Fabulous article (with 28 references) that highlights the enormous health risks associated with Roundup (Glyphosate)!
I believe that glyphosate is one of the major contributors to “gluten sensitivity”. Not that it’s not real, but I think this plays a major role!
There certainly are studies to counter everything we’ve explored in this report–studies, for example, that have been used by the EPA to justify Roundup’s continued use. The problem is that the studies cited by the EPA in their 2015 exoneration of Roundup aren’t quite as neutral as those that led to the negative IARC report. Of the 32 glyphosate studies the EPA considered, 27 were paid for by the chemical industry, mostly by Monsanto. And not surprisingly, it was those industry-funded studies that found in favor of Roundup. Now, to be sure, those studies did note that the poor rats exposed to glyphosate were having problems. The research observed that the rats lost weight, had smaller litters, and had a higher incidence of pancreatic cancer; but the researchers associated with all those industry sponsored studies dismissed those effects as insignificant.
The five independent studies, on the other hand, weren’t quite so upbeat. Three of the five noted that the rats suffered serious endocrine problems resulting from glyphosate exposure. One report, for instance, said that glyphosate, “may induce significant adverse effects on the reproductive system of male Wistar rats at puberty and during adulthood.” But since there were only three such alarming reports in the packet of 32, approval of glyphosate was continued. But that’s disingenuous considering that deck was stacked with 25 industry funded studies. And it’s not just the EPA. In 2017, glyphosate won a new five-year lease for use in the EU.
The bottom line is that when it comes to glyphosate, we are not in a happy place. The world is awash in this toxic herbicide. It is now the most heavily-used agricultural chemical in the history of the world. According to a 2016 study published in Environmental Sciences Europe, since 1974, over 1.6 billion kilograms (1.8 million tons) of glyphosate have been applied in the US, and 8.6 billion kilograms (9.5 million tons) worldwide.25 Globally, glyphosate use has risen almost 15-fold since so-called “Roundup Ready,” genetically engineered glyphosate-tolerant crops were introduced in 1996. Two-thirds of the total volume of glyphosate applied in the U.S. from 1974 to 2014 has been sprayed in just the last 10 years. The corresponding share globally is 72%. And the future looks even grimmer as China has jumped onto the glyphosate bandwagon big time, leaving Monsanto in the dust.
In fact, according to the latest Research Report on China’s Glyphosate Industry, at present, global glyphosate production capacity is concentrated in China.26 In 2017, the global glyphosate production capacity was 1,065,000 tons, including 380,000 tons of Monsanto and 685,000 tons of Chinese enterprises. Due to China’s supply-side reform and environmental “supervision”, China’s glyphosate industry is both more integrated and more concentrated.
China is the major glyphosate exporter in the world. Over 80% of China-made glyphosate is exported to account for over 60% of the global supply. The output of glyphosate in China increased from 316,000 tons in 2010 to about 505,000 tons in 2017. In 2017, China exported over 300,000 tons of glyphosate, which satisfied more than half of the global glyphosate demand. In other words, any production controls exercised in the US or Europe will have only marginal impact on the amount of glyphosate available for use in the world.
The bottom line is that glyphosate isn’t going anywhere in the near term. It appears we’re going to have to learn to live with it in our food, our water, and our environment for the foreseeable future. With that in mind…
Glyphosate Is Showing Up in Our Bodies
A 2017 study published in JAMA tracked people over the age of 50 in southern California from 1993-1996 and from 2014-2016.27 By measuring the urinary excretion of glyphosate in the study’s 100 participants, the researchers found that the percentage of people who tested positive for glyphosate shot up by 500% during those years. Even more frightening: the levels of glyphosate found in their bodies spiked by 1208% during that time.
What was VISA’s tagline for 20 years? “It’s everywhere you want to be.” It’s probably a good thing VISA no longer uses that line, so we can now apply it to glyphosate.
A Ray of Hope
Earlier in this report, I mentioned the 5,000 cases pending against Monsanto. Well, on August 10th, one of those cases reached a verdict. A unanimous jury decision awarded $289 million ($39 million in damages and $250 million in penalties) to a former school groundskeeper who said Monsanto’s Roundup left him dying of cancer.28 Judge Suzanne Ramos Bolanos announced in court that Monsanto “acted with malice, oppression, or fraud and should be punished for its conduct.”
In legal terms, this verdict will bolster the thousands of pending cases we talked about earlier and open the door for countless people who blame their suffering on the weed killer. However, this verdict is hardly final. It can be appealed and either have the award chopped down to minimal dollars or even thrown out altogether. And in fact, Monsanto said in a statement it would appeal the verdict. “Today’s decision does not change the fact that more than 800 scientific studies and reviews…support the fact that glyphosate does not cause cancer, and did not cause Mr. Johnson’s cancer,” the company said.
Nevertheless, it is a crack in the previously impenetrable wall that Monsanto has been able to build–with huge amounts of congressional help–around its glyphosate-based herbicide. It seems you can buy a Representative’s vote–and in some cases even a Senator’s–for just a few thousand dollars in campaign contributions. In any case, it probably will take several years to see if the crack widens…or ends up getting patched over. But at least, for now, there is a crack. Enough lawsuits won; enough money paid out by Monsanto; and that could spell the end of Roundup somewhere down the road.
I wish I had better news, but the best advice I can give–since, at least for the next decade, glyphosate’s going to be unavoidable–is do a full body detox at least once or twice a year.
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