I really should take the high road. I should. I personally hate the company, but the product is useful. A perfect world it is not. Since everyone else seems averse to actually posting links I will do a few for those interested in the toxicology of Round Up. You will see wild claims but rarely in a scientific white paper by a credentialed professional in the matter. I personally fight for organics and sustainability. I purchase organic food when I can't grow enough of my own, I don't buy or eat feed lot beef etc. Here are some great links First I like Wiki- Sources are noted, and where they are not noted for statements you will seethe (citations needed) instead of the resource number. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2007/03/roundup-is-safe.html "TOXICITY REVIEW Acute (Mammalian) Glyphosate has reported oral LD5Os of 4,320 and 5,600 mg/kg in male and female rats (15,4). The oral LD5Os of the two major glyphosate products Rodeo and Roundup are 5,000 and 5,400 mg/kg in the rat (15). A dermal LD5O of 7,940 mg/kg has been determined in rabbits (15,4). There are reports of mild dermal irritation in rabbits (6), moderate eye irritation in rabbits (7), and possible phototoxicity in humans (9). The product involved in the phototoxicity study was Tumbleweed marketed by Murphys Limited UK (9). Maibach (1986) investigated the irritant and the photo irritant responses in individuals exposed to Roundup (41% glyphosate, water, and surfactant); Pinesol liquid, Johnson Baby Shampoo, and Ivory Liquid dishwashing detergent. The conclusion drawn was that glyphosate has less irritant potential than the Pinesol or the Ivory dishwashing liquid (120). Metabolism Elimination of glyphosate is rapid and very little of the material is metabolized (6,106). Subchronic/Chronic Studies (Mammalian) In subchronic tests, glyphosate was administered in the diet to dogs and rats at 200, 600, and 2,000 ppm for 90 days. A variety of toxicological endpoints were evaluated with no significant abnormalities reported (15,10). In other subchronic tests, rats received 0, 1,000, 5,000, or 20,000 ppm (57, 286, 1143 mg/kg) in the diet for 3 months. The no observable adverse effect level (NOAEL) was 20,000 ppm (1,143 mg/kg) (115). In the one year oral dog study, dogs received 20, 100, and 500 mg/kg/day. The no observable effect level (NOEL) was 500 mg/kg (116)." http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/actives/glyphosa.htm The theme here is. Don't ingest it. (would you ingest fish fertilizer? I got food poisoning from it once as a kid because I didn't wash my hands after handling...not pleasant) Again Don't drink it, don't spray it in your eyes, don't Walk around barefoot while it is wet or spray it on your skin. The best method is in a pump up sprayer on a calm day to minimize drift. I adjust the nozzle for a course spray, not atomizing the fluid like I would for foliar feeding. This prevents drift and forces the fluid to go on the target and not into the air where you can breath it, get it into your eyes or on your skin or have unintentional drift. Care when applying is all that is needed. Once the treatment area is dry it is safe to enter and work around. My occupation is a Safety Professional. By reviewing the MSDS if I was to have an employee applying this material for me I would require long pants and shoes and Rubber or other light chemical resistant gloves and goggles while pouring or transferring it but not necessarily for the application.. The reason I would recommend this is that is the recommendation of the msds http://www.kellysolutions.com/erenewals/documentsubmit/KellyData%5CNC%5Cpesticide%5CMSDS%5C74530%5C74530-4%5C74530-4_GLYPHOSATE_41__11_30_2006_4_57_38_PM.pdf And the fully formulated MSDS http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Monsanto-Roundup-MSDS-Docs7017.htm Recognizing, controlling protecting from and eliminating hazards are what I do for a living. I would follow the manufacturers instructions and recommend anyone do the same. To put this into perspective you will be exposed to between 100 and 200 PPM of benzene the next time you fill your fuel tank at the self service pump. If you can smell gas, you are being exposed. The Occupational action level where mitigation is required is 1 PPM. A person can apply round up and not be exposed to any substances listed as hazardous with a Threshold limit value by the American council if industrial hygienist or a Permissible exposure limit by OSHA. Get this. Alaska fish fertilizer has phosphoric acid that does have a PEL and TLV. http://www.growercentral.com/UPLOADS/PDFS/alaska%20fish%20fertilizer%205-1-1%20msds%20(02-05).pdf EMERGENCY OVERVIEW: Potential Health Effects: Primary Entry Routes: Eyes, skin, ingestion. Target Organs: Eyes, skin, gastrointestinal tract. Acute Effects: Eye: May cause irritation, redness and/or burning. Skin: May cause irritation, redness and/or burning. Ingestion: May be harmful if swallowed. May cause abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea. Medical Conditions Aggravated by Long-Term Exposure: Persons with existing skin lesions should exercise caution when using or handling this product. Chronic Effects: Prolonged skin contact may cause dermatitis. I am not going to quit using Alaska Fish fertilizer either nor am I giving up fueling my vehicles. I would post opposing views but the first one I opened Had a Trojan horse so if you are going to be searching for counterpoints do not open The link from naturescountrystore.com!!! It's infected with a trojan horse.

