Monsanto has long been accused of causing health hazards. Here was a 2013 eat-in protest in front of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in College Park, Maryland April 8, 2013. (REUTERS)
Life springs eternal with the advent of spring! Frisbees fly around city parks. Girls wear short-shorts. Dogs sprint across the yard. Butterflies grace the colorful flowers while hummingbirds zip around like crazed fighter pilots. Grasses turn the landscape green while trees bud into full foliage. Ah, yes, the promise of spring inspires everyone in America…
But what about those dandelions along your sidewalk and growing in the cracks of your driveway? What about those weeds making a mess of your golf-course smooth lawn?
What do you do? You poison them with Monsanto’s Roundup.
Show me de monee!
But there’s a problem growing across the United States with Roundup weed killer. Today, after years of usage, that herbicide finds its way into women’s breast milk, fine wines and the ground water. Scientists find it lodged in cereals we feed our children. It’s even in the air we breathe. It drips into the water systems where we take our daily drink.
From my research, Boulder, Colorado became the first city in America to ban the use and sale of Roundup and all other herbicides within the city limits. Anyone who would like to do the same in their city to protect their children may visit their website for the documents that you might utilize for your own city.
In other words, we must stop poisoning our world, our kids, our animals and our lives. Personally, I think Monsanto’s CEO and board members as well as stock holders should be tried and sent to prison for crimes against humanity and the natural world. None of us should consume GMOs.
From 1996 – 2011, the widespread use of Roundup Ready GMO crops increased herbicide in the USA by 527 million pounds—even though Monsanto claimed its GMO crops would reduce pesticide and herbicide use.
Monsanto falsified data on Roundup’s safety, and marketed it to parks departments and consumers as “environmentally friendly” and “biodegradable, to encourage its use it on roadsides, playgrounds, golf courses, schoolyards, lawns and home gardens. A French court ruled those marketing claims amounted to false advertising. Makes you wonder why an American court didn’t make the same rulings? Answer: more money to pay off the appropriate people to make sure Roundup continues its deadly legacy in America.
Do you wonder why you know a friend or relative suffering from cancer? Or, you yourself? Answer: Monsanto poisons the world 24/7 with its horrific chemicals and GMOs.
Here’s what top scientists at www.EcoWatch.org found with our flagrant use of this deadly herbicide.
ADHD: In farming communities, there’s a strong correlation between Roundup exposure and attention deficit disorder (ADHD), likely due to glyphosate’s capacity to disrupt thyroid hormone functions.
Alzheimer’s disease: In the lab, Roundup causes the same type of oxidative stress and neural cell death observed in Alzheimer’s disease.
Anencephaly (birth defect): An investigation into neural tube defects among babies born to women living within 1,000 meters of pesticide applications showed an association for glyphosate with anencephaly, the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull and scalp that forms during embryonic development.
Autism: Glyphosate has a number of known biological effects that align with the known pathologies associated with autism. One of these parallels is the gut dysbiosis observed in autistic children and the toxicity of glyphsoate to beneficial bacteria that suppress pathogenic bacteria, along with pathogenic bacteria’s high resistance to glyphosate. In addition, glyphosate’s capacity to promote aluminum accumulation in the brain may make it the principal cause of autism in the U.S.
Thirty years ago, one live birth in 20,000 suffered from autism. Today, one live birth in 88 suffers from autism.
Birth defects: Roundup and glyphosate can disrupt the Vitamin A (retinoic acid) signaling pathway, which is crucial for normal fetal development. The babies of women living within one kilometer of fields sprayed with glyphosate were more than twice as likely to have birth defects according to a study from Paraguay. Congenital defects quadrupled in the decade after Roundup Ready crops arrived in Chaco, a province in Argentina where glyphosate is used roughly eight to ten times more per acre than in the U.S. A study of one farming family in the U.S. documented elevated levels of glyphosate and birth defects in the children, including an imperforate anus, growth hormone deficiency, hypospadias (an abnormally placed urinary hole), a heart defect and a micro penis.
Brain cancer: In a study of children with brain cancer compared with healthy children, researchers found that if either parent had been exposed to Roundup during the two years before the child’s birth, the chances of the child developing brain cancer doubled.
Breast cancer: Glyphosate induces human breast cancer cells growth via estrogen receptors. The only long-term animal study of glyphosate exposure produced rats with mammary tumors and shortened life-spans.
Also part of the “typical American diet”
Cancer: House-to-house surveys of 65,000 people in farming communities in Argentina where Roundup is used, known there as the fumigated towns, found cancer rates two to four times higher than the national average, with increases in breast, prostate and lung cancers. In a comparison of two villages, in the one where Roundup was sprayed, 31 percent of residents had a family member with cancer, while only 3 percent of residents in a ranching village without spraying had one. The high cancer rates among people exposed to Roundup likely stem from glyphosate’s known capacity to induce DNA damage, which has been demonstrated in numerous lab tests.
