Monsanto's Glyphosate Herbicide, Roundup, and the Epidemic of Symptoms and Disorders: Brave New Researchers Outside the Box

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Mardy Ross's picture
Mardy Ross
Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole
Joined: Feb 16 2009
Posts: 2032
User offline. Last seen 16 weeks 11 hours ago.

Going 'round the Internet, I saw via social media, is an article titled "Is Roundup the Cause of 'Gluten Intolerance'?

I want to right off the bat dissect that statement/question and point out the ever-present tendency that ends up resulting in confusing the issue: 'the'. What if it's a contributing cause, and there are many various causes -- plural -- that have different outcomes for different people because of combination of effects plus genes? As you read what the abstract actually states, it doesn't say it is THE cause, but the major cause. This, to me, is a very important distinction to keep in mind. So let's go on .... this is going to be a topic of benefit to those who are studying due to autism concerns, or chronic illnesses and pain that are the 'overlapping conditions'; gluten intollerance is a symptoms involved in all of these disorders. 

Let's not just point the finger at things that do harm without ALSO considering the things that benefit offsetting. I refer people early on and frequently to our topic at Lumigrate about 'load theory'; look/Search for that to be provided by Dr Marc Spurlock (MD, environmental medicine specialist and expert at Lumigrate beginning in 2009).  As long as we're setting the stage about this topic, I'll also remind here about our YOU model at Lumigrate, and our hope that Lumigrate helps in "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" as our logo says. 

                   

 

 

 
So, as I frequently do with new topics at Lumigrate, I'm going to provide the link to where this is sourced from AND strongly encourage you to go there and read it there as well as other information Mother Earth News might have to help YOU learn more, if it appeals to you as much as it does me. Here's the link:
 
And, knowing that it's going to decrease your odds of reading the information and seeing what a great topic it is .. and therefore what a great resource the site is, I'm providing the content of this specific topic below, with full credit and, as you see, encouragement to visit them.
 
I also am providing information from AlterNet's website, as they did an interview with the secondary author on this, an MIT computer scientist-turning biologist and bringing a new spin to things. I really liked the interview as she clearly demonstrates in how she speaks that she 'gets it' that there are multiple variables interplaying. And she opens up about how difficult it is being 'outside the box' with information you want to have reach people. So, I do my part in 'publishing' it. We simply hope that increasing numbers of people inside the box and outside the box find Lumigrate and other sources that publish this type of information. 

Note: I have bolded certain things that I think apply and would be of interest to Lumigrate YOUsers to make it more streamlined for those with limited time and / or energy, and to help with keywords for further Searching. I have also broken longer paragraphs into shorter for read-ability, as many of our readers have complex, chronic illness which affects the ability to read complex information. Follow link to original source if desired.
Gratefully, ~ Mardy

Is Roundup the Cause of 'Gluten Intolerance'?

A compelling new peer-reviewed report from two U.S. scientists argues that increased use of Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide (trade name Roundup) could be the cause of the epidemic of symptoms labeled as “gluten intolerance.”
 

From the Journal of Interdisciplinary Toxicology 
Feb. 25, 2014

Increased use of Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide (trade name Roundup) could be the cause of the epidemic of  “gluten intolerance”, according to a compelling new peer-reviewed report from two U.S. scientists. Farmers are now using glyphosate not only to control weeds but also to dry down wheat, rice, sugarcane and other crops just before harvest, resulting in higher residues in the foods we eat. The abstract from the paper "Glyphosate, Pathways to Modern Diseases II: Celiac Sprue and Gluten Intolerance" is below.  You can read the full report here and view graphs in the Slideshow connecting increased use of glyphosate with growing rates of celiac incidence, deaths from intestinal infections, acute kidney disease and deaths due to Parkinson’s.    

Abstract:
Celiac disease, and more generally, gluten intolerance, is a growing problem worldwide, but especially in North America and Europe, where an estimated 5 percent of the population now suffers from it. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, skin rashes, macrocytic anemia and depression. It is a multifactorial disease associated with numerous nutritional deficiencies as well as reproductive issues and increased risk to thyroid disease, kidney failure and cancer. Here, we propose that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, is the most important causal factor of this epidemic.

Fish exposed to glyphosate develop digestive problems that are reminiscent of celiac disease. Celiac disease is associated with imbalances of gut bacteria that can be fully explained by the known effects of glyphosate on gut bacteria. Characteristics of celiac disease point to impairment in many cytochrome P450 enzymes, which are involved with detoxifying environmental toxins, activating vitamin D3, catabolizing vitamin A, and maintaining bile acid production and sulfate supplies to the gut. Glyphosate is known to inhibit cytochrome P450 enzymes. Deficiencies in iron, cobalt, molybdenum, copper and other rare metals associated with celiac disease can be attributed to glyphosate’s strong ability to chelate these elements. Deficiencies in tryptophan, tyrosine, methionine, and selenomethionine associated with celiac disease match glyphosate’s known depletion of these amino acids.

