glyphosate dangers

The Choices We Make: Glyphosate

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The story of glyphosate and glyphosate-based-herbicides is emblematic of the perspective we hold towards chemical safety and the tactics employed by the chemical industry to maintain that perspective. Here was a chemical that was initially used industrially and recognized as toxic but through the magic of marketing and intense lobbying, became ‘safe’ for human consumption. What is particularly interesting about the glyphosate story is that each of the mechanisms by which the chemical produced its desired results in industry were compartmentalized by the manufacturers as being somehow distinct from how the chemical would behave in humans or animals. It was a brilliant sleight of hand, one we all bought hook, line, and sinker because we wanted to believe it. Glyphosate based herbicides, at least initially, and if we did not think too much about the chemistry, worked. The herbicides made life easier, or so we thought. If we look at the history of this chemical and the mechanisms by which it acts, however, we should have known better.

From Industrial Descaling Agent to Herbicide and Antibiotic

Glyphosate was first patented in 1961 as an industrial descaling agent. It was used to remove minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese from piping. Glyphosate chelates or grabs and binds these minerals so that they can be flushed out. It does the same thing in plants and in humans that consume glyphosate-doused products, maybe not as quickly as when used as a descaling agent because the dosage is markedly different, but over time the small and continuous exposure to a chelating agent, will chelate minerals and create deficiencies. Why should we think otherwise; well, because we were told that it would not harm us and we wanted to believe that the inherent properties of these chemicals would somehow change relative to the organism into or onto which the chemical was used. They do not.

Ten years later, glyphosate along with undisclosed and untested chemical adjuvants (helper chemicals that maximize absorption, enhance metabolism and other critical functions) was patented as a weedkiller and brought to market as Roundup in 1974 by Monsanto. Glyphosate-based herbicides kill plants via disruption of an enzyme (enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase –EPSPS) in what is called the shikimate pathway. In plants and microbial organisms like bacteria, fungi, algae and some protozoa, the shikimate pathway synthesizes folates and amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan). Of note, folates (vitamin B9) are important for red blood cell development and oxygenation, iron homeostasis, and DNA synthesis and repair, and methylation among other functions and amino acids are critical for protein synthesis, a requisite for health and survival. The amino acids that glyphosate blocks comprise about 30% of plant dry mass and contribute largely to the dietary needs of the larger animals and humans. This is one of the many reasons conventionally grown produce contains fewer nutrients and higher sugar content than their organic counterparts.

The EPSPS enzyme is present in all plants, fungi and bacteria. Since this pathway only occurs in plants and lower organisms like bacteria, it was argued that ingested glyphosate would have no effect on the health of animals or humans. This has proven not to be true for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that these bacteria are commensal with humans. That is, bacteria with this pathway are naturally present on human skin, in the lungs, the gut and the reproductive tract. In that regard, glyphosate is a potent antibiotic and antifungal. The company filed patents for its antibiotic properties in 2002, while simultaneously and vociferously denying glyphosate’s antimicrobial tendencies, using of course, the standard trope that the formulation only affects plants. It most certainly does not. The human gut, in particular, is comprised of incredibly complex and tightly balanced ecosystem of billions of microorganisms that perform all sorts of critical functions from nutrient absorption and synthesis to immune regulation. Alterations in gut bacteria are proving to be key contributors to disease; a fact that was purportedly missed by the manufacturers.

So, we have a chemical formulation that kills plants and microbes; one that is toxic to all plant life, not just weeds, but all plant life. This necessitated the development of genetically modified (GM) crops to withstand the poison. GM crops contain either two copies of the EPSPS enzyme or a strain of the enzyme resistant to the chemicals. That is the genetic modification used in conventional agriculture. It is not the simple crossbreeding of yesteryear to produce bigger, prettier, or tastier produce. The modifications are to withstand a poison. It should be noted that although the plants are modified to withstand the poison, they cannot to metabolize it. That means that glyphosate residues remain in and on the plant that is destined to become food or, and in the cotton that is used in all sorts of applications from clothing to medical and feminine hygiene products. Yes, glyphosate has been found in 85% of tampons tested. Might this be a problem in women’s health? Likely, but again, it is not something that is considered by conventional medicine. Glyphosate remains in the soil indefinitely and leaches into the surface and ground water changing the nutrient and microbial composition ever so slightly as to be considered insignificant, unless of course, one understands the ramifications of small changes, compounded over time. Finally, and as mentioned previously, while glyphosate alone carries certain toxicities, glyphosate with its adjuvants becomes exponentially more dangerous, a 1000 times more potent according to some studies. Researchers in France have demonstrated this repeatedly (see work by Giles Seralini Lab ). The adjuvants, however, are presumed inert, and thus, never tested pre-release and not recognized for their toxicity post-release.

