RoundUp, The Latest Good, Bad, and Ugly
We have been talking, sharing and writing about RoundUp’s active ingredient, glyphosate, for several years. So what is the latest on RoundUp and glyphosate-based herbicides? Is glyphosate use diminishing? Are we finding less of it in our water, soil and food? There are some good, bad and ugly things happening with glyphosate and we want to continue to keep you up-to-date and informed until we get this poison banned.
I believe glyphosate is greatly responsible for the declining health in this country and there is so much evidence to prove this.
Good News
The first Roundup cancer trial resulted in a jury verdict of $289 million in damages against Monsanto, though a judge later lowered that to $78 million. The second such trial ended last month with a jury verdict of $80.2 million against Monsanto. The third trial is now underway. There are over 11,000 people suing Monsanto alleging glyphosate-based herbicides such as Roundup cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Monsanto has hidden the risks and manipulated the scientific record. These victories have created an onslaught of bad news for Monsanto, now Bayer, and has caused Bayer’s stock to go down and raised more questions about the safety of this herbicide. To find out more about lawsuits against Monsanto, you can go to Consumer Safety.
After the news of the latest trial, Vietnam acts to ban the cancer-causing herbicide. They are not unfamiliar with Monsanto’s tactics of covering up the evidence about its products like they did with Agent Orange and are making this bold move to ban glyphosate’s use in their country.
Several cities are banning or have restrictive use of glyphosate near parks, schools and playgrounds and that list is growing! To find out more about how you can get RoundUp banned in your city, go here. The City of Portland’s pesticide ordinance that bans synthetic pesticides use on lawns, gardens, landscaped areas, patios, sidewalks, driveways, parks and playing fields has gone into effect. Only organic treatments can be used to beat back weeds and insects such as grubs. Now that is some great news!!
Thirty nine (39) countries worldwide have officially banned the cultivation of GM crops and only 28 actually grow GM crops (most of which grow under 500 thousand hectares). The picture painted by the Biotech industry and the U.S. government that GM crops and their associated herbicide, glyphosate, have been accepted by the majority of countries worldwide is therefore not true!
The Bad and Ugly
There has been much testing done by various organizations including Moms Across America, GMO Free USA and EWG and the results have been astonishing. The level of contamination is very high in most of the foods tested. As we know, even low levels of glyphosate have been shown to disrupt the gut lining, cause endocrine disruption, non-alcohol fatty liver disease (which is at epidemic levels), and cancer. Here is a partial list of the foods tested.
Recently, GMO Free USA tested several foods from various restaurants and here is what they found. In all, glyphosate was found in 39 of the 44 restaurant food samples tested, and in 33 of the 38 of the menu items. Foods found free of glyphosate included chicken, beef, egg, and sweet potato.
Other surprising results came from testing Whole Foods Bakery Honey Wheat Bread, Dunkin’ Donuts multigrain bagel, Olive Garden breadsticks and Subway 7 Grain Honey Oat Bread. Both beverages, Dunkin’ Donuts Arabica coffee and McDonald’s unsweetened iced tea, tested positive. Thirty-eight different menu items were tested, some more than once. Glyphosate was detected in 39 out of the 44 restaurant food samples tested, in 33 of the 38 menu items. Foods with no glyphosate detected included beef, chicken, egg and sweet potato. See the full testing results here:
Glyphosate residue has been found in so many foods, all of the childhood vaccines, our water, wine and beer, breast milk and of course our soil. Remember glyphosate is systemic so it does not wash off and does not degrade quickly in the soil like its maker, Monsanto, would like us to believe. Studies have shown glyphosate to have a half life of 22 years. So what are we to do? It’s all about regenerative agriculture!
More Bad News for Animals
Glyphosate has been found in cat and dog foods in this country’s leading pet companies. Why have the cancer rates in dogs and cats increased exponentially? There is a reason and glyphosate is part of that reason! Find out more here:
Just recently, we heard on National news about the high number of horse fatalities at a local race track in California. Stephanie Seneff, research scientist at MIT has been studying the effects of glyphosate for years and commented on what is happening at the Santa Anita Racetrack. Twenty-three racehorses have died since December 26 at this track. Here is what Seneff had to say about this:
“In my opinion they are missing the boat here. The real problem with these race horses is glyphosate contamination in their feed. Over time, glyphosate is destroying their joints. It’s destroying our joints as well, which is why we have so many issues with joint pain – back pain, shoulder pain, hip replacement surgery, knee injury, foot problems, etc., etc. Glyphosate contamination in the collagen is messing up its tensile strength, flexibility and ability to hold water, would be my best guess. Probably also related to the opioid drug abuse epidemic.”
It is not just their joints that may be affected by glyphosate, their digestion too just like it does in humans. Glyphosate can be in the hay and oats. Alfalfa is RoundUp Ready which means it is sprayed with glyphosate but doesn’t kill the alfalfa. However, it gets into the alfalfa and then into the horse. Oats are highly contaminated with glyphosate which is another way the horse may be ingesting it. Thirdly, if they are grazing on pasture that has been contaminated with RoundUp, they are ingesting there. This is an interesting article that addresses these issues. In this article, the author explains how glyphosate is a patented antibiotic, a mineral chelator and is used as a desiccant, which is a drying agent sprayed on preharvest crops.
Want to know what is your animal’s glyphosate level? Now you can test here:
Solutions
As always, we are not victims of the Monsanto’s of this world! We can take steps to first of all say no to GMO food and foods that are grown with pesticides and herbicides. Eating organic or growing your own foods is always an option. Vote with your dollars–only buy organic and support those who are supporting your health. Drink clean filtered water. It is hard to avoid glyphosate 100% but we can take steps to detox by eating fermented foods daily, drinking kombucha, drinking a small amount of apple cider vinegar (with the mother) daily or finding various supplements that may help you detox. Fermented foods like sauerkraut and kombucha contain acetobacters which have been shown to dissolve glyphosate. Also avoid some of the foods that have been cross-contaminated like oats, lentils, chickpeas, and beans, for example. If you drink alcohol, drink organic beer, grain-free spirits and drink clean wine.
You can also get tested, test your water, food, soil and know about the levels of glyphosate in your body, water, food or soil. Get tested at HRI Laboratories.
Click below at HRI to learn more about testing!
Education
If you want to learn more about glyphosate just do a search on my blog on this site, there are numerous interviews, articles, and much scientific evidence about the dangers of glyphosate. There are no safe levels!
There are many alternatives to RoundUp or other glyphosate-based herbicides for gardening and weed control. Beyond Pesticides has many solutions and alternatives on their site.
I think it is also very important to share what you know about glyphosate with others. Please share this article with others too–this is the time! There are still many that do not know that would make changes in their diet and lifestyle if they did know. Never preach, educate ones who want to know. Plant a seed with others and watch it grow.
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