Study: Glyphosate in human urine increases 500% over 10 years

A study published in JAMA tracked people over the age of 50 in Southern California from 1993-1996 to 2014-2016. Urine samples were collected over the time period to measure levels of glyphosate and its metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). They found that the percentage of people who tested positive for glyphosate increased over 500% in that time period. Glyphosate usage also increased by 1208% during this time period, making it very unlikely that this was just a coincidence. (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2658306)

Crops sprayed with glyphosate may surprise you: almonds, avocados, cherries, corn, grapes, grapefruit, peanuts, pecans, rice, soy beans, spinach, sugar beets, walnuts, wheat. (https://www.cornucopia.org/2016/05/widespread-use-glyphosate-food-supply/)

There are no known safe levels of glyphosate a person can eat.

This link also shows what percent of crops are sprayed with glyphosate: https://livelovefruit.com/what-crops-are-sprayed-with-glyphosate/. There are 70 crops here sprayed with glyphosate. Organic crops can also be tainted by overspray from a neighboring field, or from water used by the organic farm that is downstream from a non-organic farm that uses glyphosate.

Here are the results of studies listing which percent of people tested positive for glyphosate in their bodies. (https://www.moyoway.com/europes-top-5-glyphosate-herbicide-toxic-countries.html) Malta (90%), Germany (70%), Great Britain (70%) and Poland (70%) had the most percent of people with glyphosate in their bodies. They don't have to grow crops that are sprayed with glyphosate, crops that are tainted can be imported from other countries.

Animal tests show that up to 30% of glyphosate is absorbed into the body. A week later, there is still about 1% remaining.

Incidence of GMO corn, cotton and soy updated

As of July 2018 the average incidence of food crops grown in the US.

Corn:
All GE varieties: 92%

• Herbicide tolerant only: 10%
• Produces Bt (insect resistant): 2%
• Stacked gene: 80%

Soy:
All GE varieties: 94%

• Herbicide tolerant only: 94%

Source: USDA.gov.

Monsanto defrauding consumers since at least 1969.

As a plaintiff, in 1969, Monsanto sued Rohm and Haas for infringement of Monsanto's patent for the herbicide propanil. In Monsanto Co. v. Rohm and Haas Co., the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Monsanto on the basis that the company had fraudulently procured the patent it sought to enforce.

Monsanto argues, the principle behind a farmer’s seed contract is simple: a business must be paid for its product., but that a very small percentage of farmers do not honor this agreement. While many lawsuits involve breach of Monsanto's Technology Agreement, farmers who have not signed this type of contract, but do use the patented seed, can also be found liable for violating Monsanto's patent. Monsanto has stated it will not "exercise its patent rights where trace amounts of our patented seed or traits are present in farmer's fields as a result of inadvertent means." However, history shows this is not true as Monsanto has sued farmers, and won, when pollen from nearby GMO seed mixed with the farmer's plants, the seed of which had some patented genes. These farmers had to sell their whole farm to pay fines, and court costs.

Monsanto has also been sued for effects from Agent Orange, pollution from dioxin, polychlorinate biphenyls (PCBs), alachlor (a common pesticide), and dicamba.

Source
Wikipedia.

700+ cases in US federal court alone over glyphosate

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup weed kill.

FEDERAL COURT – More than 760 lawsuits are pending in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The cases have been combined for handling as multidistrict litigation (MDL) under Judge Vince Chhabria. The lead case is 3:16-md-02741-VC and the first trial, the case of Edwin Hardeman V. Monsanto, began Feb. 25, 2019. The judge approved a motion by Monsanto to bifurcate the trial, limiting evidence jurors will hear during a first phase to causation only. Update March 19: a unanimous jury decision handed a first-round victory to plaintiff Edwin Hardeman, as the six jury members found that Hardeman’s exposure to Roundup was a “substantial factor” in causing his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

STATE COURT – Thousands of plaintiffs have made similar claims against Monsanto in state courts. The first trial in the Roundup litigation concluded on Aug. 10 with the jury ruling that Monsanto’s weedkiller was a substantial contributing factor in causing DeWayne “Lee” Johnson’s cancer, and ordering Monsanto to pay $289.25 million in damages, including $250 million in punitive damages. The judge reduced the punitive damages to $39 million in an order dated Oct. 22, 2018 which put the total verdict at approximately $78 million. Monsanto declared it would appeal and Johnson has cross appealed, seeking to reinstate the jury award.The appeal is filed in the California State Court of Appeals, case number A155940. Appellant’s opening brief due April 22, 2019.