Manufacturing Approval

Looking at the history of this product, we see where the manufacturer actively collides with contrary regulatory indices and research findings. Work on genetically modified (GM) strains of crops began in the eighties and reached culmination in the nineties. In 1985, however, glyphosate was recognized as a class C carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Monsanto, fought against this classification and in 1991, just as the first GM products were to reach market, successfully bid the EPA to change its classification from Class C “Suggestive evidence of carcinogenic potential” to Class E which suggests “evidence of non-carcinogenicity for humans”. Nearly thirty years later, and hundreds of studies, the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC), a semi-autonomous branch of the World Health Organization, declared glyphosate as a probable carcinogen in 2015 with ‘strong evidence of genotoxicity, and just as it did in decades earlier, the manufacturers fought the classification and are largely succeeding. In 2018, however, a US court, said wait a minute; glyphosate based herbicides are indeed carcinogenic and found in favor of the plaintiff who developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Subsequently, additional cases have been brought against the manufacturers and any many more will likely follow. Whether and how this will ultimately affect the chemical industry remains to be seen.

We know that according to industry, glyphosate based herbicides are completely safe and effective and pose no cause for concern. None. They argue that the glyphosate based herbicides, much like every other chemical toxicant mass marketed, would not be allowed on the market unless they were safe. Failing to mention, of course, that through a series of regulatory loopholes, many components of these products are never tested, including the adjuvants, or that the regulatory agencies rely on data provided by industry; data that is edited heavily to present the compound in its most favorable light. Emblematic of the industry’s cavalier attitude towards chemical safety:

Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food,” he said. ”Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the F.D.A.’s job.” – Phil Angell, Monsanto’s Corporate Communications Director, 1999

Speak to the farmers, however, and a different story emerges. Animals fed GM foods develop all sorts of health issues from birth defects in offspring, to tumors in the animals themselves. Perhaps even more damning, at least economically, is that farmers who originally embraced glyphosate based herbicides now face invasive super-weeds for which there are no easy solutions.

Glyphosate Mechanisms of Ill-health

Here are just a few of the findings regarding the impact of glyphosate based herbicides on health. We know that glyphosate based herbicides:

  • Destroy gut bacteria. Research shows that glyphosate destroys gut bacteria. It is an antibacterial by design, after all (blocking the EPSPS enzyme in all microorganisms). The disruption of gut bacteria significantly influences the synthesis and absorption of nutrients and is linked to a wide variety of disease processes from autoimmune to neurological and everything in between.
  • Chelate minerals. Because glyphosate also binds to the minerals that do absorb, it acts as a chelator, effectively inactivating remaining minerals. The chelated metals (iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese, cobalt) contribute to mineral deficiencies but also vitamin deficiencies inasmuch as minerals are required for the enzyme activity that regulates vitamin synthesis.
  • Damage mitochondria. Roundup® with glyphosate damages complex I and III of the electron transport cycles, reducing ATP production by some 40%. Early evidence of this was demonstrated over 30 years ago.
  • Block liver detoxification pathways. The glyphosate-based herbicides block the Cytochrome P 450 (CYP450) enzymes in the liver responsible for detoxifying substances we ingest and impair metabolic transport mechanisms that underlie critical biochemical pathways in our bodies, thus magnifying the effects both food born toxicants and other ingested toxicants like pharmaceuticals. The net results include the array disease processes associated with the modern diet, everything from gastrointestinal disorders to depression and neurological conditions.
  • Initiate antibiotic resistance. Glyphosate based herbicides, are essentially antibiotics. When applied regularly, as they have been for decades, the bacterial community adapts by inducing what are called epigenetic changes; changes that increase their likelihood of survival. The regular consumption of these products, changes the bacterial landscape of the gut, skewing toward the hardier bacteria, which are typically of the pathogenomic strains like coli.
  • Induce fibrinous tumors in animals. This one should be particularly interesting for women who suffer from fibroids. Glyphosate induced alterations in the vitamin A pathway are linked with fibrinous tumor growth in rodents. Alterations in vitamin A metabolism can be mechanistically linked to the development of fibroid tumors. Similarly, a diet of GM (glyphosate tolerant) soy and maize has been shown to increase the size of the uterus in female pigs by 25%. Remember, glyphosate is sprayed on the cotton used for tampons and other feminine hygiene products providing a direct route of exposure for millions women every month, year in and year out.
  • Accumulate in humans, animals, ground soil and waterways. Glyphosate is present in significantly higher concentrations of individuals who eat genetically modified foods compared to those who eat predominantly organic foods and also in in chronically ill versus healthy individuals.

