
None of us like weeds. We all hate when they take over our lawn, our gardens and invade the cracks in the cement of our driveways. Most of us can attest that RoundUp is a miracle weed killer. I mean the stuff really works (yes I’ve used it too). It’s easy for us to make excuses like, “It can’t be that bad for me.” “It’s just a weed killer.” Years ago when I was just becoming aware of the benefits of eating organic locally raised fruits and vegetables my family and I visited a local farm. I struck up a conversation with the owner and asked if he was certified organic? He said that they weren’t yet, and that it was a long process but that they would eventually be. He then proceeded to tell me that the only thing he used on his crops was RoundUp. I was a bit shocked and asked him if that was safe. He assured me that it was completely safe and had no adverse effect on the plants or the food they produced. I remember being somewhat suspicious but took his word for it and bought some fruits and vegetables anyway.

As time has passed I’ve continued to educate myself about how our food is produced and which types of foods are best for our health. There has been a lot of debate over the years about whether or not organic fruits and vegetables are any better than those grown non-organically. There has also been a lot of talk over the last few years about genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) vs. non-GMO’s. Europe has banned them completely, however in the United States we continue to use them and are told they are completely safe to use and pose no harm to our health.

I recently listened to a podcast by Dave Asprey, who interviewed a retired professor of Plant Pathology from Purdue University by the name of Dr. Don Huber. He serves as the APS coordinator for the emergent disease and pathogens committee as part of the USDA and has spent over half a decade looking at plant diseases focusing on soil-borne problems, microbial ecology and host-parasite relationships.

What he had to say was at the same time informative and absolutely horrifying. I certainly learned some things that I’d never heard of before, that have a direct correlation to some of the common health complaints of many patients I’ve seen over the years.

Round Up, otherwise known as glyphosate, was developed by Jim Chang in San Francisco for the Stauffer Chemical Company. It was patented in 1964 as a powerful mineral chelator. At first it was used to clean out boilers because it was effective at pulling the scaly build-up of various chemicals that developed inside. In 1974 Monsanto discovered that it could be used as a broad spectrum herbicide and began selling it to farmers and homeowners as an effective weed killer. It became a very popular herbicide due to its ability to kill every weed imaginable. Farmer’s had to be careful and selective on how it was applied, otherwise it would also kill their crops. To combat this problem, Monsanto came up with GMO seeds and plants that could resist glyphosate. Today Monsanto controls 80% of the genetically modified (GM) corn market and 93% of the GM soy market. Worldwide 282 million acres are planted in Monsanto’s GM crops, up from 3 million in 1996. Forty percent of U.S. cropland, or 151.4 million acres, are planted in Monsanto’s crops. Monsanto owns 1,676 seed, plant and other applicable patents.<sub>[1](https://www.organicconsumers.org/essays/us-and-monsanto-dominate-global-market-gm-seeds)</sub>

So, what’s the big deal? Well, it seems we have put our health, our crops, our livestock and our future at huge risk as a result of this “modern convenience”.

Let’s discuss the ill effects this chemical has on our health. According to Dr. Huber the ingestion of glyphosate has a detrimental effect on our digestive system, our immune system, our skeletal system, our nervous system and our reproductive system. According to Dr. Huber, because glyphosate is such a powerful mineral chelator, it alters the state of a wide range of minerals. This renders these minerals useless in the enzymatic process, blocking their essential function in both plants and animals.

Again, minerals are essential in all enzymatic processes of the body, and these enzymatic processes are vital for life. By blocking certain minerals from being used, particular enzymatic processes that don’t work, which then inhibits many bodily systems that require enzymes to run efficiently.

It was also discovered that glyphosate acts as a broad spectrum antibiotic. Most of us are aware that through the overuse of antibiotics we have created resistant strains of bacteria, but even with this knowledge we continue spraying approximately 300 million tons of antibiotics on our crops per year. These antibiotics are getting into our bodies through the ingestion of these crops and are wreaking havoc on our systems.