Sources
US Right To Know, Monsanto Papers.
DDG search for more lawsuits against Monstanto.

Monsanto lawsuit update, $289 million payment

Monsanto ordered to pay $289 million in cancer lawsuit. A recent Monsanto lawsuit outcome feels like a win for the people. Finally. More than two years after the World Health Organization labeled the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” the court system ruled the billion-dollar company is liable for its product’s potentially cancer-causing effects.

On August 9, 2018, a San Francisco jury found Monsanto liable in the first of more than 800 cancer-patient cases against the agricultural giant. Dewayne Johnson, 46, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a term that’s used to describe a group of cancers that develop in the lymphocytes, or white blood cells that make up the immune system. His case was the first to go to court because of his terminal condition, which granted him an expedited trial.

Glyphosate Use and Cancer Incidence in the Agricultural Health Study

Gabriella Andreotti Stella Koutros Jonathan N Hofmann Dale P Sandler Jay H Lubin Charles F Lynch Catherine C Lerro Anneclaire J De Roos Christine G Parks Michael C Alavanja 

JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, djx233, https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djx233

Published: 09 November 2017

 

There is strong evidence of glyphosate exposure linked to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL).  The study did not links between glyphosate exposure and NHL, but did find some links between glyphosate exposure and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) compared with people who never used glyphosate.

The study covered licensed pesticide applicators from North Carolina and Iowa. This graph shows some correlation between glyphosate exposure and NHL, but not with other cancers.

 

Sources
Journal of National Cancer Institute. (Not related to National Cancer Institute!)

Some EU members say no to glyphosate 5 year renewal

Some EU members, realizing the danger glyphosate puts humans and wildlife in, have voted no to renew Monsanto's 5 year license in their areas.14 countries voted for the renewal, 9 against, 5 abstained, including Germany. France has already agreed to a 3 year renewal so the deadly chemical can be sprayed on GMO and non-GMO crops. For the vote to pass, two conditions must be met.

1. 55% of EU countries must vote in favor, and
2. countries that support the vote must represent at least 65% of the total EU population. So larger, more populous countries have an advantage in voting.

14 countries voted for the renewal, 14 countries did not. That's only 50% of countries voting for  passing the renewal.

Source
Sustainable Pulse.

UK will support ban on pesticides that harm bees

This reverses an earlier decision by the UK government, because new evidence has appeared that shows neonicitinoids have contaminated the whole landscape.  75% of all flying insects have disappeared from Germany.

Read more at The Guardian.

For more information on neonics click here.

1985 EPA memo says glyphosate causes kidney tumors

A recently found archived document form 1985 shows, before the EPA was bought off by Monsanto, that the EPA thought glyphosate caused kidney tumors. Monsanto claims tumors are unrelated to glyphosate exposure by showing past studies. EPA claims past studies have too much variation to nullify the no tumor claim.

Sources
PDF here. Get it before it's taken down! Alt link: https://web.archive.org/web/20180131074049/https://archive.epa.gov/pesticides/chemicalsearch/chemical/foia/web/pdf/103601/103601-170.pdf

NEW Hair test checks for pesticide exposure over long term

The Detox Project has a new hair test that can test for pesticide exposure over the long term.

Hair testing shows your exposure to pesticides over a period of 90-120 days, whereas urine only shows your exposure for approximately 14-21 days and blood testing shows your exposure for 2-3 days.

Hair is easy to collect, easy to ship, and easy to store. Their kit is $199. One kit tests for household pesticides, another kit tests for agricultural pesticides, and there are more kits. The lab work is done by Kudzu Science.


Source
Detox Page.

Who claims glyphosate is safe, vs unsafe

This page has a list of agencies world-wide which shows who thinks glyphosate (Roundup) is safe, and who thinks it is unsafe.

List of GMO crops used in many countries

This list of GMO crops will tell you which countries use them. However, Roundup is spread on non-GMO crops as well, right before harvest, so a non-GMO product does not mean pesticide free.

Roundup kills your energy system?

What is the Shikimate pathway?

The Shikimate pathway is a seven step metabolic route used by bacteria, fungi, algae, some protozoan parasites and plants for the biosynthesis of folates and aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan). Since animals need these folates and amino acids, but do not have this pathway, these nutrients must be provided by gut bacteria. Is this how Roundup interferes with a human's energy level, by disturbing gut bacteria?

From Wikipedia: The seven enzymes involved in the shikimate pathway are DAHP synthase, 3-dehydroquinate synthase, 3-dehydroquinate dehydratase, shikimate dehydrogenase, shikimate kinase, EPSP synthase, and chorismate synthase. 

