San Francisco Chronicle

Pesticides' effect on generations of field-workers

Long-term study looks at how widespread chemicals affect generations of field-workers in Salinas Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

A portion of this article is being re publisehd with permission of the author

By Stephanie Lee

September 23, 2013

Health problems prevalent

Good health is precarious for many of Monterey County's 422,000 residents. One-third of adults are uninsured; a quarter of children are in poverty. From 2002 to 2012, the percentage of special-education students with learning disabilities fell, but those with autism, intellectual disabilities and speech impairments increased, according to county data. Researchers wanted to understand the health problems that might be getting overlooked.

Then there were the pesticides. About 9 million to 10 million pounds were used annually throughout the county during the late 1990s. The amount has dropped slightly, though the county still ranks sixth in the state for pesticide use.

Eskenazi submitted a proposal to the National Institutes of Health to study low-income pregnant women and environmental effects on their children, and won the funding.

Now she just had to find moms.

Gonzalez moved to Salinas from Michoacán, Mexico, two decades ago, landing a job in the fields. She was among thousands of farmworkers in Monterey County who rise before dawn to gather an estimated three-fourths of the nation's salad greens.

In late 1999, Gonzalez became pregnant with her fourth child, a boy. During a checkup at Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, a volunteer with Eskenazi's study talked her into enrolling.

So began a series of annual or biannual visits to the researchers' trailer outside the hospital. During her pregnancy and delivery, Gonzalez gave them samples of blood, urine, cord blood and breast milk, let them inspect her house and answered dozens of questions about her lifestyle. She was among 601 pregnant women in the initial stages of the study.

Gonzalez's son, Richard Luna, was born in July 2000, one of more than 500 infants in the Chamacos project born between 2000 and 2002.

From the time they were 6 months old, and every one to two years after, researchers analyzed their urine, blood, saliva, teeth and hair. The kids had physical exams and took tests that assessed their motor skills and intelligence.

Much of what the scientists later reported was troubling. They found, for instance, that mothers in the study have higher traces of pesticides in their systems compared with the general U.S. population. Children with high prenatal exposure to pesticides show greater signs of developmental delays than those with low prenatal exposure.

There are limits to what researchers can learn. They can know Richard's blood pressure, IQ scores or pesticide levels. But they don't have enough information to link those factors to his poor eyesight or asthma, or tell his mother whether her time in the fields played a role in those issues. None of their research attributes a health problem to a single direct cause, and they stress that not every potentially harmful factor is equally dangerous in everyone.

"People aren't exposed to one thing," Eskenazi said. "They're exposed to everything around them, including air pollution and alcohol and smoking."

First focus: pesticides

Still, researchers have a lot of educated guesses.

They began their study by examining organophosphate pesticides, a commonly used type known to harm the human nervous system.

One of the researchers' first findings, in 2005, showed the chemicals' presence in the urine of the women in their study group in greater quantity than women of child-bearing age in the general U.S population.

Scientists also noticed that the higher the mother's pesticide levels prior to delivery, the higher the chance their baby would demonstrate abnormal reflexes, such as passive leg movements, after the first three days of life.

The finding preceded many others. At age 5, youths who had been exposed to high levels of pesticides in the womb were more likely than others to score high on tests that determine the likelihood of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

When the children were 7, researchers noted a 5.5-point drop in overall IQ scores for every 10-fold increase in the mothers' pesticides level during pregnancy.

The findings may resonate beyond the valley and across the nation, other researchers say.

"They're helping us understand the links between early exposures and health outcomes that are significant not only in terms of children's functioning and well-being in their early years, but also ... over the entire life course," said Frederica Perera, director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health in New York, which has collaborated with UC Berkeley.

Other scientists have reached similar conclusions about the same exposures. In a 2011 study of New York City children, for example, Mount Sinai School of Medicine found that those with prenatal exposure to pesticides were likely to lag in mental development in their early years.

More than just a study

More studies will follow. Right now, the UC Berkeley team is examining baby teeth for traces of banned fungicides that contain manganese, a chemical element toxic in high doses.

Eskenazi's intent is not to scare residents, but to give them meaningful knowledge. "In my heart, this is more than just a study for me," she said. "This is a population I deeply care about."

