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Re:Mexico is phasing out imports of glyphosate and GMO corn by colechristensen on Monday August 09, 2021 @11:09PM (#28124799)
Glyphosphate has a pretty short persistence in the environment. It breaks down relatively quickly. It has a half-life in the environment from as little as 15 days to a couple of months.

One of the significant problems with earlier pesticides and herbicides where the chemical in question would stay in the environment for decades (DDT, an insecticide, had a half life of 10-15 years and tended to accumulate in biological tissues). Glyphosphate is also not very acutely toxic.

I would have to eat an entire pound of pure glyphosphate to have a 50% chance of survival. (I consume many things every day much more toxic)

There are some questions about long term carcinogens but the signal there is not particularly strong.

As opposed to some other, especially older agricultural chemicals, many of which got their start as actual chemical weapons used in war.

Re:Mexico is phasing out imports of glyphosate and GMO corn by maxerickson on Monday August 09, 2021 @11:14PM (#28124823)
Can you get pure glyphosate? Is that what gets spread on crops?

I'm glad we are using it and not older chemicals, but unless you are actually in the habit of eating it recreationally, maybe don't use that example.

Re:Mexico is phasing out imports of glyphosate and GMO corn by colechristensen on Tuesday August 10, 2021 @02:34AM (#28125714)
I didn't really answer the question well.

Can you get pure glyphosphate? Yes, but it requires a license. It comes in about a 50/50 mixture with water usually.

It is much too difficult to distribute the pure substance in such small quantities so it is diluted with water to varying degrees (down to a few percent concentration) for safety, accuracy, and to avoid burning plants with unavoidable variations in application.

A small amount of a attractant is also added so the chemical better applies to leaves and doesn't just bead up and drip off onto the soil.

Re:Mexico is phasing out imports of glyphosate and GMO corn by maxerickson on Tuesday August 10, 2021 @05:46AM (#28126851)
So here's a blend that is 13% surfactant:

https://labelsds.com/images/user_uploads/Roundup%20Pro%20Con...

Apparently there's blends intended for use in water that are more or less just diluted with water, but they aren't the usual mix either.

https://alligare.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/glyphosate-5...

Re:Mexico is phasing out imports of glyphosate and GMO corn by colechristensen on Tuesday August 10, 2021 @01:00AM (#28125287)
I believe you have to do some minor training and get a like certification, but yes, it comes in about a fifty percent concentrated solution with water. The LD50 of that solution is about a quart as far as I can determine.

The point of the example is that it is not acutely toxic unless you ingest a sizable amount while dealing with concentrations only available to certified farmers. The lethal amounts come up to around how much you would apply to half an acre of cropland.

Glyphosphate is also biodegradable.