Argentine microbiologist, critic of Monsanto, dies

This video says about itself:

Andres Carrasco – Results of a Case Study of Glyphosate/Roundup

2 July 2012

Andres Carrasco, MD, is head of the Molecular Embryology Laboratory at University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and chief scientist at the National Council for Science and Technology (CONICET), Argentina.

The Carrasco laboratory investigates glyphosate/Roundup herbicide and birth defects

Carrasco’s findings gave scientific credibility to reports of people in Argentina who claimed escalating rates of birth defects and cancers after the introduction of genetically modified soy, which is engineered to tolerate being sprayed with huge amounts of glyphosate.

In June 2011, Earth Open Source published a report by a group of international scientists, “Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?” which examined the original approval documents for glyphosate and found that industry’s own studies from as long ago as the 1980s-1990s (including some commissioned by Monsanto) showed that glyphosate causes birth defects in laboratory animals, specifically rabbits and rats.

From Associated Press today:

Argentine scientist who challenged Monsanto dies

12 minutes ago by Michael Warren

Dr. Andres Carrasco, an Argentine neuroscientist who challenged pesticide regulators to re-examine one of the world’s most widely used weed killers, has died. He was 67.

Argentina’s national science council announced Carrasco’s death on Saturday. He had been in declining health.

Carrasco, a molecular biologist at the University of Buenos Aires and past-president of Argentina’s CONICET science council, was a widely published expert in embryonic development whose work focused on how neurotransmitters affect genetic expression in vertebrates. But none of his research generated as much controversy as his 2010 study on glyphosate, which became a major public relations challenge for the St. Louis, Missouri-based Monsanto Company.

Glyphosate is the key ingredient in Monsanto‘s Roundup brand of pesticides, which have combined with genetically modified “Roundup-Ready” plants to dramatically increase the spread of industrial agriculture around the world. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other regulators have labeled it reasonably safe to use if applied properly. But few countries enforce pesticide rules as rigorously as the United States, and farming’s spread has increasingly exposed people to glyphosate and other chemicals.

Carrasco, principal investigator at his university’s Cellular Biology and Neuroscience Institute, told The Associated Press in a 2013 interview that he had heard reports of increasing birth defects in farming communities after genetically modified crops were approved for use in Argentina, and so decided to test the impact of glyphosate on frog and chicken embryos in his laboratory.

His team’s study, published in the peer-reviewed Chemical Research in Toxicology journal, found that injecting very low doses of glyphosate into embryos can change levels of retinoic acid, causing the same sort of spinal defects that doctors are increasingly registering in communities where farm chemicals are ubiquitous. Retinoic acid, a form of vitamin A, is fundamental for keeping cancers in check and triggering genetic expression, the process by which embryonic cells develop into organs and limbs.

“If it’s possible to reproduce this in a laboratory, surely what is happening in the field is much worse,” Carrasco told the AP. “And if it’s much worse, and we suspect that it is, what we have to do is put this under a magnifying glass.”

ARGENTINIAN molecular biologist Andres Carrasco, whose work on the pesticide glyphosate became a major headache for biotechnology conglomerate Monsanto, died this weekend aged 67: here.

Monsanto’s New ‘Herbicide-Resistant’ GMO Crop Slammed by Food Experts: here.

A new report demolishes the claims for genetically modified crops, writes Colin Todhunter: here.

India: Murky dealings between ‘reformer’ Modi and Monsanto will hand food security over to big capital, writes Colin Todhunter: here.

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• Argentine researcher confirms scientific evidence on harmful effects of agrochemicals
• The Netherlands Says “No” to Monsanto, Bans RoundUp Herbicide