The professor plans to keep up the studies as long as there is funding - and Gonzalez and her son plan to keep showing up. Maybe, the mother says, they can help their neighbors understand what is all around them.

"We are all breathing it in," she said.

This article was produced for The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships (ReportingonHealth.org), a program of USC Annenberg's School of Journalism. Stephanie M. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: slee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @stephaniemlee

Dear Friends
The last week or two were weeks of what looked like insurmountably bad news. Daunting. Unbelievable and disheartening.

1) The EPA RAISED the glyphosate levels to unbelievable amounts. We know now that breast cancer cells proliferated upon the introduction of only parts per TRILLION of glyphosate ( see our blog  "Proof of GMO Harm"). We know that the chemicals in Agent Orange caused hundreds of thousands of birth defects and deaths.  And yet the EPA has granted Monsanto's and Syngenta's requests to raised the levels of these and other chemicals by double, triple, quadruple and higher amounts in the part per million. For example:  2-4 D and other chemicals have been increased in the feed crops that the animals we eat , eat: barley hay from 1.4 to 30 ppm and aspirated grains from 30 to 108 ppm.
Glyphosate levels were increasd in Sunflower seeds to  85 ppm,  Tea 5 ppm, Beans 5 ppm, Quinoa 5 ppm, Bananas .2 ppm, Sugar Beets 25 ppm, Dry Peas 8ppm, Pork 5 ppm etc. 

Image from Occupy EPA

2) Moms Across America Zen Honeycutt was able to interview Anthony Samsel and found out that 160 of our foods are contaminated with glyphosate. See the full list here.

3) Birth defects in babies are a reported 4-8 X higher down stream from three orchard areas in Washington State that use heavy glyphosate sprays. See article here.

4) TPP: Many of us found out that an international trade agreement called TPP ( Trans Pacific Partnership)  that could threaten everything we are working for by fast tracking ( and keeping secret) trade agreements between nations that could eliminate GMO labeling, allow corporation to sue countries for blocking sales of GMOs and force more sales of GMOs. Go to www.flushtheTPP.org to find out more and support the cause by hosting a Meet the Congress! event on MAA website.

We believe that some of the worst news a mother could hear is that the food we eat is causing harm to our family and the toxins in our environment that have been deemed safe by our own EPA are causing birth defects. On top of it our own government appointed officials may take away our rights to be able to choose our food and protect our families from these toxins. This is unacceptable.


But there MUST be Good news right? 

Of course there is! Moms and our fantastic supporters are an undauntable bunch! 


1) The biggest good news is that we are now creating PARTNERSHIPS between organizations that will expand and support all of our intentions nationally and around the globe. Moms Across Africa, Moms Across Canada and Moms Across Ireland have Facebook pages and we are working on developing an international coalition! We are connecting with several other orgs and will announce partnerships soon!


2) Moms Across America's Kathleen Hallal spoke at the  Justice Begins with Seeds Conference in Washington State last weekend and I spoke in my CT home town in front of 62 people, 20 teens from FRESH, a gardening program, who are out to transform the food industry! We are continuing the global movement for Moms, who buy 85% of the food, and supporters to be the ones to make a change in our health and freedom.

3) 14 year old Rachel Parent from Canada went on national TV and stood her ground debating Kevin O'Leary. Click here for the link. Inspiring! If she can speak up, we all can too!!

4) Kauai Hawaii and NY made giant steps forward in labeling GMOs and eliminating toxins from our environment and bodies. 

5) Moms Across America is just getting started! Our next endeavors are:

 GMO Free Shopping Day! Sept 7, 2013 GMO Free Moms and YOU Moms Across America supporters are the perfect candidates to host a GMO Free Shopping coaching session at your local grocery store! More info on www.gmofreemoms.org. Please post any and all of your events on www.momsacrossamerica.com so your local supporters can find you!

World Food Day  Oct 16, 2013 Moms Across America GMO FREE SCHOOLS Educational Outreach. Gather a group of Moms to hand out flyers at drop off or pick up and educate your entire school about how they can make GMO free lunches! Flyers coming soon. Post your event soon!