Many of the damages invoked by glyphosate based herbicides are linked to its structure as a synthetic glycine analog. Glycine is an essential amino required for protein synthesis and repair. It is also an excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. When glyphosate displaces glycine at random points in the protein synthesis and repair processes or by constituitively activating excitatory receptors in the brain, the consequences are vast and complicated. Research suggests that glyphosate’s role as a glycine analog underpins the explosion of chronic disease over the last few decades.

Glyphosate substitution for conserved glycines can easily explain a link with diabetes, obesity, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary edema, adrenal insufficiency, hypothyroidism, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, prion diseases, lupus, mitochondrial disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, neural tube defects, infertility, hypertension, glaucoma, osteoporosis, fatty liver disease and kidney failure.”

The notion that substituting an important amino acid with a synthetic analog would be safe, particularly over time, is laughable, but that is exactly what the industry argues and what we, as a population, chose to believe. We believed not just because we did not understand the chemistry, but because we wanted to believe. We wanted to believe in the supremacy of our man-made inventions and in the compartmentalization of effects. We never bothered to question whether there might be ill-effects from this or any of the thousands of other chemicals currently in use. We never asked whether the chemistry is indeed compartmentalized. We did not ask because to do so would require a fundamental change in the economic fabric of modern living; to ask would mean that we would have to act. If we are truthful with ourselves, with glyphosate, as with so many other modern chemicals that we now know are dangerous, we chose to ignore what we did not want to know. We chose convenience and the purported economic gain this convenience would bring us.

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The Echo Chamber of Corporate Science: Controlling the Narrative Ad Nauseam

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If you read my work with any regularity you’ll know that I like to ponder the nature of language, specifically, how the rules of discourse affect what can be known and who is permitted to have this knowledge. Inasmuch as language and discourse are culturally determined so too are the bounds of knowledge. How we describe our reality determines in large part the parameters of that reality or of what can be known. Just as important, is the act of delineating what types of discourse are meaningful versus which types are not worthy of our attention. In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to delineate the rules of discourse. I have argued previously that we have dissembled much of what holds discourse together and replaced it with a squirrelly notion of narrative control; one where all that matters is how a ‘product’ is perceived, whatever that product may be. In December, two seemingly separate touchstone events illustrate just how far the rules of discourse, particularly scientific discourse, have been severed from the pursuit of knowledge.

Controlling the Narrative

There is a saying in public relations, “he who controls the narrative, controls everything.” There are various iterations of this sentiment, but the gist is that if you control the language, if you control what can be said, and who can say it, you can pretty much guide any story to a desired end. It is brand management 101. Read any marketing or PR guide and there are often long discussions on how to control the narrative. It’s a well-honed practice for anyone in business or politics, and really, in life in general. We all massage language in order to achieve a desired end, to some degree or another. Whether speaking to friends, family, or professionally, there is a tacit understanding of what that person or audience needs to hear in order to make a favorable decision. In many ways, gauging speech to the audience is just part of human communication.

As one might expect, corporations and politicians spend great sums on money on creating and then controlling the narratives of their brands. Whether the brand is a medication, an automobile, or a person, is unimportant. The methods are the same: control the language, control what can be said and who can say it. We begin to have problems when brand management becomes the only arbiter of truth or reality, or more specifically, when simply believing something means it must be true or real. No need to align the belief with reality, to test it against fact or truth. Simply control the narrative and persuade enough people to buy it, and whatever reality one is selling, becomes THE REALITY.