Celiac disease patients have an increased risk to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which has been implicated in glyphosate exposure. Glyphosate residues in wheat and other crops are likely increasing recently due to the growing practice of crop desiccation just prior to harvest. We argue that the practice of “ripening” sugar cane with glyphosate may explain the recent surge in kidney failure among agricultural workers in Central America. We conclude with a plea to governments to reconsider policies regarding the safety of glyphosate residues in foods. Click here to read the whole article

 


And from AlterNet: "Meet the Controversial MIT Scientist Who Claims to Have Discovered Cause of Gluten Sensitivity"

 
 
To give you a sampling of what you'll find at the AlterNet article, here's the last portion, with the same additional bolding I did with the Mother Earth article to ease our YOUsers reading. Again, please follow out to the site at the links I provide to these great sources. 

 

 

ALV:You’ve been called an "anti-vaxxer" for your views on autism. Do you believe that vaccines cause autism?

SS: I took on the task of trying to figure out autism six or seven years ago because I got concerned about the rising incidence of autism in our country, which I think is very disturbing. It’s risen alarmingly since then. Now it’s one in 50, which is the latest number, which is very frightening to me. So I was looking at all of the environmental toxins, because there has to be an environmental factor, or a combination of environmental factors.

Aluminum is one that I picked up on quite early. Because aluminum is very toxic, and many of the vaccines contain aluminum. And it’s injected directly in, past all the barriers.

Ordinarily the body is quite good about keeping aluminum out. The gut will absorb very little of what’s in the diet...assuming you have a healthy gut. Glyphosate produces a leaky gut, and that’s going to help the aluminum get in. What I believe now is that the aluminum in the vaccine is far more toxic as a consequence of the glyphosate that’s also in the blood. The two of them are synergistic, because the glyphosate forms a cage around the aluminum and keeps it from getting expelled. The aluminum ends up accumulating, getting trapped with the glyphosate, and then the aluminum ends up in the pineal gland, and messes up sleep, and causes a whole cascade of problems in the brain. The glyphosate and aluminum are working together to be much more toxic than they would be, acting alone.

So yes, I do believe that aluminum in vaccines is a contributing factor in autism.

ALV:How does glyphosate create this cage around aluminum?

SS: Glyphosate cages all kinds of things. One of the things it does in the gut that’s bad is it cages all the minerals, like iron and manganese and even sulfur, so it prevents the gut bacteria from gaining access to really important micronutrients, even things like molybdenum which we only need in small amounts, but if there isn’t any we’re in trouble, because certain enzymes critically depend on these minerals. Glyphosate builds a cage around them and it builds a cage around aluminum as well. There’s a nice paper on that with beautiful pictures of glyphosate caging aluminum.

ALV: The journals you’ve been writing for, such as Entropy and more recently Interdisciplinary Toxicology, have been labeled by your critics as “pay to play" journals with “zero impact factor.”

SS: I will agree with them that the impact factor of these journals is low. I am very excited about the opportunity for someone like myself to be able to publish at all. Because I am, as you know, a Johnny-come-lately to the field. People don’t view me as an expert on biology. It’s a new career for me. That’s one of the problems. Another problem is that I’m writing things that the main journals don’t want to publish, so I think there’s an uphill battle.

 

......from me, MR, I hear ya, and Lumigrate has been here for five years now, since March 2009, providing information for our YOUsers who find us a valuable source of information. It was a new career for me to create a website-based platform for promoting health education. I'd had two years experience in old fashioned health education at a major US university between my eight years working in research (air quality) research administration 'liaison' work, and returning to complete a B.S. in occupational therapy. 


I highly recommend going to see the 150+ page PDF of SS's page of all her presentations and things she provides to share with others. It is from spring of 2014 -- very current as of the time of this writing in mid June. The one about glyphosate (and aluminum). This is some of the highlight from the end:

How You Can Protect Yourself and Your Family

  • Go organic
  • Eat foods high in sulfur
  • Eat foods high in manganese
  • Hang out in the water in the seashore
  • Escape to a sunny place in winter
  • Epsom salts - magnesium sulfate in hot bath water is a cheap and easy way to get sulfate supply to the skin. 
  • Infrared heat is also beneficial. 
  • Take off sunglasses and look at the sky. 
  • Don't get flu shots, get exposure from Roundup/glycophate, wear sunglasses, consume high fructose corn syrup, use sunscreen, 
Summary
 
The autism epidemic is caused by:
  • Glyphosate working synergistically with aluminum and mercury, with insufficient sun exposure to the skin and eyes
  • Diet depleted in micronutrients: vitamins and minerals
Glyphosate's chelation of metals is a core component of its toxicity
  •  Disrupted gut bacteria leads to brain pathology
  •  Aluminum, mercury and manganese can account for many aspects of autism
  •  Pineal gland plays an important role in brain function
  • Autism may be treatable through organic diet enriched in sulfur and manganese, along with abundant sun exposure. 

