The silent epidemic
- Sep 1, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 4
Erika Belen Lim
It destroyed Vietnam and now it's destroying towns in Argentina.
I'm talking about glyphosate, an herbicide that is responsible for taking away the lives of thousands of people since the war of Vietnam. Combined with the arsenic, these two chemicals are a hormonal disruptor causing a proliferation of cells and genotoxicity. In the face of greater damage, the probabilities of getting cancer and malformations increase.
From 1962 to 1971 the U.S. military employed the herbicide Roundup, also known as the “Agent Orange”, over the south of Vietnam leaving more than 3 million of victims which many of them died and still many of their descendants are suffering the effects of the glyphosate nowadays: around 100.000 newborns were born with serious diseases. The ministry of social defense of Vietnam states that “The victims’ children (F1) and grandchildren (F2) were born with malformations, paralyzed limbs or whole body, blind, deaf, mental deficiency, mental disorder or cancer, etc”.
Even after decades, it was proven that the toxic dioxin that contains the agent orange is still contaminating Vietnam's land and water due to its lack of capability of degradation (when it was once advertised as a biodegradable substance). Through agriculture and fishing, this herbicide finds its way to get into the food chain and water, causing cancer and other diseases for generations in vietnamese people.
Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and The Environment and Cancer Research Foundation revealed evidence that affirms that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen and its use is associated with other previous cancer reports such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Roundup was created and distributed by Monsanto company; an agrochemical and agricultural-industry related corporation based in the U.S acquired in 2018 by Bayer AG.
For years, Monsanto has been in a long legal battle. Even after the multiple lawsuits against it, somehow was proven innocent by the court.
Despite the difficulties the victims would not let their voices be silenced and there are many organizations that are fighting to have justice
But the battle against the agrochemicals remains. Over the last years, there have been increasing reports of cancer in childs and adults in Entre Rios, Argentina.
Argentina leads the ranking of countries by the amount of use of pesticides per inhabitant by year (with 10 liters of pesticides by year).
How would you solve this problem? Do you think that the Estate should make public politics? Leave your opinion in the comments.
Sources:
Hardell, L. , Carlberg, M., Nordström M., and Eriksson, M. (2022): “Exposure to phenoxyacetic acids and glyphosate as risk factors for non-Hodgkin lymphoma– pooled analysis of three Swedish case-control studies including the sub-type hairy cell leukemia” available at: Taylor&Francis Online
Luong, D. (2021): “In Vietnam, Monsanto is guilty until proven innocent” available at: Nikkei Asia https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/In-Vietnam-Monsanto-is-guilty-until-proven-innocent
Marino, D. (2019): “Científicos de la UNLP advierten que el glifosato está en todos lados” available at: investiga.unlp
Ministry of National Defence - Socialist Republic of VietNam “50 years of agent orange/dioxin disaster in Vietnam”
https://mod.gov.vn/en/intro/detail/!ut/p/z0/dYqxDoIwFEW_xvHltVigHWFwMMZEYwx0MYUWqEIr2Bg-X6KTMU73nJOLEguUTj1tq4L1TvWLlzK5bLL9kec0I-S0i8ghZ-dYiHTNRIpblG3vq8_VXsdRZihr74KZAxaD1yvyULAsGPdG48CHzkxfAn5qfwJo62fr_nWoOzPYWvUrIlTc0CihYCreAIspAy60Al3phpCUC0YTvN9k-QLs57D7/#:~:text=4.8%20million%20Vietnamese%20were%20exposed,more%20than%203%20million%20victims.
Rana, I., Nguyen, P., Rigutto, G. Louie, A., Lee J., Smith M. and Zhang L. (2023): “Mapping the key characteristics of carcinogens for glyphosate and its formulations: A systematic review” available at: ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653523018398?via%3Dihub
Ocampo, K. (2017): “VIVIR Y MORIR EN LA CIUDAD DEL GLIFOSATO” available at: Anfibia
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