbicide in the world.
A chronic kidney disease has been affecting poor farming regions all over the world, and a new study that was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health suggeststhat Roundup, or glyphosate, becomes highly toxic to the kidney once
mixed with “hard” water or metals like cadmium and arsenic. These metals
often exist naturally in the soil or are added via the fertilizer.(0)(6)
“An investigation carried out by medical specialists and scientists
has revealed that kidney disease was mainly caused by glyphosate.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered the immediate removal of
glyphosate from the local market soon after he was told of the contents
of the report.” (8)
The new study also noted that even the World Health Organization
(WHO) found that Chronic Kidney Disease (CKDU) is caused by exposure to
pesticides.
“Researchers point out that political changes in Sri Lanka in
the late 1970s led to the introduction of agrochemicals, especially in
rice farming. They believe that 12 to 15 years of exposure to “low
concentration kidney-damaging compounds” along with their accumulation
in the body led to the appearance of CKDU in the mid-90s.” (7)
