Pesticide Round Up: Glyphosate and Your Health

The world's largest pesticide-producing corporation, Monsanto, is responsible for creating the herbicide Roundup, a first cousin to Agent Orange. RoundUp is a blend of toxic chemicals designed to kill off weeds and repel pests. It was first created in the early 1980s.

Shortly after that time, the company discovered a bacteria that seemed to survive in the presence of RoundUp and began to experiment with splicing the gene that caused this into the seeds used to grow crops. This was the start of genetically engineered crops, and the first RoundUp Ready seeds appeared in 1996. The initial crop, Soybeans, was followed rapidly by other commercially valuable crops:

  • Alfalfa
  • Canola
  • Corn
  • Cotton
  • Sugar beets

Bird's eye view of multiple fields of corn. Yellow and green mixture. Bright day.

These genetically engineered crops are scientifically crafted to live through being doused with large amounts of the Roundup herbicide without dying off with the weeds it is designed to kill. So the company that created the herbicide RoundUp also created the plants that resist the chemicals they have created.

The active ingredient in RoundUp is a chemical known as glyphosate. The genetically engineered plants absorb larger amounts of this chemical than other conventionally grown plants by far. While Monsanto continually claims that glyphosate is no more harmful to humans than aspirin, many studies have shown that this is not true.

Glyphosate has been known to cause nutritional deficiencies and systemic toxicity when consumed by humans. Glyphosate is an invasive toxin disguised as the essential amino acid glycine, which is utilized by every cell in the body. Glycine is a component of our DNA and virtually every other component of our cells. Glyphosate is N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine, and it can be incorporated into every place that glycine can be incorporated.

Therefore, when the body absorbs this known carcinogen, it is taken up in every location or receptor site where your body typically absorbs glycine. This allows the carcinogen to become incorporated into your cell structure.

It has also been attributed to the following:

  • Autism
  • Allergies
  • Cancer
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Crohn’s disease
  • Colitis
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Infertility
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Obesity
  • Depression
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Gastrointestinal complications

Glyphosate infiltrates our system through the shikimate pathways in the microbes of our body. It attacks the beneficial bacteria in our gut that naturally protects us from harmful food we may ingest. Unfortunately, the chemical also allows pathogens to overgrow within these shikimate pathways and creates systemic disruption, leading to many forms of illness and disease.

Imagine glyphosate doing to your gut what it does to a dandelion. Glyphosate chelates the mineral ions in a plant and turns them into toxic metallic salts. This disrupts all metabolic activity, and the plant dehydrates and then dies.

Farm tractor spraying glyphosate on crops. Bright day with foggy/smokey sky blurred out in background. Green tractor on green field.

Glyphosate irritates and burns everything it touches. It gets incorporated into cell structures, wreaking havoc on our bodies and the microbes that exist to protect and heal us.

Furthermore, by limiting our bodies' natural defense systems and our ability to detoxify by reducing the number of beneficial bacteria in our gut, it enhances the damaging effects of other toxins and chemicals we are exposed to.

The most common foods with high amounts of glyphosate are also associated with many food sensitivities rising in Americans— sugar, corn, soy, and wheat.

Glyphosate cannot be washed off the affected plant. Just like in our bodies, it incorporates itself into the plant cells and remains within the plant until our bodies digest it. The massive increase in "food allergies" is actually the result of adverse reactions to consuming food grown with toxic chemicals.

Purchasing organic foods is one of the few ways to decrease your exposure to this harmful chemical. Organic farmers use minimal, if any, pesticides or herbicides in their food production. Purchase USDA-certified organic produce and processed foods, or grow your own whenever possible. If you choose to eat meat, buy grass-fed or pasture-raised products that have not been fed corn or soy that has been subject to Roundup in its production.

A few common exposure points are grass and yards that have been spot treated with RoundUp or other Glyphosate-based herbicides. Often, fields are sprayed a day or two before harvest to "dry out" the plants so that they are easier to harvest, and farms that grow GMO crops anywhere spray herbicide from two to seven times in a single growing season.

Imagine your children playing barefoot in the yard that has been spot treated with glyphosate-rich chemicals. The glyphosate molecule is so tiny that it readily passes through the skin into the bloodstream and affects you and your children the same way it does dandelions. Consider this– living out in the country in a nice old farmhouse with nothing but fields all around. The conventional farms next to you spray a different field every day. How often do you think that you are exposed to glyphosate?

This toxin doesn't wash off, travels through the air, and affects both surface and groundwater. Yet, there are very few regulations on the domestic use of glyphosate.

The only solution is to protect you and your family the best you can by eating organic, filtering your water, and frequently participating in a detox like Dr. Nuzum's 2-week detox program.