Organic Consumer Update 11-24-2014 (Re-Post)

Subscribe & Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate    TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK Recount Likely The deadline for rounding up votes for Oregon’s Measure 92 has passed. The deadline for counting all outstanding votes, and reporting them to the Oregon Secretary of State, is Monday, November 24, 5 p.m. PST. As of 5 p.m. Friday, November 22,  the gap between YES and NO votes had dropped, again, to a nail biting-ly close  1,076 votes. Based on reliable estimates, there are enough outstanding votes that, if they go the right way, could still push us over the top. Either way, unless the gab widens again, the vote is close enough to trigger an automatic recount. Thanks to the herculean effort by the YES on 92 campaign—and your financial support—the campaign sent out hundreds of volunteers and supporters last week. Battling snow and ice and great odds, this dedicated army did a nothing-short-of-miraculous job of contacting voters whose ballots had been disqualified, and making sure those ballots were fixed, and those votes were counted. Now, we wait for the final tally, which will be reported at the end of the day Monday, November 24. But while we wait, the YES on 92 campaign staff is still working, preparing for the probablility of a recount. The campaign will do everything in its power to make sure that the recount is conducted carefully, and fairly. Win or lose in Oregon, it’s clear that Monsanto and Big Food are panicked. After all, we won the state GMO labeling battle in May, when Vermont passed H.112. And with stores like Whole Foods Market committed to labeling all of its 40,000 plus food and deli items, food manufacturers already face the prospect of a label that says “Contains GMOs” in stores all across the country. Monsanto will continue to throw its weight around, by suing states that pass GMO labeling laws, and counties that pass GMO crop bans. And by buying off members of Congress to pass a law to override and preempt state GMO labeling laws. But they are in for a long fight. Because consumers will not rest until every GMO-contaminated food product in this country is labeled. Volunteer to help with the YES on 92 Recount MILLIONS AGAINST MONSANTO We Need Thousands of People. And You. The GMO labeling movement won big in Vermont this year. And we may still win in Oregon, once all the votes are in. But those laws will be nullified, and we will lose the right to pass any future state or federal mandatory GMO labeling laws, if Congress passes H.R. 4432, a bill to preempt mandatory GMO labeling laws. H.R. 4432—the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) ACT—was introduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) at the bidding of Monsanto, Big Food and the Koch Brothers. At this very moment, Monsanto and Big Food are gunning to pass this law. We need to stop this attack on the constitutional right of states to pass GMO labeling laws. That’s why we’re planning a massive protest and media event in Washington D.C. Can you help organize a bus from your area? Here’s the scoop. Pompeo’s DARK ACT is up for a hearing on December 9 or 10 (the date hasn’t been finalized yet, but we need to start planning). OCA is working with activists in many states, including New York, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maryland, to bus people in to Washington on the date of the hearing. What will we do there? We will fill the hearing room and line the streets with consumers and citizens who will make it clear to Congress, the media and the Biotech Bullies and Junk Food Giants that we will not sit quietly by while Congress allows Monsanto to trample on our Democracy and poison our food without transparency or accountability. If you can fill a bus from your area, OCA will pay the transportation. We are also organizing an organic lunch with speakers and the press, following the hearing. The GMO labeling movement has not come this far only to allow members of Congress, who have been paid off by Monsanto, to strip us of our constitutional rights. H.R. 4432 is designed to kill the GMO labeling movement once and for all. We can’t let that happen. We need thousands of people in order to get the attention of Congress and the media. Can you be one of them? Sign up to organize ACTION ALERT Between the Lines Less than a week after the OCA and other groups petitioned McDonald’s to reject a GMO potato newly approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), ABC News, NBC News, CBS News and numerous other media outlets declared a victory for consumers based on a statement McDonald’s provided to the Idaho Statesman. Here’s what a McDonald’s spokesperson told the Idaho Statesman when asked if the fast-food chain would buy Simplot’s GMO potato: "McDonald's USA does not source GMO potatoes, nor do we have current plans to change our sourcing practices." A victory for consumers? Or just a victory for McDonald’s public relations team? As POLITICO pointed out, the McDonald’s statement may have been technically accurate. But it far from rules out the future possibility that McDonald’s will serve up frankenfries. McDonald’s does not now source GMO potatoes, because there are none yet on the market. And just because the restaurant chain claims it doesn’t have “current plans” to use the Simplot potato, doesn’t mean it can’t change its plans. TAKE ACTION: Ask McDonald’s CEO Donald Thompson to commit to NEVER USE Simplot’s “Innately Wrong” GMO potato! Read OCA’s Open Letter to McDonald’s CEO Donald Thompson Photo Credit: phil.lees via Compfight cc ACTION ALERT Kinda, Sorta True, but Not Really Starbucks wants you to think the company is on your side when it comes to GMO labeling laws. But it isn’t. As long as Starbucks is a dues-paying member of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), which is party to a lawsuit against the state of Vermont intended to overturn