Even since the 1980s, one cause of Myalgic encephalomyelitis (formerly Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) has been thought to be a dysfunction of the human cell mitochondria. But now with more research on how critical gut bacteria is to humans, and how glyphosate (and a diet with sugar) destroys the good gut bacteria, this study might be able to show how Roundup causes its damage, and may be a cause for CFS.


Full study is on Elsevier, which is paywalled. But here is the abstract.


Abstract

The shikimate pathway is a metabolic route for the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids (AAAs) (i.e. phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan). A key enzyme of shikimate pathway (5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase, EPSPS) is the target of the widely used herbicide glyphosate. Quinate is a compound synthesized in plants through a side branch of the shikimate pathway. Glyphosate provokes quinate accumulation and exogenous quinate application to plants shows a potential role of quinate in the toxicity of the herbicide glyphosate. Based on this, we hypothesized that the role of quinate accumulation in the toxicity of the glyphosate would be mediated by a deregulation of the shikimate pathway.

In this study the effect of the glyphosate and of the exogenous quinate was evaluated in roots of pea plants by analyzing the time course of a full metabolic map of several metabolites of shikimate and phenylpropanoid pathways. Glyphosate application induced an increase of the 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase (DAHPS, first enzyme of the shikimate pathway) protein and accumulation of metabolites upstream of the enzyme EPSPS. No common effects on the metabolites and regulation of shikimate pathway were detected between quinate and glyphosate treatments, supporting that the importance of quinate in the mode of action of glyphosate is not mediated by a common alteration of the regulation of the shikimate pathway. Contrary to glyphosate, the exogenous quinate supplied was probably incorporated into the main trunk from the branch pathway and accumulated in the final products, such as lignin, concomitant with a decrease in the amount of DAHPS protein.

Links
Study: Pestic Biochem Physiol. 2017 Sep;141:96-102. doi: 10.1016/j.pestbp.2016.12.005. Epub 2016 Dec 10. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28911748.

Oregon wants to forcibly spray organic farm with pesticides

Azure Standard is an organic farm that has been running for 18 years. Oregon state law requires farmers to control "noxious weeds". The weed of concern is Canadian Thistle. Sherman County, Oregon does not think Azure Standard has done enough to control this thistle. From the article:

Sherman County may be issuing a Court Order on May 22, 2017, to quarantine Azure Farms and possibly to spray the whole farm with poisonous herbicides, contaminating them with Milestone, Escort and Roundup herbicides.

And then the state will charge them for the service. Like the Chinese government charge the family of the dead after a criminal has been executed.

Links
Article: https://www.theorganicprepper.ca/an-oregon-county-govt-plans-to-douse-azure-standards-organic-farm-in-pesticide-05122017

Certification for glyphosate free foods

The Detox Project now has certification for glyphosate-free food products sold to consumers, and also ingredients used in products.

Why is this important? 

1. One German study found glyphosate and metabolites in urine of all people tested. 
2. High levels of glyphosate found in major American food brands. 
3. Glyphosate is thought to disrupt gut bacteria, which are important for overall good health.
4. Most corn, soybeans, and wheat crops in the US are sprayed with glyphosate to kill it all at once for harvest a few days later. More food found with glyphosate in it.  
5. Glyphosate is absorbed into every cell of the plant, it cannot be washed off.

Food Democracy Now also has a study testing food for glyphosate.  Just go to the Glyphosate tag in this blog for more articles on the dangers of Roundup.

Detox Project food testing FAQ here.

Monsanto tries to get Seralini study retracted

The study by GE Seralini showed that even low amounts of Roundup had toxic effects on rats over the long-term. This includes liver and kidney damage. Seralini's other study where rats got tumors was done incorrectly as they used a type of rat that is supposed to get tumors.

Extract from a Monsanto employee review:

Goal: 
PROMOTE GLYPHOSATE FREEDOM TO OPERATE THROUGH PROACTIVE ENGAGEMENT OF EXPERTS, TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS AND RESPONSES TO THIRD PARTY ALLEGATIONS.

2. In effort to enhance global long-term scientific outreach and freedom to operate, coordinate (i) an initial South American Toxicology Expert Panel meeting in Buenos Aires by the end of FY2013 and (ii) the 2012 EU. Glyphosate Expert Advisory Panel meeting in Harrogate, UK 8/9 November, 2012.

