Over the weekend I was listening to "You Bet Your Garden" on NPR while puttering around the house. They were interviewing Rick Relyea of University of Pittsburgh about his study of RoundUp's impact on native amphibian populations. Surprise -- it's a negative effect on the little critters.
BUT... (and this is the part that got my attention) it's not the glyphosate that poses the hazard, it's the surfactant used to penetrate the waxy surfaces of the plants. Surfactants interfere with their gill function, which is a bad thing when you spend a good part of your early life underwater. Seeing as I work for a surfactant company, I was a bit perturbed at this news. (While not a flagrant tree-hugger, I do like to blow kisses at the trees now and then). My first thought was actually "oh crap, do we do this too? Maybe I need to dust off my resume..." When I first started with Aquatrols it took me a long time admit that I was working for a "chemical company" -- when people at parties would ask who I worked for, I would stuff cheetos in my mouth and mumble unintelligibly. (very mature attitude, I know.) If it turned out that our stuff was that dangerous, I think I'd have to find a new line of work.
But before I went running to monster.com to post my resume, I consulted with Science Guy here at Aquatrols to find out where our products stood on the kill factor. He explained that the stuff that Monsanto was (is?) using in RoundUp is polyethoxylated tallowamine. (I did a google search on this chemistry and EVERYTHING came back with a reference to RoundUp.) This particular surfactant is a fatty acid base and is notoriously toxic to fish and amphibians.
The surfactant chemistries we use here at Aquatrols are non-ionic (low reactivity) and are specifically chosen for their low ecotoxicological profiles -- they don't kill stuff. Cool.
Glad I don't have to re-write my resume anytime soon, I really hate doing the new job thing and I do really like it here. I'll sleep better tonight.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
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