Do You Have a Chronic Disease–Diabetes, Hypertension, Cancer, Autism, and more? Glyphosate (in Monsanto’s Roundup) just might be the cause!
Do you (or a family member or friend) have one or more of these chronic diseases?
Hypertension, stroke, diabetes, obesity, senile dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, autism, inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal infections, end stage renal disease, acute kidney failure, or cancer of the thyroid, liver, bladder, pancreas kidney, and myeloid leukemia.
A new study has uncovered a very strong correlation between the increased use of the herbicide glyphosate (in Monsanto’s Roundup) and the growing incidence of all of these diseases. The correlation indicators or p-values (Pearson’s correlation coefficients) for all of the correlations of these diseases with glyphosate use are between .875 and .978.
What is a p-value?
The p-values calculated in this study are very significant! I looked up the explanation of p-values because I wanted to be sure I understood what the correlation p-values mean in this study..
Here is how Wikipedia defines p-value:
“The correlation coefficient [p-value] ranges from −1 to 1. A value of 1 implies that a linear equation describes the relationship between X and Y perfectly, with all data points lying on a line for which Y increases as X increases. A value of −1 implies that all data points lie on a line for which Y decreases as X increases. A value of 0 implies that there is no linear correlation between the variables.” [source]
Since all of the p-values for these correlations are .875 and up (approaching the perfect correlation value of 1) the likelihood of correlation between glyphosate use and the incidence of the disease is very high.
Correlation of Diabetes and Use of Glyphosate
I’ve chosen just one of the many charts in the study to show you how phenomenal the correlations are. This chart illustrates the strong correlation between the prevalence of diabetes in the US and the amount of glyphosate (in tons) applied to corn and soy. I find two trends in the chart to be fascinating. First, notice the slow but steady increase in incidence of diabetes between 1980 and 1994. Then take a look at the dramatic and steep rise in the incidence of diabetes and the equally steep increase in percentage of GE (also called GMO) crops and application of glyphosate beginning in the mid 1990’s after GE crops were introduced.
Figure 15. correlation between age-adjusted diabetes prevalence and glyphosate applications and percentage of US corn and soy crops that are GE. [chart source, Journal of Organic Systems, p. 22]
These data show very strong and highly significant correlations between the increasing use of glyphosate, GE crop growth and the increase in a multitude of diseases. Many of the graphs show sudden increases in the rates of diseases in the mid-1990s that coincide with the commercial production of GE crops. The large increase in glyphosate use in the US is mostly due to the increase in glyphosate-resistant GE crops.
Although glyphosate (in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide) was introduced in 1974, its use began increasing dramatically when genetically engineered (GMO) crops were approved and planted, since many GMO crops are Roundup-Ready (engineered to be resistant to glyphosate-containing Roundup). [source]
As the researchers concluded, “Although correlation does not necessarily mean causation, when correlation coefficients of over 0.95 (with p-value significance levels less than 0.00001) are calculated for a list of diseases that can be directly linked to glyphosate, via its known biological effects, it would be imprudent not to consider causation as a plausible explanation.” [source] [emphasis added]
The authors allow that these diseases probably do not have a single cause “as there are many toxic substances and pathogens that can contribute to chronic disease. However, no toxic substance has increased in ubiquity in the last 20 years as glyphosate has. The disruption by glyphosate of the detoxification pathways in the human body can intensify the effect of other toxic chemicals. . . . Another critical issue is that glyphosate is an endocrine disruptor and it has been argued that there are no safe levels of endocrine disruptors (Vandenberg et al., 2012; Bergman et al., 2013). This would imply that the current permitted residue levels in food could be causing multiple health problems that have been documented in the scientific literature to be caused by endocrine disrupting chemicals” [source] [emphasis added]
The number of studies that show the dangers of glyphosate is growing. How long will it take before we say NO to glyphosate, Roundup, and the GE crops they are sprayed on?
What can we do?
Our options are more limited in the US than in Europe and other parts of the world because we don’t label our foods so that we can know what poisons are in them. We can avoid much of the glyphosate, and other toxins and poisons, by always buying organic foods or, even better, by knowing the sources of our food, by knowing our farmers, and through learning how the crops are grown.
