Monsanto Weed Killer More Toxic Than We Were Told
By James Donahue
Since farmers, home gardeners and yard advocates took to battling unsightly weeds with Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer critics have warned that the active ingredient, glyphosate, has been getting into the nation’s food supply and consequently affecting people’s health.
The appearance of gluten intolerance among bread eaters may be a case in point. While the Environmental Protection Agency has reported Roundup to be safe, and specific medical reports in the U.S. fail to point to glyphosate as a potential cause, the rise in the number of people suffering from allergic reactions to breads and wheat based products in recent years appears to parallel the growing use of Roundup by U.S. farmers on food crops.
Also a report in Scientific American notes that a French study by molecular biologist Gille-Eric Seralini at the University of Caen found as early as 2009 that a so-called “inert ingredient” POEA (polyethoxylated tallowamine) when combined with glyphosate in Roundup “amplified the toxic effect on human cells – even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns.”
Just POEA alone is shown to be more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells, a finding that researchers call “astonishing,” the Scientific American story stated. “This clearly confirms that the (inert ingredients) in Roundup formulations are not inert,” the authors of the report stated. “Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death” at the levels then found in Roundup treated crops.
Charles Benbrook, a research professor at Washington University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, wrote that Glyphosate residue was “hardly found in food” before genetically engineered crops entered into the food chain. Since about 2005, however, this residue has been found in 90 percent of 300 soybean samples.
One report noted that about five million acres of farmland in California were treated with glyphosate in 2012 where almonds, peaches, onions, cantaloupe, citrus, grapes, corn and other foods bound for America’s tables were produced. Also waterways in 38 states were sampled and found to have contained glyphosate in the majority of streams, rivers and ditches. The stuff also was found in 70 percent of rainfall samples.
In other words, it is now nearly impossible for people consuming food grown in the United States to avoid exposure to the chemicals in Roundup weed killer. And while U.S. government testing labs appear to be ignoring the problem, researchers in other parts of the world are finding cause to be seriously alarmed.
Mike DeVito, acting chief of the National Toxicology Program laboratory, told the Guardian that his agency has begun testing of glyphosate-based formulations and that to date the tests are showing the formulations are more toxic than anyone first realized.
This is bad news for the farmers who spray Roundup, for the people who eat the Roundup-contaminated foods and for the rest of us who are getting exposed by the water running off in our waterways from Roundup sprayed in parks, playgrounds and private lawns. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stated that $9 billion in glyphosate-based herbides were sold in the U.S. in 2012. This figure obviously has not gone down since that date.
Monsanto, of course, continues to claim its product is safe. Because of the Trump Administration’s decisions to strip the EPA and other government food and agricultural services of operating money, it may be impossible now to get an accurate record of just how much damage Roundup and other farm chemicals are having on the nation’s health.
By James Donahue
Since farmers, home gardeners and yard advocates took to battling unsightly weeds with Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer critics have warned that the active ingredient, glyphosate, has been getting into the nation’s food supply and consequently affecting people’s health.
The appearance of gluten intolerance among bread eaters may be a case in point. While the Environmental Protection Agency has reported Roundup to be safe, and specific medical reports in the U.S. fail to point to glyphosate as a potential cause, the rise in the number of people suffering from allergic reactions to breads and wheat based products in recent years appears to parallel the growing use of Roundup by U.S. farmers on food crops.
Also a report in Scientific American notes that a French study by molecular biologist Gille-Eric Seralini at the University of Caen found as early as 2009 that a so-called “inert ingredient” POEA (polyethoxylated tallowamine) when combined with glyphosate in Roundup “amplified the toxic effect on human cells – even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns.”
Just POEA alone is shown to be more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells, a finding that researchers call “astonishing,” the Scientific American story stated. “This clearly confirms that the (inert ingredients) in Roundup formulations are not inert,” the authors of the report stated. “Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death” at the levels then found in Roundup treated crops.
Charles Benbrook, a research professor at Washington University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, wrote that Glyphosate residue was “hardly found in food” before genetically engineered crops entered into the food chain. Since about 2005, however, this residue has been found in 90 percent of 300 soybean samples.
One report noted that about five million acres of farmland in California were treated with glyphosate in 2012 where almonds, peaches, onions, cantaloupe, citrus, grapes, corn and other foods bound for America’s tables were produced. Also waterways in 38 states were sampled and found to have contained glyphosate in the majority of streams, rivers and ditches. The stuff also was found in 70 percent of rainfall samples.
In other words, it is now nearly impossible for people consuming food grown in the United States to avoid exposure to the chemicals in Roundup weed killer. And while U.S. government testing labs appear to be ignoring the problem, researchers in other parts of the world are finding cause to be seriously alarmed.
Mike DeVito, acting chief of the National Toxicology Program laboratory, told the Guardian that his agency has begun testing of glyphosate-based formulations and that to date the tests are showing the formulations are more toxic than anyone first realized.
This is bad news for the farmers who spray Roundup, for the people who eat the Roundup-contaminated foods and for the rest of us who are getting exposed by the water running off in our waterways from Roundup sprayed in parks, playgrounds and private lawns. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stated that $9 billion in glyphosate-based herbides were sold in the U.S. in 2012. This figure obviously has not gone down since that date.
Monsanto, of course, continues to claim its product is safe. Because of the Trump Administration’s decisions to strip the EPA and other government food and agricultural services of operating money, it may be impossible now to get an accurate record of just how much damage Roundup and other farm chemicals are having on the nation’s health.