A Toxic Chemical in Our Food Supply (and How to Avoid It)
Dear Natural Health Solutions Reader,
The news just keeps getting worse for Monsanto… and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving company.
Last year, a World Health Organization agency classified glyphosate — the herbicide that’s the basis of Monsanto’s Roundup — as a probable human carcinogen.
And on Feb. 17, an even more damning research review in the journal Environmental Health, written by an international team of 14 scientists from universities and consumer groups, pointed out that the many risks associated with glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) have been grossly underestimated.1
Among its findings:
- Worldwide GBH application has jumped 100-fold since the late 1970s, as glyphosate-resistant genetically modified organism (GMO) crops have become common
- The herbicide lasts up to a year in the soil, far longer than previous studies had acknowledged. That suggests GBH can build up over time
- Worldwide human exposure levels are rising.
And this matters because GBH exposure is associated with “adverse health outcomes,” including:
- Liver and kidney damage
- Endocrine system disruption, which means hormone imbalances
- Antibiotic effects that can throw off the ratio of healthy to unhealthy bacteria in the gut, which could have a variety of health consequences.
The authors conclude, in the reasonable, measured tones such papers require, that:
Taken together, these conclusions all indicate that a fresh and independent examination of GBH toxicity should be undertaken, and that this re-examination be accompanied by systematic efforts by relevant agencies to monitor GBH levels in people and in the food supply, none of which are occurring today.
In Plain English…
These guys need to take this measured tone because they are trying to influence international policy.
But I don’t do “tone,” and am typically not terribly measured. So here’s my take:
Glyphosate-based weedkillers are an abomination. Among their worst evils is that they disrupt organisms in the soil, which — on a well-managed organic farm — should number in the millions per cubic inch.
When these organisms die, they leave behind erosion-prone, compacted “moon dust” where once lay the rich, black soils of American farms. As a New York Times article about research in Alton, Iowa, explained:
Dirt in two fields around Alton where biotech corn was being grown was hard and compact. Prying corn stalks from the soil with a shovel was difficult, and when the plants finally came up, their roots were trapped in a chunk of dirt. Once freed, the roots spread out flat like a fan and were studded with only a few nodules, which are critical to the exchange of nutrients. In comparison, conventional corn in adjacent fields could be tugged from the ground by hand, and dirt with the consistency of wet coffee grounds fell off the corn plants’ knobby roots.
Soil is the most crucial natural resource of any nation. This stuff wrecks it. Our children will, and should, hold us accountable.
And as the latest review makes clear, the stuff persists in the soil it ruins, infects our foodstuffs, and messes with human health in dozens of ways, despite Monsanto’s ongoing attempts to deny it.
Bottom Line
Don’t wait for the powers that be to monitor GBH levels in the soil, or to start new studies on its toxicity. Powerful forces are aligned against both of these modest measures, so it may be a very long wait.
Instead, make every effort to protect yourself and your family from the health-destroying effect of this awful chemical. In particular, avoid cheap GMO commodity grains, such as those found in packaged foods containing corn, wheat, or soybeans (one study cited in this paper found GBH residues in 90.3 percent of 300 soybean samples).
Beyond that, shop organic whenever possible — this is not a hippie-dippy affectation, but rather a vital move to protect your family’s health from an industrial food production system gone crazy.
Sincerely,
Brad Lemley
Editor, Natural Health Solutions
Citations
- Myers JP, Antoniou MN, Blumberg B, et al. Concerns over use of glyphosate-based herbicides and risks associated with exposures: a consensus statement. Environ Health. 2016