Ten years ago, when I first moved out to the country I had a small gaggle of geese I raised myself by hand. They would eat out of my hand, very affectionate, and I made them a little pond when they were goslings. They would take naps with me-- I loved them and my little flock of chickens very much. So they all made their nests around the barn area and all of them hatched goslings of their own. It was really something to see, they were all beautiful Toulouse geese. Then early one morning I went out as usual to feed everybody, and to my everlasting horror I found them all dead. Torn to pieces, not eaten, mind you, just killed and torn to pieces, all the goslings with their heads torn off. I ran to the hen house and opened the door to find two raccoons in there busily killing my chickens-- there were six dead on the henhouse floor. I screamed for my husband to get the gun, screamed so loud he heard me all the way in the house, and scared the raccoons so bad they went back out a three inch ventilation hole at the top of the henhouse wall (which is how they got in) as slick as a whistle, I wouldn't have believed it possible if I hadn't have seen it with my own eyes. I have since come to the conclusion that they can flatten their bodies out to an incredible degree, their heads are very flat, and I suppose their rib cages can flatten out much like rats' can. We have since put chicken wire over every ventilation hole in the hen house. I began to realize then that raccoons are not the adorable little Walt Disney-esque creatures I used to believe them to be. But I still used Have-a-Heart traps over the years to try to control them, driving them far away and releasing them. Until last week. When I found my favorite duck, Francis, a beautiful male Rouen with the most beautiful feathers I've ever seen, dying, partially eaten alive, because I was unavoidably late getting home to close the hen house and the raccoons had come. My dog was going crazy when I got home trying to get into the enclosed henyard, which I ran to from the car, as fast as I could, I flung open the henyard gate, my dog ran in and chased the raccoon out of the yard, leaving me to put my once-beautiful half-eaten Francis out of his misery. I cried over that one, folks. I'm still sick about it. We've now strung electric wire above and along the henyard fence, and I'll be shooting the raccoons I catch from now on. They carry rabies, and you people are foolish to feed them and invite them onto your property. They are very intelligent, I'll give them that, and they can modify their behavior as needs be to get what they want. But they are the original natural born killers. Be careful.

Intherosegarden has got the answer! "Weed flaming" was once a popular technique that is being revived, with excellent results and organic approved. The reasons why are: it is cost and labor effective, can be done when fields are wet, it does not bring dormant seeds to the surface, and does not set anything on fire, as it simply 'boils' the water out of the cellular structure. Use the torch to melt ice on walkways and driveways. Always use the Red Dragon Brand or you will be sorry. You can get a flamer squeeze valve with a pilot light on the handle, a backpack kit or a dolly. Heavy duty torches are available. I can do 100 acres of fence before lunch.

I gave up on my first garden bed this year. I have several small beds in my side garden, and I had one long strip that ran from the street fence (and shed) to the side door. It runs along the fence of our property that separates us from the neighbours property. The fence itself isn't a high quality fence (they put it in, and won't change it) - not wood or anything - just wire. I had envisioned a fall garden here, with fall colours and lots of fall blooming plants (and other plants to bloom throughout the year but all fall type colours). And it had been about 3 years ... the shrubs were starting to grow and fill in more, I had 2 brownish roses, perennials, bulbs ... BUT, the neighbours just won't keep their garden under control. They have a nice walkways and then some shribs behind that ... and then this MESS behind that, which is what borders on my fence. The back of the shrubs grow through the fence and shade my entire garden, I have to trim their shrubs every 3 weeks. There are baby Maple Trees growing back there that they won't pull up or cut down ... they have weeds spilling underneath the fence, a hydrangea that grows wild and spreads through all the time, and most annoyingly of all, they have Bishops Weed which is slowly spreading towards the fence and starting to get underneath and into my garden in some places. I just can't deal with all the extra work anymore. I am moving the garden. I got the space ready this fall, and started moving some plants. The rest are going in the Spring. The entire Garden concept is moving locations. And I am going to let grass take over the old area, to a certain extent. I still don't want weeds and bishops weed all over my grass, so I will be putting in a plastic barrier along the fence of some kind, and then using some old paving stones to make a bit of a walkway, and Pot area. The paving stones can suppress the bishops weed etc and I'll put some pots to make it look nicer. I wanted a pot area anyways, and I already had the paving stones and didn't know what to do with them ... I think it is a good solution to a very annoying neighbour problem. Actually I decided to give up and move everything because of the advice on this forum. You are all always saying that gardening should be fun, if you don't love it you can dig it up, etc ... my mother is of the other school (never waste anything, never throw anything away, even divisions of a plant that you already have 10 of) but in this case, it was driving me crazy :) The minute I made the decision to give up, I already felt better! So thank you, as well :)