Vermont’s recently passed GMO labeling law, the coffee peddler’s profits are being used to defeat your right to know. In response to a blog post by singer/songwriter Neil Young, proclaiming his support for a Starbucks boycott, Starbucks posted a statement on its website stating that a “petition claiming that Starbucks is part of this [lawsuit against Vermont] litigation is completely false and we have asked the petitioners to correct their description of our position.” “Completely false”? Not quite. Not only does Starbucks’ membership in the GMA support the GMA’s lawsuit against Vermont, it also supports a bill awaiting a hearing in Congress, written by the GMA, that would strip states of the right to pass mandatory GMO labeling laws. If Starbucks wants consumers to believe that the company is not, at least indirectly, party to the GMA’s lawsuit against Vermont, Starbucks needs to quit the GMA immediately. TAKE ACTION: Tell Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz: Stop Supporting Efforts to Kill GMO Labeling Laws. Quit the GMA! SUPPORT THE OCA & OCF Alliance of Cranks Speaking at the Slow Money conference in Louisville, Ky., last week, Mary Berry shared an anecdote about her father, Wendell Berry. Mary told the story in the context of a panel discussion about advancing the organic movement in the face of great obstacles—as in, for instance, Monsanto. And federal, state and local laws that hinder, instead of help, local organic farmers. Her father, said Mary, once remarked that that in order to keep going in discouraging times, it takes an “alliance of cranks.” This movement to return to sustainable, organic and regenerative agriculture is a movement of hope. Hope for a healthier ecosystem. Hope for healthier communities. Hope for a generation of healthier children. It’s also a movement that has faced more than its share of discouraging news. And powerful opponents. Thankfully, this movement, your movement, is powered by strong, intelligent, caring, responsible, hard-working, passionate, well-intentioned and yes, sometimes complaining, citizens and consumers. Welcome to our “alliance of cranks.” Together, we will prevail. Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education). Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our legislative efforts in Oregon, Colorado and other states) ACTION ALERT Vote Bayer into the Corporate Hall of Shame! It’s that time of year again. When the worst companies in the world compete for their rightful place in the Corporate Hall of Shame. This year we’re partnering with Corporate Accountability International to hold Bayer accountable for not only manufacturing the pesticides that kill bees, but for shifting the blame. By now, we all know that neonicotinoids are the primary culprit in Colony Collapse Disorder. We also know who stands to profit the most from selling neonics—Bayer CropScience is the world’s number one seller of neonics, with annual sales of over $1 billion. Yet to hear Bayer tell it, the neonic-maker is the honeybee’s best friend. It’s climate change that’s killing the bees, says Bayer. Or mites. But certainly not the pesticide-maker’s poisons. Bayer has even established the Bayer Bee Care Center in a disingenuous public relations move aimed at convincing consumers that the company is dedicated to protecting bees. It’s all part of Bayer’s “Tobacco-Style PR tactics,” outlined in this report by the Friends of the Earth. Bayer should be ashamed. It isn’t, of course. So it’s up to us to shame the world’s leading bee-killer. Vote Bayer into the Corporate Hall of Shame THANKSGIVING COVERAGE Meet Us in St. Louis Want your Thanksgiving to be extra meaningful this year? Join OCA and the folks from the Reverend Billy’s Church of Stop Shopping for an Organic Thanksgiving potluck dinner on Monsanto’s front lawn. Everyone is invited. All you need to bring is an organic dish to pass. The child-friendly dinner starts at 1.p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 27, at Monsanto’s World Headquarters in Creve Coeur, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. Tables will be provided, as will entertainment by a group of 30 singers from the Church of Stop Shopping. For more information, including how to organize a group from your area to attend, contact marnie@revbilly.com. If you live in the Chicago area and want to carpool to St. Louis, contact organicconsumerschicago@gmail.com Mike Durschmid. RSVP How and Why to Cook Organic this Thanksgiving How to buy a turkey Where to buy organic ingredients TAKE ACTION: Take the Cook Organic, not the Planet Pledge! Post photos and recipes from your organic Thanksgiving SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS +1 Us! Are you one of the more than 540 million people who use Google+? If so, now you can +1 OCA! OCA has recently joined the Google+ world and we’re looking forward to hanging out with you. If you’re already a member of Google+, just +1 us to connect. If you're not a Google+ member, sign up! Already a Google+ member? +1 OCA on Google+ Not yet a Google+ member? Learn more LITTLE BYTES Essential Reading for the Week Vitamin D Deficiency Is Prevalent in Multiple Sclerosis Vermont Fights Attempt to Block GMO Labelling Law Organic Fish May Soon Be Coming and It Is a HORRIBLE Idea 81% of Reviewed GM Crops Were Approved without Any Scientific Safety Studies, Researchers Find The Word 'Natural,' like Our Food, Has Become Polluted Turns out, the Future of Food Lies in These Old Seeds Syngenta Facing Dozens of Lawsuits over GMO Seed

follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | OCA on Pinterest  | Donate Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on web sites, print it, duplicate it and post it freely. Knowledge is power! Organic Bytes is a publication of Organic Consumers Association 6771 South Silver Hill Drive - Finland, MN 55603 - Phone: 218-226-4164 - Fax: 218-353-7652 You are subscribed as: Vincent Nunes

