"Glyphosate Exposure in a Farmer’s Family"
Journal of Environmental Protection, 2012, 3, 1001-1003 doi:10.4236/jep.2012.39115 Published Online September 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jep) 1001
The following studies explain the health crisis in America. Really truly. This is it...all the searching for the cure is over. These studies show the cause. And as a mother, I am both outraged and relieved to finally know. Now we can do something about it. If there was ever a reason to eat organic and share information, this is it.
Glyphosate may not be a household word, but Roundup* is. You likely spray it on your weeds, or your neighbor does. Your children's school definitely does. Your city sprays it on your sidewalks and parks and the farmers who grow your food have been told it's the best thing since sliced bread to spray on the grounds surrounding almond trees, fruit trees, strawberries and almost every non-organic vegetable grown in America. Roundup is the most widely used pesticide in the world, 185 million pounds (1) are used in the USA alone each year and glyphosate is the active chemical ingredient.
Not only is it sprayed on the soil, the chemical is drawn into it root system and plant, it is also now being sprayed on the GMO plant in ever increasing doses and it is absorbed into every cell of the plant. It's called "Roundup Ready”. The problem is, that means it is in our food, potentially for 14 years plus, it cannot be washed off, and the food is not labeled.
Some of you may know this already...but what you may not know is that the impact of Glyphosate is equally as potentially harmful as Genetically Modified foods. In a peer reviewed published scientific study titled "Glyphosate Exposure in a Farmer's Family" published in the Journal of Environmental Protection. This has not been widely circulated in the USA however, Moms Across America just found out that glyphosate has been proven to harm humans more than anyone realized.
The family in the study lived 1.5 miles away from their fields that were sprayed with Roundup. The father would spray the fields, come home and wash his hands thoroughly, but not take a shower. Apparently he hugged his children, because the levels of glyphosate found in their urine were far above what has shown to be toxic in animals. The glyphosate level in the father's urine was 9.5 ppm and the children's was 2 ppm. It is scientifically documented that infertility is caused by glyphosate at .5 ppm and endocrine disruption (which causes birth defects) is caused by glyphosate at .2 ppm.
The farmer and his wife had two children with birth defects including imperforated anus, growth hormone deficiency, hypospadias (which is when the urethra of the male penis's opening is not at the end but under, and along the side instead), heart defect and micro penis.
We also have a brand new scientific study which connects glyphosate and numerous diseases which have skyrocketed in our Western culture since the introduction of GMOs to our food supply .
"Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases" states that glyphosate residues have been found primarily in corn, sugar, soy and wheat. Good God, that is practically in everything all of us eat!
"Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. We explain the documented effects of glyphosate and its ability to induce disease, and we show that glyphosate is the “textbook example” of exogenous semiotic entropy: the disruption of homeostasis by environmental toxins."
This new 48 page published scientific study is extensive and complicated. I have to say as a mother I would much rather be playing play dough with my kids or even cleaning a crusty toilet than scouring through these scientific reports and trying to decipher sentences like "Elevated amounts of shikimate-derived benzoic acids such as protocatechuate and gallate are also found in plants exposed to glyphosate."
So without further ado, I post these studies for you to make sense of. All I know is that glyphosate = harm to my family. So Stop It People! Stop spraying it on my food, stop spraying it on my school playground and stop spraying it in the city parks. And tell your city council, your representative, your congressmen/women. Share this report with them and demand that we stop using this chemical. If for no other reason than to err on the side of safety. These are our families we are talking about.
You need someone to pull up weeds? They are called Boy Scouts who need community service projects. No harmful side effects from a Boy Scout.
Zen Honeycutt
Harm to Farmer’s Family Study page 1
Harm to Farmer’s Family Study page 2
Harm to Farmer’s Family Study page 3
Glyphosate/Modern Diseases Study page 1
Findings of Glyphosate/Modern Diseases Study page 29
Conclusion of Glyphosate/Modern Diseases Study page 30
For the full report ( which is 48 pages long and too big of a file for my site) go to www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy
(1)http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/Glyphosate.pdf from the latest 2007 report)
* Roundup is a registered trademark of Monsanto
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When the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s national organic labeling standards went into effect in 2002, the two antibiotics were listed as synthetic materials approved for use in organic apple and pear production. Items on that list are revisited on a periodic basis. The notion behind the exemption for these two fruit crops was that, in between reviews, growers would devise effective non-antibiotic-based methods for controlling fire blight.
But the antibiotic exemption is set to expire in October 2014. This week, the National Organic Standards Board is meeting in Portland, Ore., to decide on a petition from organic growers to extend that exemption. Consumers Union, the policy arm of Consumer Reports, is among the groups who say the answer should be a resounding no.
Here is the study of Bt toxin in pregnant women and fetuses. Nice.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21338670
1998: Europe
European Union countries beoame the first to embrace labeling for genetically modified food. Companies must label all other food products and animal feed made with more than .9% of ingredients derived by genetically modified processes (including additives and flavorings). Current laws don’t cover genetically modified animals used as food (not yet on the market in Europe), though the European Food Safety Authority is currently working on proposed future guidelines.
2001: Japan, Australia, New Zealand
Australia and New Zealand’s laws target a slightly higher threshold than Europe and Russia (1%), while Japan’s laws allow a much higher GM threshold of 5%. Also, Japan’s laws aren’t comprehensive, but rather target a legally specified list of food items and ingredients known to sometimes contain GM content. New introductions would need to be added to the list.
2002: China, Saudi Arabia, South Korea
Initially, China’s labeling law resembled Japan’s, requiring labeling of only certain known categories of genetically modified products derived from corn, cotton, rapeseed, soybeans, and tomatoes. In 2007, this law was expanded to stipulate that all GM foods must be labeled (no minimum threshold stipulated). Saudi Arabia, which relies heavily on food imports, follows the 1% threshold, maintains a legally specified list of food items, and exempts restaurants from labeling. South Korea adopted a 3% threshold, and only for products containing GM soybean, corn or soybean sprout.
2003: Thailand, Indonesia
Thailand’s labeling law requires that a food product that lists a GM ingredient as one of the top three ingredients must be labeled, and then only if the GM content accounts for more than 5% of the total product by weight. Indonesia’s labeling law also follows the 5% rule, without the “top-three” stipulation. Animal feed is exempted in both countries.
2004: Brazil, Venezuela
All human and animal feed containing more than 1% GM ingredients must be labeled.
2005: Taiwan
After a three-part phase-in, Taiwan institutes a 5% threshold labeling law for products containing soy or corn.
2006: Russia, India, Chile
Russia’s laws on GM food mirror those of the European Union, including the .9% threshold for food products, but make an exemption in allowing GM animal feed to be sold without a label. One of the most stringent proposals for GM labeling in existence, India’s “draft rule” published in 2006 would require labeling for all “primary or processed food, food ingredients, or food additives.” Six years later, controversy around this language still prevents the draft rule from being codified into law.
2011: South Africa
South Africa introduces labeling for all GM products, using the 5% threshold.
Listen to the industry, or listen to moms who have seen their children’s health improve with the removal of GMOs from their diet. Who has YOUR best interest at heart?