The stories became far too frequent to ignore. Emails from folks with allergic or digestive issues to wheat in the United States experienced no symptoms whatsoever when they tried eating pasta on vacation in Italy.
Confused parents wondering why wheat consumption sometimes triggered autoimmune reactions in their children but not at other times.
In my own home, I’ve long pondered why my husband can eat the wheat I prepare at home, but he experiences negative digestive effects eating even a single roll in a restaurant.
There is clearly something going on with wheat that is not well known by the general public. It goes far and beyond organic versus nonorganic, gluten or hybridization because even conventional wheat triggers no symptoms for some who eat wheat in other parts of the world.
What indeed is going on with wheat?
For quite some time, I secretly harbored the notion that wheat in the United States must, in fact, be genetically modified. GMO wheat secretly invading the North American food supply seemed the only thing that made sense and could account for the varied experiences I was hearing about.
I reasoned that it couldn’t be the gluten or wheat hybridization. Gluten and wheat hybrids have been consumed for thousands of years. It just didn’t make sense that this could be the reason for so many people suddenly having problems with wheat and gluten in general in the past 5-10 years.
Finally, the answer came over dinner a couple of months ago with a friend who was well versed in the wheat production process. I started researching the issue for myself, and was, quite frankly, horrified at what I discovered.
The good news is that the reason wheat has become so toxic in the United States is not that it is secretly GMO as I had feared (thank goodness!).
The bad news is that the problem lies with the manner in which wheat is grown and harvested by conventional wheat farmers.
You’re going to want to sit down for this one. I’ve had some folks burst into tears in horror when I passed along this information before.
Common wheat harvest protocol in the United States is to drench the wheat fields with Roundup several days before the combine harvesters work through the fields as the practice allows for an earlier, easier and bigger harvest.
Pre-harvest application of the herbicide Roundup or other herbicides containing the deadly active ingredient glyphosate to wheat and barley as a desiccant was suggested as early as 1980. It has since become routine over the past 15 years and is used as a drying agent 7-10 days before harvest within the conventional farming community.
According to Dr. Stephanie Seneff of MIT who has studied the issue in-depth and who I recently saw present on the subject at a nutritional conference in Indianapolis, desiccating non-organic wheat crops with glyphosate just before harvest came into vogue late in the 1990s with the result that most of the non-organic wheat in the United States is now contaminated with it. Seneff explains that when you expose wheat to a toxic chemical like glyphosate, it actually releases more seeds resulting in a slightly greater yield: “It ‘goes to seed’ as it dies. At its last gasp, it releases the seed” says Dr. Seneff.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, as of 2012, 99% of durum wheat, 97% of spring wheat, and 61% of winter wheat have been treated with herbicides. This is an increase from 88% for durum wheat, 91% for spring wheat and 47% for winter wheat since 1998. Note that bulgur is commonly made from durum.
Here’s what wheat farmer Keith Lewis has to say about the practice:
I have been a wheat farmer for 50 yrs and one wheat production practice that is very common is applying the herbicide Roundup (glyposate) just prior to harvest. Roundup is licensed for preharvest weed control. Monsanto, the manufacturer of Roundup claims that application to plants at over 30% kernel moisture result in roundup uptake by the plant into the kernels. Farmers like this practice because Roundup kills the wheat plant allowing an earlier harvest.
A wheat field often ripens unevenly, thus applying Roundup preharvest evens up the greener parts of the field with the more mature. The result is on the less mature areas Roundup is translocated into the kernels and eventually harvested as such.
This practice is not licensed. Farmers mistakenly call it “desiccation.” Consumers eating products made from wheat flour are undoubtedly consuming minute amounts of Roundup. An interesting aside, malt barley which is made into beer is not acceptable in the marketplace if it has been sprayed with preharvest Roundup. Lentils and peas are not accepted in the market place if it was sprayed with preharvest roundup….. but wheat is ok.. This farming practice greatly concerns me and it should further concern consumers of wheat products.
Here’s what wheat farmer Seth Woodland of Woodland and Wheat in Idaho had to say about the practice of using herbicides for wheat dry down:
That practice is bad . I have fellow farmers around me that do it and it is sad. Lucky for you not all of us farm that way. Being the farmer and also the president of a business, we are proud to say that we do not use round up on our wheat ever!
This practice is not just widespread in the United States either. The Food Standards Agency in the United Kingdom reports that the use of Roundup as a wheat desiccant results in glyphosate residues regularly showing up in bread samples. Other European countries are waking up to the danger, however. In the Netherlands, the use of Roundup is completely banned with France likely soon to follow.