RECALL ROUND UP: Date: ASAP- Glyphosate information door hangers to distribute in neighborhoods.

GMO Free DINING : Date: ASAP- Flyers to give to restaurants to encourage them to go GMO Free. Chef Patrick Stark supporting us with great tips!

We are disturbed by the bad news...but the good news is you. 
Moms Across America is an international coalition of unstoppable moms and we have tremendous reach and power because we buy 85% of the food. It's up to us Mommas and our tremendous supporters.
The Good news are our Dads. The good news is our Teens. The good news is our kids, doctors, nurses and politicians who supports this effort. The good news is that we are not alone and we are growing!
We are continually and deeply inspired by the people like you who know this situation is daunting and huge and yet KEEP GOING ANYWAY.
Thank you for being unstoppable!

Zen Honeycutt
Kathleen Hallal and the MAAM Team

P.S. We need your help. We need professionals..a non profit developer, social media gurus, graphic designers, writers, researchers and media support. Please also donate and encourage your favorite organizations to donate and support the Moms who buy 85% of the food to go GMO free and Organic and eliminate toxins from our food supply. Every dollar helps!

Anthony Samsel on the Effects of Glyphosate ( RoundUp) on the immune system, allergies, autism, ADHD, bipolar disorders, behavioral problems, aggression, obesity, liver cirhosis, depression and numerous diseases.

If you have seen Part 1 of the Samsel Interviews or "Samsel on Unsafe Meat and Potatoes" you want to get straight to Part 2. I will be brief, but I do want to presence WHY this information is so urgent for us.

This information leaves us hungry for more, not because it is "good news" but because it makes so much sense. It reveals the connection between so many diseases and illnesses that are affecting our loved ones...our children that we would die for, out fathers that we admire and respect, our mothers that we cherish and our friends that make us laugh so hard we cry. This information gives us access to caring for them.

This information gives us a way to say.."Hey you can get better!" You can tell them we know why now...and we can do something about it.

So, although this can be overwhelming, I ask you to just be present to the love you have for you family members when you watch this and come from that love when you share this information. When you have "bad" news to give someone, it is much easier to digest if it is served with love. And when you are present to that love, you get that YOU are the good news, THEY are the good news, your LOVE is the good news. And together your partnership in eating organic and having new adventures in growing your own food, cooking from scratch, discovering local farmer's markets, connecting with local CSA's or Co-Ops, those connections and the strengthening of our communities and our country is the good news.

Thank you to the brilliant, generous and caring Anthony Samsel for sharing his time and research with us. Thank you to the talented and committed Ryan Wirick for the amazing editing job in finding all the images to assist us in understanding this challenging information. We are forever grateful for your immense contributions to our movement.

Thank you for sharing this with the media, your congress people and with everyone in the world. It is up to us.

With gratitude for your partnership in creating health and freedom,

Zen Honeycutt

If there was ever a time when I wanted to stick my fingers in my ears and go "LA la la la la la la...I can't hear yooooou!!!!"

It was when scientist Anthony Samsel said: "There are some 160 of our foods contaminated with glyphosate."(Listed below)  Samsel is a chemist, retired Arthur D. Little Inventor and co author of the paper :  "Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases."  The Samsel-Seneff paper can be found at the journal-Entropy, ISSN 1099-4300 www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy 

Glyphosate is the active chemical ingredient in Roundup, a registered trademark of Monsanto, the most widely used herbicide in the world. Hundreds of millions of pounds of this chemical are used each year. It is used on parks, school yards and city landscaping. It is sprayed on the soil prior to planting crops that are raised in a no-till non-organicproduction system. It is also used as a desiccant and applied preharvest on a wide number of crops destined for the food chain. Glyphosate based herbicides are sprayed directly GMO plants. GMO plants are genetically engineered to with stand glyphosate herbicide. The animals and the people that eat these crops that have absorbed glyphosate either through the soil or from being repeatedly sprayed with glyphosate are subjected to numerous health concerns.

