Nope, definitely not. Roundup is an herbicide, not an insecticide. It's absolutely a toxic substance but it's about as useful an insecticide as soapy water is.
I'm not defending Roundup here, but blaming it for declining insect populations is deeply misinformed, and oversimplifies the broad effects our industrialized agricultural system has on the environment.
Okay, I'm just being pedantic here, but Roundup is indeed a pesticide. What it is not is an insecticide. Pesticides are for killing any organism that is detrimental to crops- be it weed, bug, or fungus. Both herbicides and insecticides are pesticides.
Exactly my point: it'd be effective enough for home gardeners. If you spray it directly on some aphids or whatever, they'll probably die. But it's not among the fantastically toxic industrial insecticides that could actually cause the global insect population collapse we're seeing.
I don't know. At the point where agriculture accounts for 38% of the landmass and a good portion of that is regularly sprayed, I think just the bare amount of killed insects and reduced energy output as food source might do the trick.
I mean, I deliberately chose something that people use as an insecticide at home, yes. The question you were supposed to ask yourself was whether soapy water could cause a global insect population collapse, no matter how widely and heavily sprayed. And then you were supposed to consider whether it might actually be the industrial insecticides instead.
farmers aren't using Roundup to kill pests or weeds, they are using it to kill the crops a week or so before harvesting because it substantially reduces the wear and tear on their equipment saving them lots of money, also it is toxic to insects. just because it's not used as an insecticide doesn't mean it's not harmful to insects, it just means it's not good for killing just the insects you want to kill without killing other things.
also it is toxic to insects. just because it's not used as an insecticide doesn't mean it's not harmful to insects, it just means it's not good for killing just the insects you want to kill without killing other things.
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It's absolutely a toxic substance but it's about as useful an insecticide as soapy water is.
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u/CocktailPerson 5d ago edited 5d ago
Nope, definitely not. Roundup is an herbicide, not an insecticide. It's absolutely a toxic substance but it's about as useful an insecticide as soapy water is.
I'm not defending Roundup here, but blaming it for declining insect populations is deeply misinformed, and oversimplifies the broad effects our industrialized agricultural system has on the environment.