Vincent Nunes Does NOT Have A Police Record! (R8 Re-Post)

Vincent Nunes Does NOT Have A Police Record!

posted by Vincent Nunes
Wed, 10/03/2012 - 5:43am

I would like to begin this with a thank-you to Officer Cahill and his partner.
Now, I won't get into the specifics of our impromptu meeting, but what I will divulge is that I haven't a record in regards to the Police Department of New York City.
Nothing. Nada. Ziparoonie.
That is a badge of honour I will proudly wield.
I actually have a pretty good relationship with New York's Finest. Not coincidentally, I went to high school with a couple of classmates who became officers, and have now since retired with their families. I hope to see them soon - it's going to be a surprise (I did).
I'm thinking of writing to all of the fast food companies in regards to replacing their sugared products with stevia. I realize the article I wrote not too recently, Why Hizzoner's Sugary Drink Ban Is Simply A Money Grab For The Soda Companies, was a bit off-focus. The soft-drink ban seems only to affect movie theaters and truck stops - I was of the impression that supermarkets would no longer offer the larger sizes of drinks. Regardless, because of the obesity epidemic, we need to do something that actually addresses the problem (Having written this, I've tried a number of products - Starbucks drinks taste fine, but other beverages are using Truvia, which contains dextrose, and seems to give yet another horrible aftertaste - is it possible that some out there are trying to poison the idea of using stevia?).
At one time, it was mandated that all of our water had to be inundated with fluoride. It sounded like a great idea at the time, until studies revealed that the fluoride being used was a waste product from the production of aluminum, and that we were getting the opposite of the desired results. I mean, if there was any real concern with the well-being of the health of Americans, why not mandate that all faucets and fixtures have Brita filters added by default? (Of course, I don't mean to single out Brita - Culligan, Berkey, etc. - any companies' filters would be welcome.)
How about vitamin C?
I'm just thinking outside the box, here.
My nephew is on the borderline to becoming diabetic, and I wish to spare him any bit of the pain I've experienced. At the same time, television advertising bombards him daily with ads for this food and that drink, all containing either sugar or high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), or aspartame and/or sucralose, unnatural compounds, to say the least.
I'd love to go to Burger King and grab a Whopper and a raspberry smoothie...but I can't do it. It isn't worth the risk.
I haven't had a Big Mac in a good while...but guess what? I'll live.
These companies are making profits hand over fist; and yet, they won't protect their consumer base.
When Morgan Spurlock was making Supersize Me, I'm fairly certain that he didn't really think he was putting his life and his health in jeopardy by maintaining a fast food only diet for 30 days.
Think about those who do this as a matter of course, without thinking.
I used to work for a fellow who had dirty water dogs every weekday, unless we were off-site. He seemed to be okay, but I haven't checked in on him lately.
So this is relatively straight-forward: do you agree with me that we can actually do something substantial in regards to the obesity epidemic, and remove the main cause of the obesity itself from our daily diets?
Should I embark on a letter writing campaign?
Would you all join me? I'll draft the letter, post it here; you can take it as it is and sign your name to it, or take whatever tickles your fancy and make it yours - it doesn't matter. The important part is doing something to help our children, our friends, our families and ourselves. Just think about not having to worry about the calorie count of your beverages.
Isn't that something that actually tackles the issue?
I await your responses, dear readers.


Update - 11/20/2014: I've wanted to talk about this for a very long time...especially since the non-actions following the events of September 11th, 2001.


What do I mean?


I'm talking about the fact that none of the people who should be penalized for their actions/inactions on that day have seen as much as a handcuff, much less a jail cell, complete with Bubba, the Love Partner. Conversely, individuals such as Colleen Rowley, Sibel Edmonds and many others are suffering for what is being termed as whistleblowing.


How is this possible?


In a world run by FOOLS, anything is possible.


We purport to being a nation of laws; yet, it seems that those same laws can be perverted to protect the guilty, and punishing the innocent.


This isn't sour grapes on my part. In our constitutional republic, no one is above any law.


Going after whistleblowers, and NOT the crimes they are alerting to everyone, only allows the guilty to continue their crimes.

Discover The Evils of Monsanto

Good morning, and Happy Hump Day!


