Monsanto and Dow Waging War on Dandelions

May 16, 2012 - PRLog -- Every war has its unlikely soldiers. It’s wartime right now in his yard. Today he’s chosen chemical warfare to combat an enemy he despises almost as much as he despised the people he fought against years ago in Vietnam.

Flowers for some, weeds for others, poisons for all…

Sure enough, my neighbor is downwind, spraying Monsanto’s Roundup, or Weed-B-Gon Max, which contains 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), an ingredient of Agent Orange, the toxic herbicide contaminated with deadly dioxin: U.S. forces sprayed 20 million gallons of this poison to kill the forests and crops of the Vietnamese during the Vietnam war.v

Unfortunately, Agent Orange also killed hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and caused birth defects in hundreds of thousands of others, but as Dick “Darth Vader” Cheney would say, war is hell, kids, and sometimes you just have to live with the consequences…

I never could figure out how our government regulators allow people to spray Agent Orange ingredients in our neighborhoods.

At least New York’s Attorney General had the good sense to sue Monsanto for misleading advertising, and despite the efforts of Monsanto’s army of lawyers, Monsanto lost.

Monsanto also lost in France in 2007, when its Scotts France CEO (yes Scotts Miracle-Gro is a Monsanto clone) was convicted of lying about Roundup’s environmental effects.

Roundup and other common lawn poisons have been linked to cancer, hormone problems and other serious health issues in humans and non-human animals.

But even though my neighbor’s wife and dog died of cancer, he continues to use bucketfuls of herbicides, including those containing some of the same ingredients as Agent Orange!

“Dandelions, these god damned dandelions,” my neighbor mutters under his breath, as he patrols his yard, scowling at the dandelion flowers.
It only takes one flower to ruin an entire lawn or driveway!

The shock of seeing a weed breaking the golf course perfection of one’s front lawn, or the concrete grayness of one’s driveway.
To my neighbor and millions like him, dandelions are a damnable, insidious weed. A “useless” plant.

If we are good suburbanites, loyal to the suburban creed, obedient to the herbicide advertisements, we kill kill kill them with strong poison.

No matter that some of that poison goes into the air and harms our neighbors, harms birds, bees, butterflies.

It harms fish. It harms ducks. It harms the children. It harms golden retrievers…

In fact, my neighbor’s veterinarian told him that the dog’s incredibly fast-moving, terribly painful lymphoma was probably caused by lawn chemicals. I’ve gently suggested to my neighbor that instead of poisoning dandelions, that he stir fry them, eat them in salads, make tea from them, or just admire the vibrant yellow flowers, and the sweet seed pods that so valiantly float away seeking new homes, on the spring breezes.

Or use a natural herbicide, like vinegar and dish soap. Way better for the environment than Agent Orange.

I’ve caught him spraying poison on my lawn, and it made me upset with him, but then I remembered he’s just another of the millions of Americans programmed by poison companies.

Instead of yelling at him, I said: Please don’t poison my lawn…it’s a sanctuary for birds, bees, butterflies, rabbits, snakes, flowers, herbs.

More detailed news at http://www.rosebudmag.com/environment/monsanto-dow-agent-...