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Glyphosate, weed killers and cancer

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Glyphosate is the world’s most widely produced herbicide and is the primary toxic chemical in Roundup™, as well as in many other herbicides. In addition, it is a broad-spectrum herbicide that is used in more than 700 different products from agriculture and forestry to home use.

Exposure to glyphosate has been linked to autism, Alzheimer’s, anxiety, cancer, depression, fatigue, gluten sensitivity, inflammation, and Parkinson’s Disease.

White Wash – The story of a weed killer, cancer and the corruption of science by Carey Gillam is a book that has researched the wide reaching health implications of glyphosate and how governments support business rather than the health of the people.

Glyphosate has been found not only on the foods you eat – fruit, vegetables, meats, chicken, eggs, fish but also in anti-bacterial soaps, toothpaste, honey, baby food, tobacco, tea and the list goes on.

Glyphosate has been shown to interfere with the gut lining resulting in leaky gut which, in turn, has been linked to a leaky Blood-Brain-Barrier (BBB).  The BBB surrounds our brains and when this becomes faulty, toxins make their way into our brains causing all sorts of problems, including mental health issues.

If ever there was a reason to eat unsprayed and organic produce, Glyphosate ranks highest.

Here’s the research:

Glyphosate is the world’s most widely produced herbicide and is the primary toxic chemical in Roundup™, as well as in many other herbicides.

In addition, it is a broad-spectrum herbicide that is used in more than 700 different products from agriculture and forestry to home use. Glyphosate was introduced in the 1970s to kill weeds by targeting the enzymes that produce the amino acids tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine.

This pathway (called the Shikimate Pathway) is also how bacteria, algae, and fungi produce the same amino acids. This pathway is not present in humans, so manufacturers of glyphosate claim this compound is “non-toxic” to humans. However, evidence shows there are indeed human consequences to the widespread use of this product when we consume plants that have been treated with it and animals who’ve also consumed food treated with it.

Glyphosate and Chronic Health Conditions

Recent studies have discovered glyphosate exposure to be a cause of many chronic health problems. One specific scientific paper listed Roundup™ as one of the most toxic herbicides or insecticides tested.2 Exposure to glyphosate has been linked to autism, Alzheimer’s, anxiety, cancer, depression, fatigue, gluten sensitivity, inflammation, and Parkinson’s.3-4 A 54-year-old man who accidentally sprayed himself with glyphosate developed disseminated skin lesions six hours after the accident.6 One month later, he developed a symmetrical parkinsonian syndrome. There is a correlation between glyphosate usage and rates of autism, tracking services received by autistic children under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This data was originally collected by Dr. Nancy Swanson, along with similar data for many other chronic disorders.14 The causes for these disorders have been linked to glyphosate’s impact on gut bacteria, metal chelation, and P450 inactivation.5-6  It can enter the body by direct absorption through the skin, by eating foods treated with glyphosate, or by drinking water contaminated with glyphosate. A recent study stated that a coherent body of evidence indicates that glyphosate could be toxic below the regulatory lowest observed adverse effect level for chronic toxic effects, and that it has teratogenic (miscarriage, birth defects), tumorigenic (cancer) and hepato-renal (liver-kidney) effects that can be explained by endocrine disruption and oxidative stress, causing metabolic alterations, depending on dose and exposure time.7

Glyphosate, Cancer, and the Microbiome

The World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer published a summary in March 2015 that classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen in humans.8 Possible cancers linked to glyphosate exposure include non- Hodgkin lymphoma, renal tubule carcinoma, pancreatic islet-cell adenoma, and skin tumors. Studies have also indicated that glyphosate disrupts the microbiome in the intestine, causing a decrease in the ratio of beneficial to harmful bacteria.9 Thus, highly pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella entritidis, Salmonella gallinarum, Salmonella typhimurium, Clostridium perfringens, and Clostridium botulinum are highly resistant to glyphosate, but most beneficial bacteria such as Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Bacillus badius, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, and Lactobacillus spp. were found to be moderately to highly susceptible. The relationship between the microbiome of the intestine and overall human health is still unclear, but current research indicates that disruption of the microbiome could cause diseases such as metabolic disorder, diabetes, depression, autism, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune disease.

Glyphosate and Chelation

Another study found that glyphosate accumulated in bones. Considering the strong chelating ability of glyphosate for calcium, accumulation in bones is not surprising. Other results showed that glyphosate is detectable in intestine, liver, muscle, spleen and kidney tissue. 5 The chelating ability of glyphosate also extends to toxic metals.10 The high incidence of kidney disease of unknown etiology (renal tubular nephropathy) has reached epidemic proportions among young male farm workers in sub-regions of the Pacific coasts of the Central American countries of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, India, and Sri Lanka.11 The researchers propose that glyphosate forms stable chelates with a variety of toxic metals that are then ingested in the food and water or, in the case of rice paddy workers, may be absorbed through the skin. These glyphosate-heavy metal chelates reach the kidney where the toxic metals damage the kidney. These authors also propose that these chelates accumulate in hard water and clay soils and persist for years, compared to much shorter periods of persistence for non-chelated glyphosate. Furthermore, these chelates may not be detected by common analytical chemistry methods that only detect free glyphosate, thus dramatically reducing estimates of glyphosate persistence in the environment when metals are high (for example, in clay soil or hard water).

