You’ve seen the commercials. All American Dad, pump sprayer in hand, attacking those pesky weeds growing in the cracks of his family’s driveway with a vengeance. He chooses Roundup, of course.
Why? Â Because Roundup kills weeds to the root so they won’t come back making you the laughingstock of your suburban neighborhood.
Roundup, Roundup everywhere. Most homeowners use it without a second thought. Many schools even use it, blithely spraying around planting beds and sidewalks where children walk and play, tracking its residues into classrooms, cars, homes and little bodies.
Roundup is indisputably the King of Herbicides and one of Monsanto’s most lucrative crown jewels. Not only is it widely used by consumers, it is also heavily used by industrial agriculture – more popular than any other herbicide worldwide. Its residues are found on the staple crops of the Western diet – sugar, corn, soy and wheat – and in the plethora of processed foods made with these foods as well. Â In particular, GMO corn and soy are heavily doused in Roundup as these crops are genetically engineered to be immune to its withering effects.
The trouble is, while Roundup is highly effective at killing weeds, it’s also proving highly effective at killing us too – slowly but surely and insidiously – via Roundup’s deadly active ingredient – glyphosate.
While the pesticide industry maintains that glyphosate is minimally toxic to humans, new 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.
In the in-depth video interview below on her groundbreaking research, Dr. Seneff describes the mechanism by which the glyphosate in Roundup disrupts human biological processes.
The currently accepted view is that glyphosate is not harmful to humans or any mammals because the shikimate pathway found in plants is absent in animals. Â The shikimate pathway is involved with the plant’s synthesis of certain amino acids and is lethally disrupted by glyphosate.
What has been completely overlooked until now is that the shikimate pathway is present in beneficial gut bacteria, which play a critical role in human health. Gut bacteria aid digestion, prevent permeability of the gastrointestinal tract, synthesize vitamins and provide the foundation for robust immunity.
Glyphosate Disrupts the Functioning of Beneficial Gut Bacteria
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 summary, Dr. Seneff’s study of Roundup’s ghastly glyphosate uncovers the manner in which this lethal environmental toxin gradually and inevitably disrupts homeostasis in the human body with the tragic end result of disease, degeneration, and widespread suffering.
Still want to “shoot” those weeds this weekend with some Roundup and buy those unlabeled, GMO laced processed foods in the pretty packages at the supermarket?
In addition, Roundup residue in organic hydroponics is possible as there is no transition period from conventional farming. Stick with soil based organics!
References
Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases
Institute of Responsible Technology: Monsanto’s Herbicide–Featuring the Darth Vader Chemical
More Toxic Than Declared
More Information
Toxic Wheat
Glyphosate used on DOZENS of Food CropsÂ
Dutch Ban Glyphosate, France and Brazil Likely to Soon Follow
My cousin 64 a farmer has liver cancer iv watched him get roundup on him several times he claims it’s safe enough to drink he was vary healthy until this exercise and ate right
I came here because a lawn care man was spraying Round-Up outside our apartment today on the windiest day EVER. I started feeling sick (and you can literally feel the wind whipping into our poorly-insulated *new* apartment) — around this time, my husband came home from his lunch break and said “You’re not gonna want to go out there. They’re spraying Round-Up.” Literally on the most violently windy day ever, and you’re not even supposed to spray it when it’s windy. Incredible! Imagine the people that had their windows OPEN. Dear God. Now I’m trying to figure out what to do, when you know Round-Up has gotten inside your home??
As an alternative consider the use of rock salt (the sort that you may use for de-icing driveways and paths etc) to kill weeds / encroaching plants on drives and paths. Vinegar is also effective but more expensive. Roundup has been used in colder climates to shorten the time to harvest, it is sprayed on certain crops (non-glyphosate resistant) to kill and dry them, allowing harvesters etc to harvest a couple of weeks earlier than otherwise would have been the case. As a resultant you may see much higher glyphosate content in some foodstuffs. Glyphosate is showing up in a wide range of supermarket foods, including baby foods. There are many benefits to growing one’s own foods, consider hydroponic solutions in space-limited homes, and research the expression “square foot gardening” on the Internet.
Hi Sarah
My name is Lacy Berg. Approximately 7 yrs ago I was spraying weeds with round up it was the large bottle with the pump. My neighbors came over so I put the jug down while we chatted for a few minutes after I picked up the bottle it wasn’t spraying so I was trying to get it to work again and there must have been too much pressure because as I was working on it the top where the small plastic tube connects with the sprayer exploded in my face and mouth I quickly went to the hose and flushed my mouth out and washed face and hands my neighbors heard me and came over to see what was wrong. She said to go take a shower so I did and did not think anything of it because at that time I had no idea how dangerous it really was. Now 7 yrs later I have been very sick, so many symptoms and so many medical guesses. I hate to think this was all from round up but I really don’t know what else it could be. Thank you for writing this info. I have pretty much thrown the towel in and now I just mask my symptoms that can be masked with medications.
I wanted to know if being exposed by roundup by way of inhaling after wind shifted when spaying on fields could it have cause Kidney problems.
We are all being poisoned by roundup, its in our food and our civilization is sick as hell from it. Look at all the kids who are sick from this stuff, there are damaged people walking around everywhere……and you people are pouring the stuff everywhere that you live. CRAZY PEOPLE
I am amazed at how much this stuff is poured everwhere. we are living in a mad society. I documented the power company doing it too. Click my name to see the guys pouring this stuff for yourself. Watch how they destroyed the land with pollution.
…or you had an allergic reaction to all the pollen and mold you just stirred up. Use a brush blade and not the weed eater strings. This allows for the weeds to be cut and strongly reduces pollen and mold spread. However, like with the weedeater you mus exercise caution.
While the linked article is interesting readers should note that roundup and similar products are used everywhere everyday. Lessening the effects right around the house are great but in reality there is no escape. Currently I am working on a project trying to limit the exposure of a noxious invasive weed that has really gained a foothold in my community. This weed is nasty and will cause burns and possibly blindness. There is no way to control this weed mechanically – in other words there was a time when this weed could have been controlled by a small army of people with spade shovels – we tried this for many years and were unsuccessful. Honestly, the only way to control it is by the use of glyphosate. I wish there was another way. BTW the area that is being sprayed is a haven for wildlife. We have used glyphosate in the past and found that the combination of glyphosate and mechanical control is effective – over time (like five years). It should also be noted that unlike some of the other comments areas treated with glyphosate (mixed according to label) show no difference in vegetation several months after application. I have had no issues with dead spots and vegetation continues to grow. We are not talking about a few weeds we are talking about acres of open fields with this invasive species. The species of concern is has several “street” names, wild parsnip, poison parsnip but the latin name is: Pastinaca sativa.
There is only one solution here. Stop spraying your weeds-just let them cover your house-they’re lovely. And stop eating altogether and stop drinking water. Stay in your house with a gas mask on and never come out. You’ll live a long life!!!