Is Glyphosate – Think Roundup® – On Your Dinner Plate?

By Catherine J Frompovich

As we sit down to eat dinner, do we ever think of what’s in our food besides vitamins, minerals, enzymes, protein, roughage and calories?  Very few of us, I’d imagine, are aware of the fact that more than we know, not only lurks in most of the food chain, but also in us who eat food.  It’s almost as if some ‘beastie’ from the great dark foreboding beyond contaminated just about everything we eat resulting from ‘altruistic’ corporate interests disguised as supposedly saving humankind from starvation by increasing crop output.  That ‘beastie’ is genetically modified ‘phood’.

The supposed magic ‘elixir’ in genetically modified food agriculture is a Class 2A carcinogen [1], glyphosate.  That ‘genie in the bottle’ is marketed under various trade names, but more commonly known as Monsanto’s Roundup®, including crop seeds called “Roundup-Ready®.”

Roundup Ready Crops (RR Crops) are genetically engineered crops that have had their DNA altered to allow them to withstand the herbicide glyphosate (the active ingredient of Monsanto‘s herbicide Roundup). [2]

Widget not in any sidebars

There are three ways to GMO crops: Transgenic, Cisgenic and Intragenesis.  A transgene is a gene that comes from a non-crossable species (e.g., fish gene spliced into a tomato—something that can’t happen in Nature) or it can be a synthetic gene!  Cisgenesis involves splicing genes from the same species or a ‘close relative organism’.  Intragenesis is the transfer of genes between crossable species; intragenes are hybrid genes. [3]

Photo courtesy of datuopinion.com

Graphic Source: https://www.good.is/articles/transgenic-vs-cisgenic-gmo

Monsanto’s genetic modification makes crops glyphosate-resistant to the point where farmers must use Roundup® with Roundup Ready® seeds by signed legal agreements!  That allows farmer to inordinately spray with glyphosate; those crops do not die, but weeds die off or become “super weeds.”  Super weeds are a growing problem in USA agriculture.

However, earlier in November of 2016, the U.S. EPA approved Monsanto’s ‘less volatile’ dicamba-based herbicide XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology [4].  This article https://www.rt.com/usa/366812-epa-monsanto-dicamba-herbicide/ needs to be read in order to understand what’s really involved in all the toxins now being allowed to be sprayed legally onto growing crops and, consequently, becoming unwelcome toxic constituents in food, which can cause all sorts of digestive, gastrointestinal and microbiome problems when ingested by humans and animals.

Additionally, the FDA suspended testing of food for glyphosate residues! [5]

According to EcoWatch,

The FDA work detail calls for the examination of roughly 1,340 food samples, 82 percent domestic and 18 percent imported. The foods are to be collected from warehouse and retail stores only and are to include a variety of cereal grains, vegetables and non-flavored, whole milk and eggs. Documents obtained from the agency through the Freedom of Information Act show the agency has been testing corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, sugar beets, rice and even samples of yellow popcorn and “organic white popcorn.”

McSeveney said glyphosate residues were only being analyzed for soy, corn, milk, eggs and popcorn, while the other foods are being tested for residues of other herbicides.

The REAL Truth About Your Fruits and Veggies (Ad)

Earlier this year, one of the agency’s senior chemists analyzed glyphosate residues in honey and oatmeal and reported his results to the agency. Some honey samples contained residue levels well over the limit allowed in the European Union. The U.S. has no legal tolerance for glyphosate in honey, though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said recently it may set one because of the FDA findings. However, according to McSeveney, the results for honey and oatmeal are not considered to be a part of the official assignment.

[….]

Getting solid data on glyphosate’s presence in the American food supply is more important than ever as the EPA finalizes a risk assessment for glyphosate and tries to determine if any limits should be put on the future use of the herbicide. The FDA work covers only a few foods, but is a long-needed, good first step. Consumers can only hope the testing resumes soon. [6]

So, asking if glyphosate is on your dinner plate should be a question on everyone’s lips.  Glyphosate is not safe, is highly toxic and is used like water in the growing fields!  Over 300 million pounds of glyphosate are used a year in USA growing fields.  Seventy-five percent of rainwater tested had glyphosate, as it evaporates in the air and becomes part of the hydrological cycle.

