New evidence points to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s RoundUp weedkiller, as the culprit in the rise of gluten intolerance, celiac disease and irritable bowel syndrome.

No, this isn’t coming from Monsanto’s test plots of wheat genetically engineered to resist RoundUp (yet). This is coming from a standard practice used on the vast majority of non-organic wheat grown in the United States and other countries…

For more than two decades, non-organic wheat farmers have been routinely using glyphosate as a “crop desiccant” — applied to the field 7-10 days prior to harvest in order to “dry down” the crop for uniformity. Many of these same farmers also use RoundUp during the growing season to assist in weed control. The result?

A “nearly ubiquitous use of glyphosate entering our food chain and making us ill.”

According to the USDA, the percent of glyphosate applied to wheat in 2012 was as follows:

A new peer-reviewed paper published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Toxicology (Vol. 6(4): 159–184 ) by Doctors Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff shows that celiac disease, gluten intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome are on the rise worldwide, and that rise has taken place in parallel with the increased use of glyphosate (Roundup) herbicide.

Samsel and Seneff researched the known (published) effects of glyphosate along with the known (published) pathologies associated with celiac disease, gluten intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome, through which they identified both chemical and biological pathways where glyphosate can be the cause of these diseases.

“All of the known biological effects of glyphosate – cytochrome P450 inhibition, disruption of synthesis of aromatic amino acids, chelation of transition metals, and antibacterial action – contribute to the pathology of celiac disease,” Samsel and Seneff’s paper states.

A recent estimate suggests that one in twenty people in North America and Western Europe currently suffer from gluten intolerance-related diseases. Meanwhile glyphosate has been linked to a long list of other health and environmental impacts, including crop diseases, birth defects, declines in beneficial insects, disruption of human cells and gut bacteria, DNA damage, and cancer.

Glyphosate (the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup) has become the number one selling herbicide worldwide, due to the increase in the planting of Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready Crops, which are genetically engineered to withstand multiple applications of the weedkiller during the growth cycle.

Despite countless letters and documents submitted in protest, in July 2013, the EPA raised the maximum allowable residues of glyphosate in our food, most likely to accommodate the levels already routinely detected.

Sources:

– Examiner.com “Is it the gluten or is it the glyphosate?”

– USDA: National Agricultural Statistics Service

– More About Glyphosate: GMO-Awareness.com

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