
Unusual sugar from cyanobacteria acts as natural herbicide - jelliclesfarm
https://phys.org/news/2019-02-unusual-sugar-cyanobacteria-natural-herbicide.html
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danesparza
_inhibits the growth of various microorganisms and plants but is harmless to
humans and animals_

But what about gut biome? I would think if you injested this, it could
seriously harm the natural (and good) biome inside of humans or animals. Am I
misreading this?

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adrienthebo
Ingesting this could probably do some nasty things to your gut biome - but
remember that we're talking about an _herbicide_. If you ingested most
herbicides you'd be dead shortly after, so this could be much safer.

 __Edit __\- ingested herbicides at any meaningful quantity.

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bluGill
Herbicides kill plants. Many of them are safe to drink, the only way to die is
drink enough to drown.

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someguydave
Agreed. It’s pesticides you don’t want to touch.

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goodcanadian
<pedantic>

Herbicides are pesticides

Insecticides are pesticides

Pesticide is a blanket term

</pedantic>

And no, you don't want to touch insecticides; they are generally neurotoxins.

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someguydave
Ah thanks for the pedantry - yes I meant insecticides in that case. I thought
pesticide only meant insecticide.

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rbanffy
Until this substance is a bit older, I'd refrain from claiming it's harmless.

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gus_massa
In spite the optimistic assertions at the beginning of the article like

> _a newly discovered sugar molecule synthesized from cyanobacteria that
> inhibits the growth of various microorganisms and plants but is harmless to
> humans and animals_

they actually agree with you. Near the end:

> _However, effectiveness in the field, degradability in the soil and
> harmlessness to livestock and humans would have to be further investigated
> in comprehensive long-term studies for 7dSh._

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mars4rp
a life cycle of humans and microorganisms are a bit different!