My first choice is to know the people who grow or provide my food, and, in many cases I do. I buy milk from Healthyway Dairy. I buy grassfed beef from Law Ranch Cattle Company. I buy vegetables, fruits, and yard eggs at my local farmers market. What I can’t buy locally, I buy organic whenever possible, even if I have to order online, and I can find organic choices most of the time. See my resource page for online sources of healthy food, and, for Houston area sources, go to the Local Food & Milk page of the Houston-Galveston chapter of the WAPF.
There isn’t really any such thing as cheap food! If you think there is, read We Simply Can’t Avoid the True Cost of Cheap Food! We all will pay one way or the other–we can pay the price of good quality food now or we will pay the health care cost later (along with the pain and debilitation of poor health).
Sources
Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America, Swanson, Leu, Abrahamson & Wallet, Journal of Organic Systems, 9(2), 2014
Values of the Pearson Correlation
You might also want to read:
Glyphosate is already in our food, air, and water: What is it and why should we care?
Is Glyphosate (Monsanto’s Roundup) Used On Wheat?
What Does Genetically Engineered (or GMO) Mean?
Are We Sacrificing Our Children to Profits From Glyphosate (Roundup) and Roundup-Ready GE Crops?
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I am age 60 and have Parkinson’s Disease. I developed the first symptoms about 11 years ago, which means that my substantia nigra, which is the part of the brain that produces dopamine, was compromised years before that. Despite having long lived parents, grandparents & greatgrandparents, no one else in my family appears to have suffered from any of the symptoms of Parkinson’s. I also have had chronic digestive problems or decades, including bloating, weight gain, etc. and did not relate that to the breads, cereals, and other gluten laden products I ate daily. Then, about a year ago, I read David Perlmutter’s “The Grain Brain”. Dr. Perlmutter also links the dramatic increase in gluten-intolerance and celiac disease to the manner in which wheat is grown in the last few decades, and this view is becoming accepted by more people, by my reading of the comments in this forum. In his book, Dr. Perlmutter also makes a good case that the rise of gluten insensitivity is not only caused by engineered foods, but also by too much sugar (especially high fructose corn syrup), and environmental toxins, all of which creates a “perfect storm” in the brain which can lead to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and a host of other neurological disorders. After eliminating gluten from my diet, my digestive problems were reduced greatly. I sporadically cheat on the gluten free diet (there is something about sharing bread with friends at a meal), but invariably pay for it later.
I also hear that people in this country who suffer from gluten sensitivity to full-blown celiac disease can eat bread without problems when traveling abroad. It is becoming more clear that we are sacrificing our own health and that of our children to permit corporations such as Monsanto to maximize profits. They in turn pay big bucks to Congress to pass laws helping them to avoid having to reveal what is in the food we are buying.
I am glad you have found some relief from your digestive problems by avoiding gluten. You can reduce problems with gluten by using only organic, heirloom wheats such as einkorn, emmer, and spelt, which have a lower gluten content. You can also help predigest the wheat/gluten by fermenting the breads (sourdough).
To learn more about causes of Parkinson’s disease, you should also read Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills by Russell L. Blaylock MD.
Parkinson’s disease is one of several neurodegenerative diseases. Others include Alzheimer’s, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Huntington’s disease, and Pick’s disease. You are correct that the brain was compromised years ago. According to Dr. Blaylock, “the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease do not manifest themselves until over 80 to 90% of the neurons in the involved nuclei (called the substantia nigra) have died. The neurons didn’t all suddenly die at the same time, rather they slowly and silently deteriorated over many years.” You should read his book to know all the details, but it seems that one primary cause of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s, is glutamate, or MSG. Dr. Blaylock explains how glutamate, and other exitotoxins, “may produce Parkinsonism by overexciting the cortical glutamate cells that connect to the nigrostriatal neurons lying deep inside the brain. It is sort of like lightening hitting the power line outside your house and burning up all of the appliances connected to that line.”
To avoid MSG is not easy because it is not always labeled clearly. This food additive may be hidden under many other names, such as yeast extract, autolyzed yeast, soy protein, soy protein isolate, textured protein, whey protein, and many more. Read here and here for more sources of MSG. It is especially important to choose carefully when eating out. Almost all fast food and chain restaurants include some form of MSG in their foods, and many other restaurants do as well. MSG is a flavor enhancer and is often used to mask cheap, tasteless foods.
As referenced in this post, it could also be the poison–glyphosate, for example–on our US wheat that is making us sick. My own theory is that it is the combination of poor nutrition, processed pseudo foods, and toxins that are causing our degenerative “diseases of civilization.”