Employee comment: 
2 (ii) coordinated the November EU Expert Panel meeting which provided opportunity for valuable interaction with experts and peers, consolidating strategies in addressing activist publications (eg. Seralini and Earth Open Source) and industry sponsored technical publications supporting FTO and glyphosate EU Annex I Renewal.


Source
GMO Inside.
The Monsanto memo in PDF form, document name FY2013. This looks like an employee review of David Anthony Saltmiras.

Evidence Monsanto tried to bribe scientists

Roundup is a big money maker for Monsanto so it's no surprise that more evidence that Monsanto tried to influence writes and bribe scientists has come to light.

From this website, attorneys asked to see Monsanto's "protected documents". The more Monsanto tries to push, the more it looks like people are on the right track to exposing corruption. Quote:

On June 30, 2017, attorneys from Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, along with the leadership of the Roundup multidistrict litigation (MDL), challenged the protection of the documents below, in an effort to make them available to the public. In a meeting to discuss the matter, Monsanto told the plaintiffs’ attorneys to “go away” and that the company would not voluntarily agree to de-designate any documents.

The challenged documents are here, and in PDF form.

Source
GMO Inside.

California declares Roundup as cancer-causing

On some things California ignores the science, but since I've read the science behind toxic Roundup, and how you can't wash it off anything, and how it's absorbed into every cell of the plant, and how it's used on many more than just GMO crops, I have to agree with Cali on this one. Roundup is sprayed on non-GMO crops as well, to kill all the plants at the same time for harvest.

California will add glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide, to the list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer on July 7, the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA).

Well no, they don't know it, no one really knows if glyphosate causes cancer, but it's a good bet it does. Correlation is easier to prove, but causation is nearly impossible to prove. Let's call hyperbole what it is, since it's not news nor fact. Here are some interesting studies.

1. PAN has list of studies showing harm of glyphosate.
2. Graph showing multiple studies on glyphosate, study conclusions, and cancer risk. There is correlation between glyphosate exposure and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. 
3. Seralini wins lawsuit showing biotech is meddling in studies.
4. Tests and studies about Roundup toxicity.
5. Consensus by scientists: Roundup is bad.
6. 2015: IARC declares glyphosate probable human carcinogen. Article here.

The agency originally announced the move in September 2015, but Monsanto—the producer of Roundup—filed a lawsuit to stop it.  

If Roundup is safe, why the lawsuit from biotech? What do they have to hide?

The US EPA says glyphosate is safe, but there are emails which show probably collusion with biotech. Another EPA scientist was fired for saying biosludge is toxic. Biosludge is what is left over after raw sewage is treated, and it is often sprayed on food crops in the US. Even a Monsanto exec admitted they faked data in studies. And Richard Goodman, a former Monsanto employee, was asked to write a piece supporting Roundup's "safety", and a few days later received a promotion at his university.

Links
The Pooch Times.
All Glyphosate posts.

2015: IARC declares glyphosate (Roundup) probable carcinogen

IARC, the research arm of WHO, declared that glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) is a probably human carcinogen. PDF here.(This link has been replaced with just a few pages with questions. This link is no longer the list of studies.)

Food Revolution documentary pushes toxic chemicals

The documentary "Food Revolution" pushes the toxic chemical industry.But there has been quite a history of lying and hiding studies in the past.

1. 1985: Monsanto admits glyphosate could cause cancer. 
2. Monsanto used army of shills to promote pesticides. If it was safe, why the need for paid shills?
3. Monsanto faces more cancer lawsuits. If it was safe, why all the lawsuits? 
4. Low levels of Roundup cause liver disease in rats. But they said it was safe? 
5. Scotts GMO grass escapes test beds. But they said it couldn't escape? 
6. GM soy linked to sick pigs.  
7. Monsanto GMO corn damaged intestines.
8. USDA: 85% of foods tested contain glyphosate. 
9. High levels of glyphosate found in many American foods. Lists the foods that were tested, with brands.
10. Study: glyphosate kills good bacteria in the gut. This leads to several chronic illnesses.
11. Study: glyphosate linked to more disease. 
12. Study: Glyphosate damages algae. Monsanto says "not fair!"
13. Monsanto and EU hid studies showing dangers of glyphosate (Roundup). But if it's safe, why hide the studies?
14. Consensus of scientists: Roundup is bad for the body!

Each month more studies come out showing the dangers of pesticides, yet industry keeps saying they are safe. Look at all the times the chemical industry hid studies, lied by omission, and independent studies proved them wrong. It's ridiculous.

Source
Food Revolution.org.