China has been in the news several times during the past few years with respect to goods tainted with dangerous chemicals. Food, milk, toys, drywall.
I mention this because recently the stock of Monsanto (MON) has been decimated, due in no small part to the fact that their dominant Roundup herbicide franchise is feeling the effects of severe competition from generic Chinese competitors.
Let that sink in.
Generic Chinese herbicides... How can this not end badly? I've got a bad feeling about this...
Yet I haven't seen any discussion of the possible side effects of the use of generic glyphosphate (the chemical in Roundup) by farmers in America's heartland. Look - I love made-in-China when it comes to stereo systems and electronics, but generic Chinese herbicide on my crops? Not so much. Ugggh.
-KD
disclosures: no positions in MON
8 comments:
They can't even get toys right.
That line is also used by the guard in Half Life just before the singularity event disaster.
Not to worry KD, fortune-cookie fortune say grandparents still love grandchildren who have three ears and one eye.
OT - (previous KD post): KD, I got the home equity loan. No closing; no appraisal - they used the county's tax appraisal. Took less than one week from application.
Held off for a few weeks trying to do a cash-out refi, which was turned down due to strange circumstance: no kitchen, no loan (we always eat out, so I converted it to a study 10 years ago.) Credit score over 800. A few 100 grand in equity. Lol, they turned it down.
The "bad feeling" line extends all throughout the expanded Star Wars universe of media as well. Not that I would know....gotta go my new book "Allies" just arrived from Amazon.
Kid,
Glyphosphate as far as chemicals go is pretty much harmless. You could drink the stuff without much of a problem. The issue with Roundup is that a detergent is added to help the chemical stick to leaves and it's the detergent that causes the skin irritation.
I would expect a Chinese knockoff woudl try to add a cheaper detergent that could cause more problems.
"Glyphosphate as far as chemicals go is pretty much harmless.You could drink the stuff without much of a problem."
wow.. i guess i'll have to take your word for it! i wouldn't expect the words "herbicide" and "harmless" to go together!
from wikipedia: "Glyphosate is rated least dangerous in comparison to other herbicides and pesticides, such as those from the organochlorine family.[35] Roundup has a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Toxicity Class of III for oral and inhalation exposure.[36] It has been rated as class I (Severe) for eye irritation.
A recent study, on the other hand, has shown that Roundup formulations and metabolic products cause the death of human embryonic, placental, and umbilical cells in vitro even at low concentrations. The effects are not proportional to Glyphosate concentrations but dependent on the nature of the adjuvants used in the formulation."
i think i'll skip drinking it for now, but thanks for the input on it's relative lack of toxicity, Anon.
Sticker is added to the Glyphosate when it is mixed in the sprayer, not in the formulation from the mfgr.
Monsanto bent all of us over and humped us dry the past several years with their Round-up. Now that the Chi-Coms have smacked them down, they're hiking tech fees on their market controlled plant technology....either way, we're screwed.
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