So I was talking to a friend the other day who works for a large water company and they told me that the company was currently spraying an herbicide known as Habitat around our water supply (reservoirs and such) rather than using Round Up. Well great that we’re not using roundup all over the place, but what is Habitat? So I decided to do a little investigating on what Habitat was and did.
So my first comment is that if you make the name sound kind and gentle the average person in America now doesn’t question its toxicity. Wow “Habitat” doesn’t it just make you feel warm and fuzzy all over.
Habitat [Wikipedia] is a non-selective herbicide used for the control of a broad range of weeds including terrestrial annual and perennial grasses and broadleaved herbs, woody species, and riparian and emergent aquatic species.
Active ingredient imazapyr (IUPAC name (RS)-2-(4-Methyl-5-oxo-4-propan-2-yl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)pyridine-3-carboxylic acid)
[End Wikipedia]
Remember that herbicide ends with those four bothersome letters CIDE. This stuff is toxic to virtually every plant on earth!
imazapyr is a base analog, meaning it is incorporated incorrectly into DNA thus messing up DNA synthesis. It is reported to be rapidly taken up by virtually all plants and affects their core DNA and protein synthesis, controlling them — Oh wait killing them would probably be more accurate.
In many, many cases base analogs are mutagens and carcinogenic. Since it also messes up protein synthesis it would likely be incorporated into RNA as well. Since RNA is so intricately involved in memory function I think (no pun intended) this is a very bad idea. However as I jokingly replied when I first heard about it: the inhibition of DNA synthesis may help us with our population pressure. And the pharmaceutical companies could sell more viagra. So it’s a good thing.
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