Using Roundup on wheat crops throughout the entire growing season and even as a desiccant just prior to harvest may save the farmer money and increase profits, but it is devastating to the health of the consumer who ultimately consumes the glyphosate residue laden wheat kernels.
The chart below of skyrocketing applications of glyphosate to US wheat crops since 1990 and the incidence of celiac disease is from a December 2013 study published in the Journal Interdisciplinary Toxicology examining glyphosate pathways to autoimmune disease. Remember that wheat is not currently GMO or “Roundup Ready” meaning it is not resistant to its withering effects like GMO corn or GMO soy, so the application of glyphosate to wheat would actually kill it.
While the herbicide industry maintains that glyphosate is minimally toxic to humans, research published in the Journal Entropy strongly argues otherwise by shedding light on exactly how glyphosate disrupts mammalian physiology.
Authored by Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff of MIT, the paper investigates glyphosate’s inhibition of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, an overlooked component of lethal toxicity to mammals.
The currently accepted view is that ghyphosate is not harmful to humans or any mammals. This flawed view is so pervasive in the conventional farming community that Roundup salesmen have been known to foolishly drink it during presentations!
However, just because Roundup doesn’t kill you immediately doesn’t make it nontoxic. In fact, the active ingredient in Roundup lethally disrupts the all important shikimate pathway found in beneficial gut microbes which is responsible for the synthesis of critical amino acids.
Friendly gut bacteria, also called probiotics, play a critical role in human health. Gut bacteria aid digestion, prevent permeability of the gastrointestinal tract (which discourages the development of autoimmune disease), synthesize vitamins and provide the foundation for robust immunity. In essence:
Roundup significantly disrupts the functioning of beneficial bacteria in the gut and contributes to permeability of the intestinal wall and consequent expression of autoimmune disease symptoms.
In synergy with disruption of the biosynthesis of important amino acids via the shikimate pathway, glyphosate inhibits the cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes produced by the gut microbiome. CYP enzymes are critical to human biology because they detoxify the multitude of foreign chemical compounds, xenobiotics, that we are exposed to in our modern environment today.
As a result, humans exposed to glyphosate through the use of Roundup in their community or through the ingestion of its residues on industrialized food products become even more vulnerable to the damaging effects of other chemicals and environmental toxins they encounter!
What’s worse is that the negative impact of glyphosate exposure is slow and insidious over months and years as inflammation gradually gains a foothold in the cellular systems of the body.
The consequences of this systemic inflammation are most of the diseases and conditions associated with the Western lifestyle:
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- Depression
- Autism
- Infertility
- Cancer
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Alzheimer’s disease
- And the list goes on and on and on …
In a nutshell, Dr. Seneff’s study of Roundup’s ghastly glyphosate, which much of the wheat crop in the United States is doused with annually, uncovers the manner in which this lethal toxin harms the human body by decimating beneficial gut microbes with the tragic end result of disease, degeneration, and widespread suffering.
Got the picture yet?
Even if you think you have no trouble digesting wheat, it is still very wise to avoid conventional wheat as much as possible in your diet!
You Must Avoid Toxic Wheat No Matter What
The bottom line is that avoidance of conventional wheat in the United States is absolutely imperative even if you don’t currently have a gluten allergy or wheat sensitivity. This includes bypassing food products made with it such as the popular meat substitute seitan also called vital wheat gluten. The increase in the amount of glyphosate applied to wheat closely correlates with the rise of celiac disease and gluten intolerance. Dr. Seneff points out that the increases in these diseases are not just genetic in nature, but also have an environmental cause as not all patient symptoms are alleviated by eliminating gluten from the diet.
The effects of deadly glyphosate on your biology are so insidious that lack of symptoms today means literally nothing.
If you don’t have problems with wheat now, you will in the future if you keep eating conventionally produced, toxic wheat!
How to Eat Wheat Safely
Obviously, if you’ve already developed a sensitivity or allergy to wheat, you must avoid it. Period.
But, if you aren’t celiac or gluten sensitive and would like to consume this ancestral food safely, you can do what we do in our home. We source organic, naturally low in gluten, unhybridized Einkorn wheat for breadmaking, pancakes, cookies, etc. Please note that einkorn is not to be confused with the more general term farro, which includes emmer and spelt, which are both hybridized. You can learn more about the scientific research on the “good” gluten in einkorn in this article.
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 dry out the wheat plants to allow for an earlier, easier and bigger harvest and that such a practice causes absorption of toxic glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and other herbicides, right into the wheat kernels themselves?