Glyphosate is designed to kill all plants that it touches except those that are genetically designed to withstand it. It does this by chelating or "tying up " vital nutrients in the plant. It ties up; calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, iron, copper,nickel, cobalt, boron, molybdenum, selenium and potassium and makes them unavailable. Glyphosate also kills good microorganisms in the soil (that would normally protect the plant from disease) and causes a rapid growth of bad organisms that cause disease that kills the weeds. The weed dies because it essentially has a weakened defense system. As one scientist said "It basically gives the plant AIDS, weakens it's immune system".

We are now learning that glyphosate can do the same thing to us. By eating food that contains glyphosate residue we have glyphosate in our bodies. Glyphosate attacks the beneficial microorganisms in our digestive tract and triggers a host of varying health issues for us and our children.  

Thankfully we now have the Samsel and Seneff scientific paper “Glyphosate and Modern Diseases” this 43 page peer reviewed scientific paper shows that glyphosate has "insidious" effects on the American population. Especially our children. .

Here is Anothny Samsel in his own words in an interview with Zen Honeycutt, Moms Across America:

"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

Zen Honeycutt explains the link between GMOs, pesticides and chronic disease in humans: Peril on Your Plate

Mom Zen Honeycutt Explains GMOs and health risks in 6 minutes: Most Recent info on Glyphosate (Roundup sprayed on GMOs) included.

Right to Health Series sponsored by the Shaka Movement in Maui with Zen Honeycutt

New: A Conversation with a Pediatrician, Scientist, and Mom in Australia by Fran Murrell of MADGE, Australia

See their individual 20-30 minute presentations in New Zealand here:

Zen Honeycutt

Dr. Michelle Perro

Dr. Michael Antoniou

For support with allergies go to Robyn's foundation:  AllergyKids.com 

To get Robyn O'Brien's book "The Unhealthy Truth" click here and go to "Writing"

When CNN aired the Oregon GMO Wheat Mystery piece by Stephanie Elam on Monday, June 17, 2013, it was a giant step for Mom-kind. Click here for the CNN clip on "The Situation Room"

The latest information on Glyphosate ( Roundup) which is sprayed on GMO Roundup Ready food- soy, canola, and cotton (cottonseed oil common in restaurant frying oil) from the Samsel and Seneff paper is astounding. 

"We are creating this" are his last words on this video.

By feeding our children 31.5 million GMO school meals a DAY, even more hospital and daycare center meals,  by eating the 160 foods that are contaminated with glyphosate, click here for the list , by eating the 80% of our fast, cheap, easy and tasty food that is GMO and therefore heavily doused in glyphosate and contaminated at levels thousands of times higher than what has been shown to cause breast cancer....we are creating this. Chips, soda,french fries, corn tortillas, candy, snacks, cookies, breakfast cereal...anything with corn, soy, sugar, wheat, high fructose corn syrup and hundreds more ingredients, are 80-90% likely to be contaminated with glyphosate and contributing to this disaster of a health crisis we are experiencing in America. To add insult to injury, the EPA just raised the allowable levels of glyphosate despite thousands of comments against this pandering to big chemical companies. Find out more on our two-part blog interview with scientist Anthony Samsel. Click here.

FOOD and GMO Movies

Our WA MAAM Mom Laurie Olson's List of the TOP GMO Info and health-related movies!

http://www.imdb.com/list/TzteEJZPvWE/?start=1&view=grid&sort=title:asc&defaults=1&lists=TzteEJZPvWE&defaults=1&lists=TzteEJZPvWE&scb=0.4169274503365159

Links to make your grocery shopping simpler:

Fooducate app- detect the probability of GMOs

GMO InGREEDient list 

NNon-GMOshopping guide

Links to make your GMO Free meal planning and cooking easier:

GMO-Free Snack Plan - Preschool, Church, Scouts or Sports

GMO-Free Family Meal Plan

Links to let the nation know that we have a right to know about and freedom to eat GMO Free!

Boycott Kellogg’s 

LabelGMOs.org

FoodDemocracynow.org

Responsibletechnology.org

GMO Trees too? Yes. Find out more:

Dr. David Suzuki in a documentary

Article:

http://naturalsociety.com/gmo-trees-will-destroy-forest-biodiversity-life-earth/

This is an ongoing list. Visit us again for updates.

https://youtu.be/ESY5JxUEX_4