 

 


We're in this together -- I hope everyone involved will be pleased to see the number of reads which will show for this topic. THANK YOU for going professionally outside of the box and providing this research. Thanks to Mother Earth News and AlterNet and others who also went out at one point into the new frontier to meet the demand for this kind of information, OR provide it because it was the right thing to do and it seemed the demand would follow. Gratefully ! Mardy


 

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

Mardy Ross's picture
Mardy Ross
Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole
Joined: Feb 16 2009
Posts: 2032
User offline. Last seen 16 weeks 11 hours ago.
Monsanto-owned food companies/brands in a printable list form

I think there's a lot of good information at TrueActivist dot com in general, and since they produced a nifty printable list that people can use as an easy resource when going shopping or making our their list as they go through what's in the pantry and upgrade what they're purchasing and consuming (or feeding their family and other loved ones)(human an non), I wanted to add onto this topic with the following link: 

 www.trueactivist.com/printable-list-of-monsanto-owned-food-producers/

I hope our YOUsers find this a helpful tool. Remember, YOU're in control of a LOT, as our model shows:       Think of YOU! and the things you buy surrounding YOU, too, similar to providers/experts.  

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

Mardy Ross's picture
Mardy Ross
Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole
Joined: Feb 16 2009
Posts: 2032
User offline. Last seen 16 weeks 11 hours ago.
The Healthy Home Economist's Article on Wheat Production & Gly.

I was pleased to see Erik Johnson share this on Facebook -- he's well known in 'mold circles' for his having been one of the people caught in 'The Lake Tahoe Epidemic' of fatigue and becoming chronically ill.  I'm adding it here and encourage you to go and read the article. It describes more about the conventional wheat producer's use of glyphosate on the wheat crop, so as to make it more understandable to us how it is getting onto/into the wheat that ends up being used in a commercially available product.   

www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/real-reason-for-toxic-wheat-its-not-gluten/

Here's the last portion of the article:

 

How to Eat Wheat Safely

One way to avoid the problem is to do what we do in our home. We only source organic, preferably low gluten, unhybridized Einkorn wheat for breadmaking, pancakes, cookies etc.  But, when we eat out or are purchasing food from the store, conventional wheat products are rejected without exception.  This despite the fact that we have no gluten allergies whatsoever in our home – yet.

I am firmly convinced that if we did nothing, our entire family at some point would develop sensitivity to wheat or autoimmune disease in some form due to the toxic manner in which it is processed and the glyphosate residues that are contained in conventional wheat products.

What Are You Going to Do About Toxic Wheat?

How did you react to the news that US wheat farmers are using Roundup, not just to kill weeds, but to shrivel and kill the wheat plants themselves simply to make their harvest process go more smoothly with fewer farm equipment maintenance issues?

Did you feel outraged and violated like I did? How will you implement a conventional wheat-avoidance strategy going forward even if you haven’t yet developed a problem with gluten or wheat sensitivity?

What about other crops where Roundup is used as a pre-harvest dessicant such as barley, sugar cane, rice, seeds, dried beans and peas, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, and sugar beets?  Will you only be buying these crops in organic form from now on to avoid this modern, man-made scourge?

Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist

- See more at: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/real-reason-for-toxic...

 

 

Remember, other countries in the world do not use the same agricultural practices. When it comes to wine, beer, spirits, teas, coffees, and foods that people consume (including herbs and spices), there is much about the farming and production practices that can be taken into consideration.  

In addition to what you do at home, talk with your favorite restaurants (particularly if they're locally owned and operated) about this subject -- help educate them and let them know that there are increasing numbers of people learning about this information every day.  

I've done this with select businesses where I thought the owners were open minded, and when they're trying to compete in difficult times, it's in their best interests to hear from those who perhaps are not eating there because they use American-produced, conventional wheat and not safe-to-consume wheat. I used to suggest gluten free and now they all know about that ... but they don't all know about this aspect.  Maybe there's a way to have your wheat and eat it too -- and NOT have it affect your wellness negatively. (For some at least.) Remember the concept of the continuum from what's the worst possible to the ideal, and sometimes you do well to be doing something 'relatively good' rather than 'worst possible'.  When you impact a business that serves the community, then the whole community indirection has their awareness level raised. From there maybe more will become education by learning on the Internet or from others, leading to the growing amount of pressure being put upon the industry in various forms.

