Weed killer improves nutritional value of key
food crop
Reference- http://www.biology-online.org/articles/first-evidence-weed-killers-improve.html
Summary- After the addition of 2 herbicides to sweet corn plants, key nutrients in the kernels were raised significantly. The study shows that farmers grow about 240,000 acres of sweet corn in the US annually, making it a vital food crop.
Impact- Corn is one of the few vegetables that has good sources of zeaxanthin carotenoids, which is increased by 15% with the weed killer additions. This chemical reduces the risk of age-related macular degeneration, heart disease, and cancer. Mature corn was a harvested 45 days after an experiment with herbicide mesotrione and atrazine, both commonly used week killer.
Critique- I think that this is a very important finding; especially because of the risk-reducing powers this idea has for humans. Being the first evidence of this, I hope that it can continue to be studied and become completely harm free.
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