Early November morning, I was greeted with a commercial for Monsanto on the News12 channel.


I don't know how much a commercial costs on that network, but it may be time to purchase one. I re-read my last posting, featuring an interview with Dr. Stephanie Seneff, who articulately details the dangers of glyphosate to our well-beings and to that of our families and friends.


It's incredible to me how inserting the term "technology" into something utterly harmful can brainwash a civilization.


I worked with someone who kept mouthing the sound byte, "It's the wave of the future", every time GMOs came up. He refused any bit of research I sent his way, and he recently had a son. I wonder if his family is dealing with any difficulties due to his embracing the "future".


I implore you all to take some time and read the last posting. I've read and have done a lot of research into the dangers of GMOs, and sometimes, it's been harder than it should. A lot of the research is presented very dryly, and with unfamiliar terminologies and hard-to-obtain references. The interview goes right into the actions that glyphosate performs on flora and fauna, and it tellingly reveals that, like most of the so-called experimentation performed, there was only a three-month period allotted to gauge whether or not the compound posed a danger to humans.


Three months.


All research that has exceeded that three-month period has shown exactly the opposite - and that gives me cause to pose the question of whether this is INTENTIONAL.


More in a future posting - have a good day, dear readers.

GMOs/WAR - What Are They Good For? NOTHING (R8 Re-Post)

GMOs/WAR - What Are They Good For? NOTHING

posted by Vincent Nunes
Fri, 08/30/2013 - 2:54pm

Happy Friday, dear readers!
Bill de Blasio is standing tall in the polls, with a scant number of days left until the primary.
Let's look for the newspapers that endorsed Christine Quinn to make an attempt at derailing his campaign.
Let's be ready to fight back.
Similarly - what dirty tricks will Breezy Point Joe pull out to steal the office of the District Attorney of Kings County away from Ken Thompson?
Once again, let's be ready.
Labor Day Weekend is upon us. I hope that everyone has something fun awaiting them.
We almost didn't have a promising future ahead, with the impending attack upon Syria. I was saddened to see Secretary of State John Kerry reduced to being Colin Powell redux, providing the same flawed rationale for maiming our young men and women in the armed forces.
I will fight for my country, but I won't fight for LIES.
I imagine that there's all sorts of things that could be discussed right now, but what I'm going to post right now is true food for thought, and I will preface it with this information that I read just this morning:

Processed foods lack enzymes - enzymes that are essential to  health. Without these enzymes, your body cannot act on the nutrients present within foods.

I remembered this right before picking up a bottle of Naked Juice. I may attempt to contact someone at Naked to inquire about their methods of production to confirm whether or not their products can actually provide what they promise. More on that in a future posting. (No need to wait, dear readers - Vani of FoodBabe confirmed that NJ is no good.)
Have a good holiday weekend, dear readers - I wish all of you well.  The following is for your health and well-being.
Glyphosate and Roundups Implications on Modern Diseases

(ALTHeadlines)
An interview with Stephanie Seneff, PhD: Co-author of "Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases."

Catherine J. Frompovich
Activist Post

In April 2013, independent scientist Anthony Samsel and MIT scientist Stephanie Seneff published their mega studies analysis of glyphosate titled “Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases” in the online journal, Entropy. With 286 peer-reviewed papers analyzed, Samsel and Seneff documented that glyphosate—and the herbicide Roundup®, in particular—has deleterious impact on disease causality in laboratory and farm animals, and humans.

This is an interview with co-author Stephanie Seneff, of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.



Before we get into details, will you please tell us how glyphosate and Roundup® came into being? Who owns it and how profitable a commodity is it for that corporation?

Monsanto is the inventor of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup®. It was brought to market first in the U.S. in the mid 1970s, and it came out from under patent in 2000, making it far more attractive as an herbicide due to the reduced cost.

Didn’t Monsanto produce saccharine (1901?), DDT (1944), Agent Orange for the Vietnam War (1960s-1970s), Posilac®—bovine somatotropin (Bst) for dairy cows (1994), Roundup Ready® soybeans (1996), Roundup Ready® Cotton and Roundup Ready® Canola (1997), Roundup Ready® Corn (1998), and receive USDA authorization for planting Genuity® Roundup Ready® Alfalfa and Genuity® Roundup Ready® Sugarbeets in 2011?

Yes. Monsanto has a long record of producing toxic chemicals.

Some of Monsanto’s chemicals have been taken off the market because of environmental issues. Which are they?

Well, of course DDT comes to mind. It was banned in 1972 in the US, due in part to the tireless campaigns of Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring. Bovine growth hormone has not been taken off the market yet, but there is a great deal of public awareness of its problems, and many dairies have stopped using it to boost milk supplies from the cows, recognizing its adverse health effects for the cows as well as potential risk to the consumer.

