Tidepool Nazis favor erosion instead?
Pacific Grove has halted spraying invasive iceplant with a well known herbicide because of concerns by environmentalists the chemical could harm endangered species and the coastal environment.
P.G. City Council requested Rana Creek, the Carmel Valley environmental planning company hired to restore the dunes, provide a report that includes the effects of Roundup, a commercial herbicide, on the environment.
“To kill this much iceplant,” said Lee Willoughby, one of several Pacific Grove residents concerned with the use of Roundup, “there has to be some runoff, and it goes right into the tidepools. I think it’s a major concern.”
Former Pacific Grove City Councilwoman Susan Goldbeck wrote a letter to the city requesting more information about the use of the herbicide.“Of particular interest is,” Goldbeck wrote, “who is doing the Roundup and when are the planned applications?”
Rana Creek is currently preparing the report, which will be presented to council members March 7.
Bruce Cowan explains in great detail in a letter from the Carmel Pine Cone
What does glyphosphate do? It is an enzyme inhibitor in the photosynthetic pathway (shikimic acid pathway) that prevents the formation of lignins. Plants normally convert sugars (simple carbohydrates made in photosynthesis) to complex chains of carbohydrates (cellulose, lignin). Animals do not make cellulose or have cellulose in their tissue structure; it is only found in plants, fungi and bacteria. Without cellulose or lignins, plants collapse and die. Animals don’t have cellulose or that photosynthetic pathway, so glyphosphate is without effect.
Science Prevails Over Doubt In Round Up Controversy