We see this in politics all the time. A political campaign will identify a problem with a particular segment of their voting block and rather than question why that segment of voters did not vote for their candidate, the marketing geniuses conclude that it was the branding at fault, and maybe it was. More likely, however, there were flaws in the candidate; flaws that, if addressed, might yield more votes, but because only the branding is ever considered, because all that matters are how the candidate is perceived and not how he or she actually is, there is no impetus to address these problems. We only have to repackage and re-brand, and somehow, more effectively control the narrative. As infuriating as this type of behavior is, it is so deeply entrenched in our political and economic environments that few bat an eye, unless, of course, we are slapped in the face with the folly of these predilections. Late last year, we were slapped in the face, sucker punched really.

Indeed, I think the entire last year was an exercise in face-slapping, but I digress.

Money, Science and Language

Mid December the press was a flurry with news of banned words emerging from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Initially, it was reported that the ban was top down from Trump administration with admonitions of Orwellian thought control. Claims of anti-science abounded. Given the politically contentious nature of the words and this administration’s view on such topics, it was a reasonable assumption. The reports proved to be false, however, and it was later revealed that the CDC bureaucrats themselves were massaging the lexicon in order to protect their budgets from a conservative Congress. The CDC was re-branding their message and we were aghast in self-righteous indignation.

While everyone else was up in arms about the CDC news, I chuckled, not because this news wasn’t troubling, it was, but because this has been a longstanding practice in the CDC, as it is in any agency or organization whose existence depends upon the whims and political aspirations of others; prostrating at the feet of funders is a well-honed skill, one that takes no accord of ethics, science, and in some cases, reality itself. Only now, it was being laid bare. Under other administrations, different words or concepts, though probably not banned, were definitely eschewed. It is simple marketing 101, brand management, controlling the narrative for express purpose of reaching a desired end. It’s ugly. It’s cynical and not something we like to think about, particularly where science and health are concerned, but it happens.

We believe, perhaps naively, that organizations tasked with public health and medical science are not swayed by political or economic biases. As we saw so plainly with the latest CDC shenanigans, this just isn’t true. He who controls the purse strings controls the narrative, and more importantly, controls the actual work. For the CDC, both congress and pharma control the purse strings. Arguably, as one of the largest spenders on congressional lobbying, pharmaceutical industry influence supersedes even congressional whims. So how does an agency tasked with public health justify the flexibility of language? They don’t and therein lies the problem. Perhaps even more troubling though, neither do we. Rarely, is any consideration given to what effect altering the language so indiscriminately to mollify, or in many cases, promote the goals of one’s funders, has on the actual ‘truth’ and on the science itself. Indeed, had these words not been so politically charged and had this event not taken place during the current administration, one where admittedly there have been many direct assaults on language and meaning, few would have considered these actions newsworthy, much less problematic. We would have continued on in happy ignorance of the larger play at hand.

Beyond Just the Narrative: Controlling How to Think

About the same time as the CDC shenanigans broke, an academic report bemoaning the weaknesses of certain glyphosate research appeared in my feed. The report: Facts and Fallacies in the Debate on Glyphosate Toxicity argues against the use of deductive reasoning in scientific research. To say that I was flabbergasted, would be an understatement. This was a true WTF moment, if there ever was one, and there have been many in recent years. Who, in their right mind, would argue against the use of deductive reasoning in science? Well, the same folks that have something to protect by massaging the language in order to protect their livelihoods. Not literally, of course, but the motivations remain the same, e.g. money and influence.

The purveyors of glyphosate, like those in the pharmaceutical and other big chemical industries, have a longstanding history of controlling the narrative  and employing all sorts of nefarious techniques to do so. Industry entrenchment into all areas of academic research, publishing, and mainstream media combined with their deep financial tentacles strangling every branch of every government globally, not only determine the types of research that can be conducted and published but ensures a perfectly controlled narrative, one that exudes safety and ignores risks. This is not news. Indeed, the playbook for such tactics were written long ago by the tobacco industry and have been perfected over recent decades. What is new is the direct assault on reason as a foundation for hypothesis driven research. In the past, such product defense operations were content with the standard forms of disinformation: employ a cadre of

industry-friendly scientists and writers who had the habit of pooh-poohing the potential dangers of products, dismissing studies finding possible harm…” and who promote “falsehoods and misdirection to protect companies from bad media and regulatory scrutiny.”