One problem is the antibiotic properties of glyphosate kill the “good” bacteria, such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and allow the “bad” bacteria to flourish, creating dysbiosis in our digestive systems. The types of bacteria that are able to survive and flourish are; the clostridial species like Clostridium difficile, Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium botulinum, Escherichia coli, Dysteria and Salmonella. Clostridium difficile causes diarrhea, Clostridium botulinum is seen in chronic fatigue syndrome, and Clostridium perfringens causes leaky gut. We’re all familiar with E. coli, Salmonella, and Dysteria. If you aren’t, trust me they don’t make nice things happen to your body. It takes 1/10th of a part per million to disrupt Lactobacilli, Bifidobacterium and other beneficial bacteria yet the EPA allows 30 parts per million in our grains and up to 400 parts per million in other foods.

Neuro compounds essential for proper function such as melatonin and serotonin are manufactured in our guts from the amino acids tryptophan, tyrosine or phenylalanine. When you disrupt the natural balance of bacteria in the gut, these amino acids can’t be synthesized leading to disruption of neuro compounds. “We rely on gut microbes to produce these compounds. When you take these organisms out, which glyphosate does, you deprive the body of that neurological function.”<sub>[2](https://www.bulletproofexec.com/don-huber-318/)</sub>

One of the most important antioxidants in the body is glutathione. It is synthesized by combining three amino acids; cysteine, glycine and glutamine. Glyphosate acts as a glycine analog and has the ability to disrupt the structural composition of glycine by replacing the normal amino acid with a synthetic one. This fake amino acid does not work the way it should and therefore inhibits the ability of the body to produce glutathione, thus disrupting the immune system and leading to auto-immune system diseases.

According to research done by Dr. Nancy Swanson and Andrew Loo, CDC data was observed and correlated with the rise of 22 diseases. There is a strong, undeniable correlation between increased use of glyphosate and the rise in these diseases. Diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, Parkinson’s, auto-immune diseases, gastrointestinal diseases and cancer. In addition, Monsanto is currently involved in lawsuits for Non-Hodgkins Leukemia, in which there is a strong scientific link to exposure to glyphosate.

Infertility rates are also on the rise with links to the damaging effects of glyphosate on our endocrine (hormonal) system. When you interfere with the natural defense mechanism of plants by altering their normal mineral enzymatic pathways and you kill the bacteria both in the plant and the soil in which they grow, setting the stage for fungi to take over. These fungi produce what are called mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are very disruptive to our neurological cells and endocrine hormones. These toxins get in to the root systems of the plants, and according to research by Andreas Tideman, it’s not even safe to use this straw for bedding for pigs and cattle because it is causing decreases in fertility. These molds also produce toxins that are known as xenoestrogens. Xenoestrogens are chemicals that mimic estrogen in the body. Not only are these poisons founds in our food supply but they are in our drinking water as well.

So, what can we do? The good news is we can take action through our food choices that can have a dramatic effect on restoring health. Also, there are natural supplements that can help remove the build- up of these harmful toxins. First and foremost, stop using RoundUp at your home. Secondly, buy only organic fruits and vegetables, as well as organic grass fed beef, organic free range chicken and wild caught fish. Lastly, it may be beneficial to look into a home filtration system to insure that you are using clean, pesticide free water for drinking, cooking and bathing.

Dave Asprey and his wife weren’t able to conceive when first married. Dave and his wife decided to remove all GMO’s and pesticides from their diet and were finally able to have children.

However, large companies such as Monsanto control a large amount of the food that is grown and eaten in this country. They have a lot of power and money to use through lobbying, etc. to keep their business going. The best way to make changes that will provide us with organic food is to support those who grow and provide organic food. If more and more people demand non-GMO and organic food then more and more farmers and ranchers will find it economically beneficial to provide these foods.

So, educate yourself and become aware of the food you buy and eat. Read the labels, read books on the subject, listen to podcasts such as the one by Dave Asprey that inspired this article.

Remember health is a choice and it is up to each and every one of us to take charge of our own health by making wise choices.

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**References**

- [www.organicconsumers.org/essays/us-and-monsanto-dominate-global-market-gm-seeds](https://www.organicconsumers.org/essays/us-and-monsanto-dominate-global-market-gm-seeds), August 7, 2013.
- [www.bulletproofexec.com/don-huber-318/](https://www.bulletproofexec.com/don-huber-318/), Podcast #318 “Why we need to KO the GMO with Don Huber.”


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RoundUp Is Great at Killing Weeds, but Is It Killing Us Too?

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