What do you think is the likelihood of that happening with glyphosate, since its apparent long-range health impacts are just becoming recognized, and they definitely are not favorable?

It would be so wonderful if glyphosate were to be banned. I can dream that it might happen some day. It’s absolutely clear to me that it should be banned, but public opinion is very far away from that point of view. Monsanto has worked very hard to promote the idea that glyphosate is nearly harmless to humans. So, it’s going to take a serious amount of reeducation, or some catastrophe like half the children born diagnosed on the autism spectrum, to turn that around.


How long has Roundup® been on the market, and how many gallons are used every year in the USA alone, not to mention globally?

It’s been on the market since 1975, and was first introduced into the US market. The US market today represents 25% of the total sales worldwide. In our paper we showed how the usage has gone up substantially in step with the increased penetration of GMO crops that are “Roundup Ready.” In 2001 an estimated total of 85 to 90 million pounds of it were used in the US alone, and this number more than doubled by 2007. I expect it may have doubled again since then, but we didn’t find hard numbers on that.

Glyphosate/Roundup is an organophosphate. Can you please explain what the problems are with that type of herbicide? Also, there is another organophosphate with an almost similar sounding name; it is glufosinate. Did you do any research on glufosinate?

Technically, glyphosate is an “organophosphonate,” not quite the same as an organophosphate but close. You're right that glyphosate and glufosinate are “cousins” with similar molecular structures and probably similar effects. We haven't specifically studied glufosinate, but I’d imagine it’s just as damaging as glyphosate. Glyphosate disrupts the shikimate pathway, which plants use to produce a set of essential aromatic amino acids. All microbes also have this pathway, and it’s essential for their well-being. So glyphosate would be expected to disrupt gut bacteria, and it has been shown to be the case in research studies on cows and chickens.

What was the motivation to perform such an exhaustive study on glyphosate?

I have been studying autism for many years, trying to understand the underlying physiological dysfunction that causes it and trying to identify potential environmental factors that could be causative. It’s clear to me that autism has environmental causes, because genetic factors would not increase at such an alarming rate. The rate of autism in the US was one in 10,000 in 1970. Today it is one in fifty. And I anticipate that it will get much higher in the next ten years if we stay the course. I can't even begin to think about how that will impact our society.

Last September, I had the privilege to hear Prof. Don Huber, a retired professor from Purdue University who is an expert on plant physiology, give a two-hour lecture on glyphosate and Roundup, and I nearly fell out of my chair, because it became clear to me that the factors I was seeing in association with autism could all be explained by the known physiological effects of glyphosate. I was lucky to hook up with Anthony Samsel, who is an expert on environmental toxins, and he taught me much more about glyphosate. We were able to synthesize a plausible story for how glyphosate exposure in both the mom and the child could lead to autism. But, in addition, we realized that it could also explain a host of other problems that are reaching epidemic proportions in this country, such as obesity, depression, gastrointestinal distress, and Alzheimer's disease.

In your paper you say that the European Union is being asked by industry to approve higher levels of glyphosate in food crops. Why such a proposal and can you discuss that a little?

I’d imagine that it’s simply that food was coming in from the US that was exceeding the limits that had been set. I think the limits are generally set somewhat arbitrarily based on what is measured in the food. Since most people think that glyphosate is nontoxic to humans, there does not seem to be too much concern raised when limits are jacked up by a factor of ten or even one hundred!

Does that have anything to do with the supposed notion that glyphosate has a minimal toxicity effect in humans, which was based upon Monsanto’s safety/toxicity studies done for only 3 months on laboratory animals?

That's right.

Didn’t your research find that Professor Seralini’s two-year study contradicted Monsanto’s 3-month studies? Will you please elaborate on that and the apparent implications?

Yes. Seralini’s research showed that glyphosate has devastating effects on the health of rats over the long term. Mammary tumors, kidney failure, liver cancer, etc. Glyphosate is insidious because it’s not immediately obvious that it has caused a problem. It slowly depletes certain vital nutrients until eventually you can become very sick.

Can you explain why you contend that glyphosate is an environmental toxin that may be responsible for dysbiosis (what is that?) and sulfate depletion (what is that and its significance)?

By examining the results of studies on microbes, plants and animals, one can extrapolate to what would likely happen to humans, and this leads to the conclusion that major biological systems would become disrupted (dysbiosis). Gut dysbiosis refers to an imbalance in gut bacteria such that there are too few beneficial bacteria and too many pathogenic forms. Our studies led us to predict that glyphosate would disrupt both sulfate transport (through competitive inhibition) and sulfate synthesis (by disrupting the enzyme responsible for sulfate synthesis). Sulfate plays a huge role (not sufficiently well acknowledged) in all the cells in the body for maintaining a healthy interface with the local environment and for cell-cell communication. And it’s also essential in neurotransmission.

What led you to say that glyphosate may be the most significant environmental toxin contributing to autism?