Did you feel outraged and violated as 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 desiccant 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?
UPDATE: The Soil Association in July 2015 called for an immediate ban on the use of glyphosate for wheat ripening and desiccation purposes. The nonprofit reports that glyphosate residues are widely found in nonorganic wheat samples and the use of the herbicide on wheat crops has increased 400% in the past two decades.
Dr. Robin Mesnage of the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics at Kings College in London, revealed new data analysis showing Roundup, the most common brand of Glyphosate based herbicides, is 1,000 times more toxic than genotoxic glyphosate alone due to the inclusion of other toxic chemicals in its mix.
Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director said; “If Glyphosate ends up in bread it’s impossible for people to avoid it unless they are eating organic. On the other hand, farmers could easily choose not to use Glyphosate as a spray on wheat crops – just before they are harvested. This is why the Soil Association is calling for the immediate ending of the use of Glyphosate sprays on wheat destined for use in bread.”
References
Glyphosate now commonly found in human urine
Study: Glyphosate, Celiac and Gluten Intolerance
The Glyphosate, Celiac Disease Connection
Pre-harvest Application of Glyphosate to Wheat
Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases
Yield and quality of wheat seeds as a function of desiccation stages and herbicides
Wheat farmer weighs in on the use of Roundup as a wheat desiccant
More Information
Roundup: Quick Death for Weeds, Slow and Painful Death for You
Hybrid Wheat is Not the Same as GMO Wheat
The Dutch Ban Roundup, France and Brazil to Follow
How to Mix and Use Gluten Free Flour
Can Celiacs Eat Sourdough Bread?
The Dirty Little Secret About Gluten-Free
for the doubting thomases or thomasinas, go straight to the source: Monsanto, look at their “pre-staging guide” (aka: crop staging) http://roundup.ca/_uploads/documents/MON-Preharvest%20Staging%20Guide.pdf
For wheat:
• Roundup WeatherMAX® • Roundup Transorb®
Apply when the crop has 30% or less moisture content – the hard dough stage. At this stage, a thumbnail impression will remain on the kernel. This stage is typically 3 to 5 days before you would normally swath.
Also recommended for barley, dried beans, oats, canola, peas, lentils, soybeans and flax.
Application 3-5 days before swathing is a nasty practice.
And yes, glyphosate is an herbicide. Herbicides are a class of pesticides. Hence, glyphosate is a pesticide.
I posted the same link to the same document before I saw this comment. Sorry. Thanks for finding it.
As a wheat farmer with 41 years of experience, wheat kernels with 30% moisture is on a plant that is mostly dead, that is why the kernel is drying down, plant maturity. So no roundup would be transmitted to the kernel through the plant. The flag leaf is already dead. Flag leaf is the big leaves at the top of a wheat plant where photosynthesis happens. So very little or no uptake of roundup.
You’ve missed the point of the article entirely.
It seems a lot of the commenters are not bothering to look at the links. I’ve seen three manufacturer publications (guideline-type of bulletins) in the links provided that outline how best to use their products for pre-harvest application. Usually a combination of Round-Up and another product (ie Valor). It seems there are some straw-man arguments being used that glyphosate is NOT a dessicant but an herbicide, therefore this whole thing is a lie or inaccurate, but from these use-guideline bulletins, if one would care to read them, this is exactly what they are being recommended for.
Isnt that similar to how potatoes are produced in that they are sprayed till they are good as dead?
could well be… I knew a man (back in the mid-80’s!) who got very sick & became disabled, due to the chemicals they’d spray on the potato vines where he worked.
Years later, in 1998, my daughter needed to bring a potato to grade school for a craft project. It involved cutting the top off the potato, making a small depression in it, & planting some grass seed; when the grass sprouted it would form “hair” for a living craft. We used potatoes we had grown in our garden that year, & I garden organically. Daughter’s potato-head with grass hair was the ONLY one in the whole class that sprouted. All the other kids’ families had sent potatoes from the store…. not knowing of the herbicides sprayed on them. Scary to think that stuff is still effective months later!
this is just NOT true of Montana wheat farmers. I talked to a wheat farmer this morning and said this is just not true. Not only that, they have never heard of such a thing. It would not make sense at all if you knew anything about growing wheat.
They won’t admit it … its not a licensed practice. Do you really think a US wheat farmer is going to come on this blog and say, “YES, I’m doing it! I’m one of the ones poisoning your children!” Fat chance. They will get defensive and nasty and deny and attempt to discredit. The contamination of US wheat with glyphosate tells the tale. They can say whatever they want.