Celiac disease and gluten intolerance: Fish exposed to glyphosate develop digestive problems that are reminiscent of celiac disease. There are parallels between the characteristics of celiac disease and the known effects of glyphosate. These include imbalances in gut bacteria, impairment in enzymes involved with detoxifying environmental toxins, mineral deficiencies and amino acid depletion.
Chronic kidney disease: Increases in the use of glyphosate may explain the recent surge in kidney failure among agricultural workers in Central America, Sri Lanka and India. Scientists have concluded, “Although glyphosate alone does not cause an epidemic of chronic kidney disease, it seems to have acquired the ability to destroy the renal tissues of thousands of farmers when it forms complexes with [hard water] and nephrotoxic metals.”
Colitis: The toxicity of glyphosate to beneficial bacteria that suppress clostridia, along with clostridia’s high resistance to glyphosate, could be a significant predisposing factor in the overgrowth of clostridia. Overgrowth of clostridia, specifically C. difficile, is a well-established causal factor in colitis.
Depression: Glyphosate disrupts chemical processes that impact the production of serotonin, an important neurotransmitter that regulates mood, appetite and sleep. Serotonin impairment has been linked to depression.
Diabetes: Low levels of testosterone are a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes. Rats fed environmentally relevant doses of Roundup over a period of 30 days spanning the onset of puberty had reduced testosterone production sufficient to alter testicular cell morphology and to delay the onset of puberty.
Heart disease: Glyphosate can disrupt the body’s enzymes, causing lysosomal dysfunction, a major factor in cardiovascular disease and heart failure.
Hypothyroidism: House-to-house surveys of 65,000 people in farming communities in Argentina where Roundup is used, known there as the fumigated towns, found higher rates of hypothyroidism.
Inflammatory Bowl Disease (“Leaky Gut Syndrome”): Glyphosate can induces severe tryptophan deficiency, which can lead to an extreme inflammatory bowel disease that severely impairs the ability to absorb nutrients through the gut, due to inflammation, bleeding and diarrhea.
Liver disease: Very low doses of Roundup can disrupt human liver cell function, according to a 2009 study published in Toxicology.
Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS): Sulfate deficiency in the brain has been associated with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Glyphosate disrupts sulfate transport from the gut to the liver, and may lead over time to severe sulfate deficiency throughout all the tissues, including the brain.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS): An increased incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBS) has been found in association with MS. Glyphosate may be a causal factor. The hypothesis is that glyphosate-induced IBS causes gut bacteria to leak into the vasculature, triggering an immune reaction and consequently an autoimmune disorder resulting in destruction of the myelin sheath.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A systematic review and a series of meta-analyses of nearly three decades worth of epidemiologic research on the relationship between non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and occupational exposure to agricultural pesticides found that B cell lymphoma was positively associated with glyphosate.
Parkinson’s disease: The brain-damaging effects of herbicides have been recognized as the main environmental factor associated with neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease. The onset of Parkinson’s following exposure to glyphosate has been well documented and lab studies show that glyphosate induces the cell death characteristic of the disease.
Obesity: An experiment involving the transfer of a strain of endotoxin-producing bacteria from the gut of an obese human to the guts of mice caused the mice to become obese. Since glyphosate induces a shift in gut bacteria towards endotoxin-producers, glyphosate exposure may contribute to obesity in this way.
Reproductive problems: Studies of laboratory animals have found that male rats exposed to high levels of glyphosate, either during prenatal or pubertal development, suffer from reproductive problems, including delayed puberty, decreased sperm production, and decreased testosterone production.
Respiratory illnesses: House-to-house surveys of 65,000 people in farming communities in Argentina where Roundup is used, known there as the fumigated towns, found higher rates of chronic respiratory illnesses.
Doesn’t this make you sick that your own stores, your cities and farmers use this poison on your foods? You use it on your lawns? At what point do we take a stand against the continued use of chemicals that kill our natural world, and in the end, kill our loved ones?
May 10, 2018
© 2018 Frosty Wooldridge – All Rights Reserved
~ The Author ~
Frosty Wooldridge possesses a unique view of the world, cultures and families in that he has bicycled around the globe 100,000 miles, on six continents and six times across the United States in the past 30 years. His published books include: “Handbook For Touring Bicyclists“; “Strike Three! Take Your Base”; “Immigration’s Unarmed Invasion: Deadly Consequences”; “Motorcycle Adventure To Alaska: Into The Wind—A Teen Novel”; “Bicycling Around The World: Tire Tracks For Your Imagination”; “An Extreme Encounter: Antarctica.” His next book: “Tilting The Statue Of Liberty Into A Swamp.” He lives in Denver, Colorado. His latest book. ‘Immigration’s Unarmed Invasion—Deadly Consequences.’
We invite you to visit his website. Frosty invites your comments and feedback via email at [email protected]