Tag Archive for: monarch butterfly

EPA reaffirms finding that glyphosate does not cause cancer

The original article was written by Donnelle Eller and published on April 30, 2019 by Des Moines Register. You can access the full article here. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday reaffirmed its finding that glyphosate, the world’s most popular herbicide, is not a cancer risk to users.

“There’s no evidence that glyphosate causes cancer,” said Alexandra Dunn, an EPA assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention. “There’s no risk to public health from the application of glyphosate.”

It’s the next step in the EPA’s process to re-register the herbicide, popular with farmers growing food and with families and businesses killing weeds.

The agency said its scientific findings on human health risk are consistent with the reviews by several other countries and federal agencies.

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Mowing For Monarchs

This article is by Layne Cameron, Nate Haan and Doug Landis and was published by MSU Today on March 12, 2019.

 

You might think that mowing fields wouldn’t benefit monarch butterfly populations. New research from Michigan State University, however, shows that disturbances like mowing ­– at key times – might help boost the iconic butterfly’s numbers.

The results are published in the current issue of Biological Conservation, and they show that strategic grassland management benefits monarchs in two ways. First, monarchs lay more eggs on young milkweed – new growth after mowing – the sole food source for the butterflies in their larval stage. Second, fewer predators visit immature milkweed; more come during its mature stages, such as when it flowers.

“Monarch butterflies scout young milkweed to lay their eggs,” said Nate Haan, MSU postdoctoral research associate in entomology and the study’s lead author. “And in terms of a food source, milkweed is more like spinach when it’s young and comparable to cardboard as it ages.”

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