Remember to vote in elections, but also vote with your dollars and choices -- it's very impactful with businesses AND your health will benefit from it. 

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better ~ Mardy

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

Mardy Ross's picture
Mardy Ross
Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole
Joined: Feb 16 2009
Posts: 2032
User offline. Last seen 16 weeks 11 hours ago.
US DOE's Science.org: Bacteria Converts Mercury to Toxic Form

Credit where credit is due on this find from a member of the Facebook group related to the protocol and findings and images of Steve Beddingfield, which has much to do with cyanobacteria and the water (and also soil and air).  Here's the link, and as is a usual format for me, I'll provide a chunk (and sometimes the entirity) of a topic so that people can see why I suggest they take the link in their study time and spend the energy to go and learn what is at the topic ... and ultimately often discover another website resource for further study.   

 

science.energy.gov/ber/highlights/2013/ber-2013-04-c/


 April 2013

Scientists Discover how Bacteria Convert Mercury to Toxic Form

Two genes responsible for mercury methylation identified.

The Science

Methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin produced in natural environments from inorganic mercury by anaerobic bacteria, but until now, the genes and proteins involved have remained unidentified.

The Impact

A team of scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and collaborators from the Universities of Missouri and Tennessee have identified a two-gene cluster required for mercury methylation.

Summary

For two strains of bacteria (Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132 and Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA), deletion of one or both genes eliminated the bacteria’s ability to methylate mercury. Among bacteria and archaea with sequenced genomes, related genes (orthologs) are present in confirmed methylators but absent in non-methylators, suggesting a common mercury methylation pathway in all methylating bacteria and archaea sequenced to date.

Contact

L. Liang
Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, TN 37831
liangl@ornl.gov

Funding

Supported by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research within the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science

Publications

Parks, J.M. et al. “The genetic basis for bacterial mercury methylation.” Science 339,1332–1335 (2013). [DOI: 10.1126/science.1230667].

Related Links --- Microbes, Mercury and Risk: Oak Ridge researchers unlock a genetic key to mercury contamination of the food chain...... Suggestion reminder from Mardy -- go to the link and their website and keep learning if this is something of value to where YOU are at with your research / learning!

So here's THAT Link. I wanted to learn MORE from THIS SOURCE. Below's an excerpt:

Microbes, Mercury, and Risk: Oak Ridge researchers unlock a genetic key to mercury contamination of the food chain.


Certain microbes living in rivers, lakes, and oceans take a form of mercury—ultimately derived from burning coal from power plants, erupting volcanoes, and other environmental sources, and absorbed into the water—and convert it into a highly toxic substance called methylmercury (CH3Hg+). It is this methylmercury that is consumed by fish and shellfish all over the world. Not only is this methylmercury a particularly nasty toxin; it is also "bioaccumulative," meaning that it accumulates in the body and works its way up the food chain, as fish ingest other fish that have ingested methylmercury in turn. (For that reason, the oldest and biggest fish—such as albacore tuna and shark, for example—also tend to have the highest methylmercury levels.)

All that has been known for quite a while. But only lately have we begun to understand the mechanism by which this microbial production occurs. A research team led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has recently achieved major new insights into the mechanism of microbial "mercury methylation" by identifying two key genes in microbes that are responsible for this process. The discovery, which cracks a mystery that scientists have pursued for more than 40 years, could open the way to potential advances in both detection and remediation of environmental mercury contamination. The work also illustrates how the new tools and methods of contemporary "systems biology" are enabling researchers to penetrate biological mysteries that have eluded previous generations of investigators. The research, which also included collaborators from the University of Tennessee and the University of Missouri, was recently published in the journal Science.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has a special interest in mercury, dating from the Cold War years. In the 1950s and 1960s, the laboratory's neighboring Y-12 nuclear plant, another DOE facility, used large quantities of mercury for the enrichment of lithium in the production of hydrogen bombs. Tons of that mercury were lost or unaccounted for, and mercury contamination at the Oak Ridge site consequently remains an issue. For example, the East Fork Poplar Creek, which originates within the Y-12 Site, has been declared a mercury hazard since 1982.

Partly for this reason, DOE's Office of Science (SC) has invested substantially in research at Oak Ridge aimed specifically at basic science designed to advance the understanding of mercury's properties and behavior in contaminated environments. 
.... and it goes on, so again, the link's above if you wish to go see the whole topic about the food chain and their research about this IMPORTANT aspect of our Earth's wellness/illness that relates to YOU (and me, and everything). 
 

Live and learn. Learn and live better! ~ Mardy

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

This forum is provided to allow members of Lumigrate to share information and ideas. Any recommendations made by forum members regarding medical treatments, medications, or procedures are not endorsed by Lumigrate or practitioners who serve as Lumigrate's medical experts.

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