That requires a long answer! So many things line up between glyphosate and autism that I hardly know where to begin! Prior to even considering glyphosate, I had identified two key pathologies that co-occur on a regular basis with autism. These are disrupted gut bacteria and impaired sulfur metabolism. It turns out that glyphosate easily explains both of these, as we described in our paper. There are now three papers we're aware of that show disrupted gut bacteria (overgrowth of pathogens and inflammatory gut) in chickens, cows, and pigs. The one on pigs just came out and was not available when we wrote our paper. Glyphosate has been shown to deplete methionine, an essential sulfur-containing amino acid which plays physiological roles related to both methylation and sulfate synthesis. Serotonin depletion is also associated with autism, as well as many other conditions that are prevalent today in the US, including Alzheimer's, obesity, depression, suicide, and homicide (violent behavior). Plots showing autism rates in the US and Roundup usage on corn and soy crops show a remarkable correspondence.

What are the key pathological biological effects of glyphosate that can explain or parallel the characteristic features of autism?

As I said before, overgrowth of pathogens is an important one. This causes inflammatory gut, but also these pathogens release toxins that can get into the brain and cause neurological damage. More than this, glyphosate chelates essential minerals such as iron, zinc, copper, cobalt, molybdenum, manganese, etc. Some of these are very rare, but the body uses them in important ways, such that, when they're depleted, major pathways get disrupted. Another really insidious effect is that it disrupts a class of enzymes called cytochrome P450 enzymes, also known as CYP enzymes. There are many different CYP enzymes in the liver that control things like cholesterol homeostasis, vitamin D activation, and, most significantly, detoxification of many different environmental toxins. For example, the liver depends on CYP enzymes to detoxify Tylenol, and an excess sensitivity to Tylenol has been implicated in autism. And CYP enzymes also detoxify pesticides (organophosphates), so these become more toxic in the presence of glyphosate. I think this might explain the bee colony die-off.

Your research indicates that glyphosate contributes to or induces inflammatory bowel disease and a host of other diseases. Will you tell us about them? Also, aren’t bowel problems a prime health concern with autistic children? How many papers did you find regarding ASD children with bowel problems?

Many people have studied the relationship between autism and inflammatory bowel disease, and it has become quite clear that there's a connection. Andrew Wakefield was among the first to recognize this connection. He's the doctor who wrote the paper in Lancet on MMR and autism that was later retracted due to the influence of the vaccine industry. I would say that the inflammatory bowel disease introduces toxins into the brain that lead to a disruptions of normal maturation processes in the brain. The defective neural network leads to the autistic behavior patterns. I expect something similar is going on with Alzheimer’s disease and depression. Glyphosate is also a likely risk factor for certain cancers. I wonder a lot about breast cancer, which is very common among women in America today. Given Seralini’s results on mammary tumors in rats, one has to wonder.

What can you tell us about the gut microbiome of chickens that needs to be investigated further with regard to glyphosate in chicken feed? How does that impact eggs and chicken meat people eat as food?

We found an article that talked about disrupted gut bacteria in chickens. Highly pathogenic strains of Salmonella and Clostridium were found to be highly resistant to glyphosate, whereas beneficial bacteria such as Enterococcus, Bacillus and Lactobacillus were found to be especially susceptible. I have no idea what this does to the meat and eggs derived from the chicken, but knowing this has convinced me to buy only organic chicken.

According to your research, glyphosate disrupts the body’s ability to detoxify other environmental toxins and leads to synergistic enhancement of toxicity. That’s extremely problematic insofar as the etiology of inflammation, chronic disease patterns, and the formation of adducts which reprogram DNA. Will you please comment on that?

Well, I imagine you might be referring to DNA getting bound to aluminum and then becoming resistant to clean-up by the immune cells. I have read papers theorizing that this is how the autoimmune disease ASIA could develop (Autoimmune Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants). The DNA would burst out of a cell that dies suddenly due to excess exposure to aluminum, and then, because it can't be broken down (bound to aluminum), it would be interpreted as being foreign and the body would develop an immune reaction to its own DNA. Glyphosate would interfere with the body's ability to dispose of the aluminum, increasing the likelihood of this kind of reaction.

Something most folks may not know is that glyphosate’s increasing toxic burden rates in humans may be impacting fertility, decreasing birth rates, and even contributing to the obesity epidemic. How can that be?