Testing for Glyphosate

Because glyphosate has been linked with many chronic  health conditions, testing for glyphosate exposure and particularly the level of exposure is important. True  Medicine recommends The Great Plains Laboratory’s Glyphosate Test which is performed on a urine sample.

As previously mentioned, glyphosate works by inhibiting the synthesis of tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine in plants. Humans need to obtain these amino acids from food sources. When food sources have scarce amounts of these amino acids due to glyphosate use, humans are at risk for deficiency too.  These amino acids are particularly implicated in mental health. Humans also require bacteria to maintain a healthy immune system. Research indicates that glyphosate decreases the amount of good bacteria in the gut such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli and allows for the overgrowth of harmful bacteria such as campylobacter and C. difficile.12

Summary

High correlations exist between glyphosate usage and numerous chronic illnesses, including autism14. Other disease incidences with high correlations include hypertension, stroke, diabetes, obesity, lipoprotein metabolism disorder, Alzheimer’s, senile dementia, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal infections, end stage renal disease, acute kidney failure, cancers of the thyroid, liver, bladder, pancreas, kidney, and myeloid leukemia.14 Correlations are not causations, yet they raise concern over the use of a chemical to which all life on earth appears to be exposed.

For a complete health analysis, functional pathology testing and clinical detoxification contact True Medicine on 07 5530 1863.

References:

  1. Bradberry SM, Proudfoot AT, Vale JA. Glyphosate poisoning. Toxicol Rev. 2004;23(3):159-67.
  2. Mesnage R et al. Major pesticides are more toxic to human cells than their declared active principles. Biomed Res Int. 2014: 179691
  3. Samsel A, Seneff S. Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance. Interdiscip Toxicol. 2013;6:159-184.
  4. Samsel A, Seneff S. Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases III: Manganese, neurological diseases, and associated pathologies. Surg Neurol Int. 2015; 6: 45.
  5. Krüger M, Schledorn P, Schrödl W, Hoppe HW, Lutz W, Shehata AA. Detection of Glyphosate Residues in Animals and Humans. J Environ Anal Toxicol. 2014. 4:2 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161- 0525.1000210
  6. Barbosa ER, Leiros da Costa MD, Bacheschi LA, Scaff M, Leite CC. Parkinsonism after glycine-derivative exposure. Mov Disord. 2001. 16: 565-568.
  7. Mesnage R, Defarge N, Spiroux de Vendômois J, Séralini GE. Potential toxic effects of glyphosate and its commercial formulations below regulatory limits. Food Chem Toxicol. 2015 Oct;84:133-53.
  8. Guyton KZ, Loomis D, Grosse Y et al. Carcinogenicity of tetrachlorvinphos, parathion, malathion, diazinon, and glyphosate. Lancet Oncol. 2015 May;16(5):490-1
  9. Shehata AA, Schrödl W, Aldin AA, Hafez HM, Krüger M. The effect of glyphosate on potential pathogens and beneficial members of poultry microbiota in vitro. Curr Microbiol. 2013 Apr;66(4):350-8.
  10. Jayasumana C, Gunatilake S, Siribaddana S. Simultaneous exposure to multiple heavy metals and glyphosate may contribute to Sri Lankan agricultural nephropathy. BMC Nephrology 2015;16:103. doi 10.1186/s12882-015-0109-2
  11. Jayasumana C, Gunatilake S, Senanayake P. Glyphosate, hard water and nephrotoxic metals: Are they the culprits behind the epidemic of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Sri Lanka? Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2014;11:2125-2147.
  12. Clair E et al. Effects of Roundup® and glyphosate on three food microorganisms: Geotrichum candidum, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus. Curr Microbiol. 2012;64: 486-491.
  13. DeWolf WE Jr. Inactivation of dopamine beta-hydroxylase by p-cresol: isolation and characterization of covalently modified active site peptides. Biochemistry. 1988;27: 9093-9101.
  14. Swanson NL, Leu A, Abrahamson J, and Wallet B. Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America. Journal of Organic Systems. 2014; 9(2):6- 37.
  15. Environmental Protection Agency. Pesticides Industry Sales & Usage. 2006 and 2007 Market Estimates. Available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-10/documents/market_ estimates2007.pdf. Accessed July 15, 2015.
  16. Shehata AA et al. The effect of glyphosate on potential pathogens and beneficial members of poultry microbiota in vitro. Curr. Microbiol. 2013;66: 350-358.
  17. Larsen K et al. Effects of sublethal exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide formulation on metabolic activities of different xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes in rats. Int J Toxicol. 2014;33: 307-318.