Food Democracy Now prepared the report “Glyphosate: Unsafe On Any Plate” found alarming levels of glyphosate in

General Mills’ Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Raisin Bran and Frosted Flakes and PepsiCo’s Doritos Cool Ranch, Ritz Crackers and Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita Chips, as well as many other products. [7]

If readers access the Food Testing Results chart, you can find 29 pages of processed, packaged supermarket brand foods listed with the parts per billion of glyphosate found in them.

Here are some example findings:

General Mills Cheerios—1125.300 ppb glyphosate

Whole Foods 365 Organic Golden Cracker Rounds—119.120 ppb

Nabisco Ritz—270.240 ppb

Back to Nature Crispy Cheddar Crackers 327.220 ppb

Dave Murphy, Founder and Executive Director of Food Democracy Now, says the FDA is not considering the new science with regard to herbicides and food.  Murphy further contends that “modern science is a new religion or a cult.”

Here’s something I bet you didn’t know.   Two studies, one by the U.S. EPA and the other done in the European Union, indicate that glyphosate is absorbed into bones, according to Murphy.   In rat studies,

Approximately 5% of the dose was found in bone and 6% in the carcass, with 1% or less of the dose distributed to abdominal fat, blood, colon, kidney, liver, and stomach. [8]

If that be the case that glyphosate may be found in bones of animals raised for food who are fed GMO corn, soy and alfalfa, I have to question the current trend of making “bone broth” or “bone soup.”

One more reason for buying, cooking and eating organically-grown food, I’d say.

Glyphosate is an endocrine disruptor that adversely affects hormones.  It also robs nutrients due to its chelating capabilities.  There are three patents for glyphosate:

The first patent was granted to Stauffer Chemical in 1964 for use as drain cleaner.

The second patent was granted to Monsanto as a weed killer in 1974.

The third patent was granted in 2010 as an anti-microbial or antibiotic to kill certain protozoa in soil. [9]

If you, or anyone you know, are experiencing problems with digestion, eating, nausea, or any of the gastrointestinal diseases, you may want to look into changing your diet; eating organically-grown food, which should not be sprayed with glyphosate; and seeking out a medical doctor who can guide you in detoxification protocols best suited to your specific needs depending upon what your blood tests indicate.

Food—especially genetically modified ‘phood’—may be what’s eating you!  I discuss GMOs in length and how food works physiologically as medicine in the body—Nature’s edict, not mine—in my 2016 book Eat to Beat Disease, Foods Medicinal Qualities, available on Amazon.com.

One chapter, in particular, that ought to be of great interest is titled “What Goes In Must Come Out: a necessary discussion about poop.”  You’d be surprised what the digested food we eat can indicate about bodily processes as it exits the body.

As Hippocrates, the “Father of Modern Medicine,” said so long ago, “Let food by thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”  He didn’t say anything about glyphosate or chemicals, did he?

References:

[1] http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol112/mono112-09.pdf , Pg. 78, 6.3 Overall Evaluation

[2] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Roundup_Ready_Crops

[3] http://www.slideshare.net/HudaNazeer/transgenesis-intragenesis-cisgenesis

[4] https://www.rt.com/usa/366812-epa-monsanto-dicamba-herbicide/

[5] http://www.ecowatch.com/fda-suspends-glyphosate-testing-2089751612.html

[6] http://www.ecowatch.com/fda-suspends-glyphosate-testing-2089751612.html

[7] http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/blog/2016/nov/14

[8] Brewster, D. W.; Warren, J.; Hopkins, W. E. I. Metabolism of glyphosate in Sprague-Dawley rats: Tissue distribution, identification, and quantification of glyphosate-derived materials following a single oral dose. Fund. Appl. Toxicol. 1991, 17, 43-51.

[9] Dave Murphy, Nov. 19, 2016 “What’s Eating What?” Radio Show No. 1081 Glyphosate in Food

http://metrofarm.com/michael-olson/glyphosate-in-food/

Resources:

Food Democracy Now

http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/blog

Glyphosate Technical Fact Sheet

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/archive/glyphotech.html

Also see: Monsanto’s Weedkiller Contaminates Most Popular Foods

Image made by Natural Blaze, pixabay