Arguing against the use of reason in scientific endeavors is an altogether different level of narrative control, one that, if it takes hold, will damage the very pursuit of science itself. For what is science, if not a reasoned approach to understanding?

The Argument Against Reason

The authors of the glyphosate paper argue that deductive reasoning. Specifically, they contend that the use of particular type of reasoning called a syllogism is not a valid method to derive a conclusion. In a syllogism, the conclusion is derived from two assumptions that serve to determine the outcome. Throughout the paper, they provide several instances where deductive reasoning should not be employed to derive hypotheses about the ill-effects of glyphosate on human health. In each case, their arguments rest on the lack of research regarding a particular aspect of glyphosate toxicity, with the underlying assumption that an absence of evidence means evidence of absence. Here is one example.

We know that glyphosate chelates minerals. It was initially patented as an industrial descaling agent after all. We also know that mineral homeostasis is an important part of human health. Too little or too much of any one mineral can and does have deleterious effects on health. If we know that glyphosate chelates minerals and that people consume glyphosate in concentrations capable of chelating those critical minerals, can we then say that glyphosate plays a role in diseases processes that involve reduced or dysregulated minerals? According to the authors of the aforementioned paper, we cannot; not because the chemistry is wrong and not because the reasoning is flawed, but because there have been no studies conducted to date to investigate this possibility. They argue that we can only make assertions based upon the results of studies that have already been conducted. We cannot deduce a hypothesis from what data are available if any one piece of the puzzle is missing. To bolster the legitimacy of their contention, this quote is used throughout the article.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. If it doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrong. Richard P. Feynman (Nobel Laureate, Physics, 1965)

A legitimate assertion. If theory contradicts data, then it is possible that the theory is wrong. And if a Nobel Laureate makes this claim, well then, there is no need to go any further.

Oooh, but there is.

If the data do not match the theory, it could mean that the experiment is flawed. Human research is messy. Disease processes, particularly those that involve changes in metabolism, are complicated and our ability to detect these changes with current lab testing methods is incomplete at best. Under these circumstances, a mismatch between theory and experiment is no more likely to suggest an error in the theory than an error in experimental design or methods. The authors, however, do not want us to think about potential flaws in experimental design. They want us to think that there is this magic box, called an ‘experiment’ into which ideas go and are tested for validity. If only it were that easy.

More troubling, however, and this is the sleight of hand these authors hope to carry out, it is not that the experimental data do not match the theory, it is quite simply that there are no experimental data. Since industry itself controls the funding for the science, controls what gets published, and how what gets published is narrated, these types of studies have never been conducted and likely never will. In fact, why on earth would the purveyors of industrial demineralizing agent now ubiquitous on all agricultural products and consumed in vast quantities by actual living organisms want to know if their product did to humans what it does to metal pipes? Why would they want to confirm that their product chelates essential minerals? They wouldn’t. And if the authors of this piece have their way, they won’t have to.  That is a dangerous pass these authors have given to chemical manufacturers: no need to test anything that hasn’t already been tested. Not only have they perfected tobacco industry tactics for product defense, in one fell swoop, they demolished what constitutes scientific reasoning.  To them, we can only ever say what has already been said.

From Banned Words to Banned Reason: Scary Times

While banning or limiting the use of certain words is a troubling, banning the use of reason to arrive at hypotheses seems altogether more sinister. With the CDC shenanigans, we have an open display of the malleability of language to political and economic whims; one that fully exculpates the need to connect scientific endeavors to any sort of reality beyond that which is politically expedient. Anyone with any experience with the CDC, knows this has long since been the case, but perhaps not on display as openly. With the research article, we have a codification of what has long been an undercurrent in corporate medicine/agriculture and the like, that absence of evidence does, indeed, mean evidence of absence. It means that the simple act of choosing not to investigate a particular side effect serves to prove that it does not exist, and now, can never exist. If we cannot reason our way to a hypothesis, but instead, can ever only rely on what has already been concluded, there is no need for science, none. This kills it and in its stead, places an echo chamber of self-serving marketing. 

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More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter. 

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