Well, I mentioned before that obesity is one of the conditions associated with serotonin deficiency. The sole precursor of serotonin is an aromatic amino acid, tryptophan, whose synthesis glyphosate directly disrupts. This is well known. I think obesity is also a protective measure to allow the fat cells to sequester environmental toxins that can't be eliminated due to glyphosate's disruption of both CYP enzymes and sulfur metabolism. Aromatase is a CYP enzyme that plays an important role in embryonic development, and glyphosate disrupts aromatase function. Glyphosate also likely interferes with the breakdown of retinoic acid, which could mess up the timing in embryonic development. Cholesterol sulfate plays an essential role in fertilization, and we argued in our paper that glyphosate would interfere with cholesterol sulfate synthesis through its effects on CYP enzymes. This also impacts autism. The obesity epidemic in this country began in 1975, coincident with the introduction of glyphosate into the food chain. And our slippage in infant mortality rates also began in 1975. We’re now #46 behind Cuba and Guam in infant mortality, which is abysmal, considering how much we spend on health care.

A major concern I have, as a retired natural nutritionist, is GM cooking oils, i.e., canola, soybean, corn, and cottonseed oils. Since chemicals naturally gravitate to and store in fats in plants, animals, and humans—and oils are the fats in plant-base foods—what chemical interactions occur when GM cooking oils are heated? Have any studies been done as to what carcinogens may be created, i.e., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), when glyphosate residues are heated in deep fryers as in fast food restaurants?

This sounds like something I need to study, because I was not aware of this. It is disturbing to think of heating glyphosate to high temperatures and what exactly that might do. I have no idea. I think it’s highly likely that these oils contain glyphosate, especially the GMO forms of them. My husband and I do not use any of these oils in our cooking.

That leads to my asking about glyphosate’s adverse effects on gut microbiota. Please explain what microbiota are, how they are affected, and immune system interaction(s).

It is becoming increasingly apparent that gut bacteria play many essential roles in the body. Researchers now speak of the gut “microbiome” an amazingly diverse set of genes representing all the different microbes, predominantly bacteria and yeast, which hang out in the gut. It’s rather sobering to know that they outnumber our own cells by a factor of ten, and their collective genetic complexity is at least an order of magnitude higher than our own genetic complexity. We depend upon their well being in order to be well ourselves. When you eat glyphosate-laden foods, you're poisoning them every day, and you will pay a huge price for this in terms of not only your gut health but also your general health, because pathogens will be able to get past a leaky gut barrier and cause a systemic problem.

You say that corn and soy crops have been shown to accumulate excess shikimate in response to glyphosate exposure. First of all, what is shikimate, and second, what does that do to animals and people eating such crops?

Glyphosate blocks the pathway that converts shikimate into aromatic amino acids, so the shikimate piles up. It also gets diverted into phenolic compounds and ammonia. These can both be toxic to the body. Shikimate is listed as a Group 3 carcinogen, meaning that it might be carcinogenic, and it is certainly not recommended for general consumption.

What I found rather startling is that glyphosate acts as a chelator of micronutrients, which means that plants then don’t have quantitative and qualitative nutrient values (vitamins and minerals), in Roundup Ready® crops that have glyphosate applications. So how can the U.S. FDA say that genetically modified crops are equivalent to conventional or heirloom crops? Would you please expound upon that, as I think that amounts to nutritional deficiencies similar to what happened in the early 1900s that required the introduction of “enrichment”, i.e., certain vitamins and minerals were added back to denatured, processed crops like wheat for bread making.

Yes, I believe you are right. I do not understand how Monsanto gets by with claiming that there is no difference. A study done in Scotland by Pusztai on potatoes found striking differences between the GMO potatoes and non-GMO potatoes. A recent small study on GMO corn showed shocking levels of depletion of sulfur, calcium, magnesium and manganese, as well as a disturbing amount of formaldehyde showing up. The formaldehyde doesn't surprise me, because there are bacteria called Pseudomonas that can break down glyphosate, but they release formaldehyde as a by-product. Formaldehyde is a known neurotoxin.

From my reading of your excellent paper, I’ve come to the conclusion that amino acid profiles—especially methionine, an essential sulfur-containing amino acid—in plant foods may be reduced thereby contributing to additional plant nutrition deficiencies. Am I correct? Please explain or elaborate on your answer.

Yes, it’s logical that that would be the case. The plant gets depleted in amino acids and minerals by the glyphosate, and then you eat an inferior, nutrient-deficient food derived from the plant. Worse than that, you eat the glyphosate as well, and it interferes with your gut bacteria's ability to supply you with essential amino acids. It’s a double hit.

Even greenhouse experiments demonstrated that glyphosate application to the root system decreased levels of calcium, magnesium, iron, and manganese in the seeds of plants. That’s dramatic and catastrophic, I’d say. So, humans then will have less and less nutritional food values when eating GM crops. That on top of all the problems we have now with all the processed and junk foods masquerading as ‘healthy’ eating according to those who mass produce them.

Yes. The processed foods are basically pseudo-foods put together from chemicals. It’s a ridiculous way to make food. I don't eat anything that has more than five ingredients. And if you don't recognize the things on the ingredient list, chances are you don't want to eat it.

