Adapted from posts by Adam Malcolm on Nova Scotia Species at Risk (public Facebook Page), with permission.
Wrote Adam on Sep 2, 2024:
In late 2021 the US Environmental Protection Agency released its final Biological Evaluation assessing risks to threatened and endangered species from labeled uses of glyphosate, an herbicide used in the Nova Scotian logging industry to kill broadleaf trees and shrubs that compete with spruce and fir saplings.
The evaluation found that glyphosate is likely to injure or kill 93% of the plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act, including the monarch butterfly (Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk: misimijqanaw), Atlantic salmon (Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk: blamu) and Blanding’s turtle (protection pending), among hundreds of others. The report also found that glyphosate adversely modifies critical habitat for 759 endangered species, or 96% of all species for which critical habitat has been designated in the US.
“The hideous impacts of glyphosate on the nation’s most endangered species are impossible to ignore now,” said Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Glyphosate use is so widespread that even the EPA’s notoriously industry-friendly pesticide office had to conclude that there are hardly any endangered species that can manage to evade its toxic impacts.”
For the next several weeks, logging companies will be spraying glyphosate from helicopters to kill young hardwoods and shrubs at sites across Nova Scotia. The herbicide will be carried from forested hills down streams and rivers, past the places where we live and play, causing untold harm along the way.
Concerned? Then it is so important that you let our Nova Scotia Environment Minister, Tim Halman, know.
902-424-3736
minister.environment@novascotia.ca
And be sure to cc your MLA: nslegislature.ca/members/profiles
Further reading:
Toxicity of glyphosate to animals: A meta-analytical approach
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026974912400383X
PHOTO ATTRIBUTION Photo 27790438 of Atlantic salmon (c) Gonzalo Mucientes Sandoval is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 / Cropped creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/; Photo 117025331 of a Blanding’s turtle (c) Tom Murray is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED / Cropped creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode; Photo 227097368 of a monarch butterfly (c) Terence Gui is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED / Cropped creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode
Blue-Green Algae
Photos of BGA in lakes on NS Gov. webpage on Blue Green Algae
In another post in the same period, Adam highlighted the stimulatory effects of glyphosate on BGA (Blue Green Algae orCyanobacteria), which are becoming an increasing issue in NS waters, also possibly a factor in the mystery neurological illness affecting a cluster of people in NB.*
Writes Adam:
Phosphate liberated from the herbicide glyphosate is thought to promote the growth of blue-green algae in waterways where the herbicide is sprayed. Blue-green algae can produce toxins that, when consumed, seriously sicken people and animals. This mechanism has been implicated in the large cluster of people suffering from a mysterious neurological illness in New Brunswick, many of them quite young.
Neurologist Dr. Alier Marrero told the New York Times recently that he’s now treating more than 430 New Brunswickers with undiagnosable cognitive decline. As of the time of writing, 39 had died.
You’d think the precautionary principle might apply here – that governments would pause spraying operations until this seemingly reasonable explanation is comprehensively ruled out. But no. Close to 100 sites across Nova Scotia have been approved for aerial spraying over the next few weeks.
Concerned? Let Nova Scotia Environment Minister, Tim Halman, know…
*See
– Blue-green algae. Page on NS Gov. website (novascotia.ca)
– Photodegradation of glyphosate in water and stimulation of by-products on algae growth by Jiaqi An et al., 2023 in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
– Potential Neurological Syndrome: Investigation of a Cluster of a Potential Neurological Syndrome of Unknown Cause in New Brunswick
Page on NB Government website. Under “Were blue-green algae toxins investigated as a possible cause?”:All environmental exposures were considered as a possible source including blue-green algae. However, there wasn’t enough evidence to consider any one source over another until a full epidemiological investigation could take place. In the meantime, sample collections for blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) so that testing could take place at a later date if needed.