Farmers are some of the most hard-working, honest people I know. Those honest farmers are are my grandparents, uncles, parents, and husband who are NOT liars, never have been, nor care to start. My dad also does custom spraying for a farm supply company. He has NEVER done that to wheat and they spray over 70,000 acres a year. He has never heard of that. They actually put hardly anything on these fields because the genes have been modified in these crops which means fewer chemicals than ever before.
People who spray poison of food children will be eating are not honest.
Why don’t you come to my wheat farm in Montana at harvest, then, tell the public what I do or don’t do. I can tell you myself, my family, and my community do not practice this. It is very upsetting to me that you you assume I am a liar. Please, come to my farm then report what Montana farmers do or don’t do.
friend, that sounds like a good idea. 🙂 It’d be good publicity. & I know there’d be people lining up to buy your “safer” wheat. Before I had to give up wheat altogether I used to buy the grain & grind my own flour. (yes, by hand).
Sarah
Wheat Montana said they do not use it and they test for any chemical residue on their wheat before labeling “chemical free” because you never know when herbicides and pesticides can come from outside sources. If this is not true then these companies need to be exposed, but you are saying these companies flat out lie. We as consumers have the right to know the truth. Let’s call the Food Babe- she knows how to investigate the truth. Lol
I am from Rural Nebraska and I agree with the Montana farmer. I have never seen the fields sprayed before harvest. If there are weeds in the wheat at that point they cut around them. I am calling BS on this one.
Also, we eat very clean and I study nutrition a lot. I don’t like GMOs and chemicals, and most times that means I don’t consume the products that we grow on the farm. However, as a farmer, daughter of a farmer, and granddaughter of a farmer I find this article and even more “The Healthy Home Ecconomist” comment on this comment highly offensive! The farmers are not the villans here. They are providing what the market demands. They are honest hard working people who are busting their backs to make a living and feed their families. They are not liars who are covering things up. If you don’t like the GMOs and chemicals then vote with your dollar and don’t buy those products. If the market stops demanding them, the farmer will stop using them.
If farmers aren’t buying GMO crops from Monsanto, how is it they have about 80 percent of the corn crop and 90 percent of the soybean crop in America?
it would not be cost effective to spend money to get a result that mother nature will provide for free I can’t even imagine why or how this practice would ever be necessary.. besides that roundup can take seven to ten days to kill plants gramoxone will do this In a matter of hours so why wouldn’t they just use that??
I grew up on a 5,000 acre family owned farm in Montana and now farm a 2,500 acre farm in Eastern Washington with my husband growing winter and spring wheat. I have never heard of this practice until now. It is obviously not being as widely used as you portray. Why spend thousands of dollars on chemicals when waiting a few days will do the same thing? It could never speed up the process enough to grow another crop in the same season.
I doubt ANY farmer could afford to “DOSE” wheat with Glyphosate..do you have any idea how much that stuff costs..and wheat cannot produce more seed than it already has “in its last gasp.” really folks, are you all really that gullible?
Wheat is not toxic. Jesus. Roundup is a HERBICIDE, aka, a PESTICIDE pimped out by MONSANTO. Buying organic would avoid this issue, as organic practices do not use these products and are not GMO by definition. Wheat is not toxic. Pesticides can be. GMOs, possibly.
You really think this stuff isn’t real?! Educate yourselves. http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/faq7206?opendocument, http://www.realagriculture.com/2012/08/tips-for-pre-harvest-glyphosate-and-desiccation/
Read the bulletins. Roundup is only used for weed control. They specifically note that using roundup will kill the plant and prevent the crop from maturing. If the crop is not mature at harvest, it becomes worthless.
John, Roundup is also used as a drying agent for the wheat, not just weed control.
John, that’s why the instructions say to not spray it too early. Read the links from above at http://roundup.ca/…/do…/MON-Preharvest%20Staging%20Guide.pdf
and
http://weedscience.okstate.edu/4-h/small-grains/PT2009-2-%20Harvest%20Aid%20Weed%20Control%20in%20Wheat.pdf
This has changed my way of eating from this day forth!!!!! I will not eat any more ‘bread’ products made with flours of any kind. I have been so careful, too, in what I eat but this is so shameful that our foods are being poisoned so we become sickene by just eating it. Thanks for the article. It is a good read and I also will be more careful what I put on the table.
isn’t this an actual round-up manual explaining pre-harvest application just as this article explains?
http://roundup.ca/_uploads/documents/MON-Preharvest%20Staging%20Guide.pdf