Are you aware that the Kosher Certification Program, Natural Food Certifiers has banned all GMO ingredients? NFC Director Rabbi Reuven Flamer says, “Recent studies show that GMOs may cause various kinds of health problems from digestive disturbances to food allergies, and that GMOs require more herbicides, which is really the opposite reason why GMOs were touted to be so environmentally helpful in the first place.” So, you see consumers are starting to take notice of the facts about GMOs and certain industries are responding to consumer concerns.

I was not aware of that, but I'm really happy to hear it. Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream also has made a commitment to no GMO's, and Whole Foods has promised to label all GMOs in their foods. These are great steps. I'm not a political person, but I have become politically involved in trying to get my state, Massachusetts to pass a GMO labeling bill. It amazes me how hard it is to get any traction on what seems to me like a very simple issue.

May 25, 2013 it is estimated that two million people around the globe participated in the March Against Monsanto. Whole Foods Natural Grocery Store chain will require mandatory GMO labeling on all food products by 2018. What does that tell you?

Maybe we're reaching the “tipping point” that Jeffrey Smith [Institute for Responsible Technology http://www.responsibletechnology.org/] likes to talk about?

Here’s an off-the-wall question, but someone has to ask it, I think. Since Monsanto claims ownership or royalties by farmers whose crops have been GMO-pollinated by wind or insects, thereby legally enforcing their patent rights, do people who eat genetically modified foods belong to Monsanto? Will Monsanto have any legal rights to them or their children, especially since Monsanto is so predatory and patent conscious? Furthermore, how can living organisms, which seeds and food are, be patented? Is there something sinister going on that people who eat GMO food aren’t recognizing?

I am astonished at the kind of power Monsanto has been able to wield. I'm sure you've heard about the recent contamination of wheat fields with GMO wheat that cut loose somehow from Monsanto's research farms? I hope many countries refuse to buy our wheat, as it could really put pressure on the government to start to move in the other direction. Of course, Monsanto has the right, I’d assume, to sue these farmers who are now unable to sell their wheat to Japan and South Korea. Monsanto can sue them for “growing” patented GMO wheat without having bought it from Monsanto. How absurd is this?

Lastly, recently there was a study indicating that diabetes is the disease that makes people cranky and violent. Well, in your paper diabetes is one of the numerous diseases that can be attributed to glyphosate’s negative intervention on enzymatic pathways, especially cytochrome P450 enzymes, which impact hormones. Can all the craziness and violence we see in society today be attributable to an escalation of chemicals, especially ubiquitous glyphosate, that are biologically programming people to do crazy things?

I absolutely believe this is the case. I was frustrated with all the school shootings where the focus is entirely on controlling who buys guns rather than addressing directly the issue of why do we live in a society where people are capable of committing such heinous crimes?

Thank you, Dr. Seneff, for helping our readers understand more about genetically modified crops that are sprayed with glyphosate and how they apparently negatively impact our health and wellbeing, something most people may not be aware of. Thank you also for bringing to our attention the recently published article “Glyphosate induces human breast cancer cells growth via estrogen receptors”[1] by Thongprakaisang, S. etal, published in Food Chemical Toxicology June 8, 2013 wherein the Abstract states:

These results indicated that low and environmentally relevant concentrations of glyphosate possessed estrogenic activity. Glyphosate-based herbicides are widely used for soybean cultivation, and our results also found that there was an additive estrogenic effect between glyphosate and genistein, a phytoestrogen in soybeans.

And further animal studies are needed, they say. Well, Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini at the University of Caen and CRIIGEN [2]in France has been doing studies on laboratory animals given GMO feed for years now; his study results have been published; and no one seems to want to take the damning results seriously. Go figure!

In closing, I’d like to let readers in Hawaii know about Dr. Stephanie Seneff’s Hawaiian speaking engagements about glyphosate, GMOs, and the paper she co-authored about how they impact human health. The Kokua Market Coop will be sponsoring Dr. Seneff’s two speaking engagements: one in Honolulu and the other in the northern part of Oahu the evenings of July 23 and 24, 2013. For location, please contact The Kokua Market Coop, 2643 S. King St., Honolulu, HI 96826, Phone: 808-941-1922.

Notes:
[1] Food Chem Toxicol. 2013 Jun 8. pii: S0278-6915(13)00363-3. doi:
10.1016/j.fct.2013.05.057. [Epub ahead of print]
[2] http://www.criigen.org/SiteEn/

 

Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies.

Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.

Catherine’s latest book, A Cancer Answer, Holistic BREAST Cancer Management, A Guide to Effective & Non-Toxic Treatments, is available on Amazon.com and as a Kindle eBook.

Two of Catherine’s more recent books on Amazon.com are Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick (2009) and Lord, How Can I Make It Through Grieving My Loss, An Inspirational Guide Through the Grieving Process (2008).