by guest blogger Leah Zerbe, online editor for RodaleNews.com
There are a lot of studies asserting that organic is better for you, but if you read nothing else about it, know this: Many nonorganic foods contain dangerous levels of GMOs and glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup. You won’t find it anywhere on the ingredients list, but this potent herbicide is a new staple of the modern American diet.
Here are 4 strange places Roundup hides in your food supply:
1. Your cereal. GMO Free USA recently published lab testing detecting glyphosate in Kellogg’s Froot Loops. But how is this happening?
“Farmers are spraying increasing amounts of glyphosate on their genetically modified crops that are engineered to tolerate the herbicide. As a result, glyphosate is seeping into both animal feed and human food,” Ken Roseboro, author of the GMO Report, recently told me.
These real-world levels of glyphosate have also been shown to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.
Kellogg’s also pays big bucks to topple GMO-labeling initiatives, meaning the company is paying to keep parents in the dark. “We find it disturbing that Kellogg’s is feeding children unlabeled GMOs and toxic herbicides. Statistics show that this is the first generation of children that are sicker than their parents. Is Kellogg’s endangering our children? Based on the growing body of scientific evidence, we believe so, and we hold Kellogg’s accountable,” said Diana Reeves, executive director of GMO Free USA, in a statement. “Parents need to know what they’re feeding their children, and Kellogg’s is spending millions to keep the composition of their products hidden,” her statement continues.
Bottom line? Look for certified-organic cereals. Foods containing nonorganic GMO ingredients like corn, soy, or cotton could harbor concerning levels of glyphosate.
According to pediatrician Michelle Perro: “Digestive health is rapidly declining in children. If children eat conventionally grown food, they will potentially be eating glyphosate, pesticide ingredients, and GMOs, as documented by these laboratory tests [of Froot Loops].”
Conventionally grown food is messing with our children’s microbiomes—causing issues with their intestines, mineral absorption, detoxification and more. Perro adds that, “since glyphosate…is known to bind important minerals and make them unavailable to human and animal consumers, it may be contributing to this mineral deficiency… The bioaccumulation effects of glyphosate have not been addressed in children, and the standards of safety are arbitrary and not based on any clinical evidence.”
2. Cows. German researchers also detected worrisome levels of glyphosate in cows fed GMO-laced grains. “I’ve spoken to a veterinarian in northeast Iowa named Art Dunham who has linked glyphosate with animal health problems, including reproductive problems in hogs and beef cows, botulism in dairy cows, and bloody bowels and rickets in hogs,” Roseboro told me. (Yikes! What’s it doing to us?)
That same German study also looked at glyphosate levels in humans. People eating mainly an organic diet had significantly lower glyphosate levels in in their urine compared to people consuming conventional food. “Thus, the prohibition of herbicide use in organic agriculture greatly reduces the intake of glyphosate.”
3. Feeding tube liquid. A recent Moms Across America investigation found that glyphosate could be infiltrating the bodies of our most vulnerable children—sick babies and children with cancer in intensive care units. An independent lab found that 30 percent of Pediasure samples tested positive for the herbicide at levels above 75 parts per billion. That’s 800 to 1100 times higher than the level shown to destroy gut bacteria in chickens.
And remember, roughly 70 percent of a person’s immune system is housed in the digestive tract, Elizabeth Lipski, PhD, points out in Digestion Connection.
4. Breast milk and baby formula. In the first ever testing on glyphosate herbicide in the breast milk of American women, Moms Across America and Sustainable Pulse found “high” levels in 3 out of the 10 samples tested. In 2014, Center for Food Safety genetic testing confirmed the presence of soy that was genetically engineered by Monsanto for heavy pesticide exposure. Two products that tested positive for genetically engineered soy included Similac Soy Isomil and Enfamil Prosobee Powder Soy Infant Formula. With recent published studies confirming that genetically engineered soy has significantly higher levels of chemical herbicides than conventionally grown soy, the test findings raise concerns about increasing infant exposure to chemical herbicides. The testing follows up on a recent nationwide study by Consumer Reports finding genetically engineered ingredients in more than 80 common food products.
The bottom line? Eat organic whenever possible, and support GMO labeling initiatives and also politicians that back labeling to get this poison out of the food system—and our bodies.
Leah Zerbe is online editor for Rodalenews.com. Prior to working at Rodale, she was the senior online editor at NBCPhiladelphia.com, where she headed up the station’s online “Going Green” initiative, wrote about center-city crime and traffic jams, and blogged about her beloved Philadelphia Phillies. She and her husband run a sustainable organic farm in Schuylkill County, where they grow vegetables, strawberries, herbs, and flowers and raise heritage-breed chickens.
Thank you for helping to spread the word to folks about the dangers of Roundup and GMO’s. My uncle sprays Roundup on everything, grass and garden, flowers, etc. I won’t eat any of the food from my cousin’s yard because I know her dad has covered it with Roundup. I won’t even eat any eggs from her chickens because I don’t trust the feed they are given. It’s a shame that our children, and babies are being so exposed to this horrible stuff. I wonder if the makers of this poison, Monsanto and Dow and others, really believe that they and their children and grandchildren won’t get any of this into their systems? No matter how rich they are, they can’t hide from the mess they have given our world. True Organic is the only chance we have to try to stay healthy.
This information is right on! The assault on gut bacteria causes every thing from autoimmune disease to allergies. Antibiotics, preservatives and toxic sprays like Roundup are creating a health crisis in the U.S. Processed and altered food, along with toxins and nutritionally weak foods, have become the mainstay of today’s life at a great health cost.
I do not plow, till or need to weed my garden. Mushrooms grow, creating a beneficial mycorrhizal symbiosis that boosts production naturally while enriching the crop with essential trace minerals. It’s not rocket science – it’s food that is grown for health, not fast and furious wealth.
Please look into and update your article with info concerning glyphosate found in even certified organic grains, especially wheat products. The FDA Is allowing a certain level of this toxin even in organic foods. Some organic farmers are using it to dessicate (ripen) wheat crops faster. Best thing is to contact company regardless of label to find out their growing/harvesting practices. I use Wheat Montana products as they are certified chemical free and non gmo.
Where are the scientifically supported studies to support this? You quoted, pediatricians, veterinarians and magazines. Show me some real science and not blown out of proportion Pro-Organic/Anti-GMO rhetoric. It’s articles like this with NO SCIENCE REVIEWED studies to back it up that get the general public scared!
My daughter drank 3 of those formulas and was diagnosed with autism at age 3. She died at age 30. Who do I sue?
To Rebecca, all you have to do is start reading. Maybe studies aren’t cited in this particular article but there are sources that do cite study after study, country after country, not just in the USA. Do the research – we ALL have to do the research.
Paulette, so sorry for the loss of your daughter and for the many difficult years you spent dealing with her illness. It is my understanding that GMO’s were not used in our foods on a wide basis until around 1994- 1995 but I could be wrong. Does anyone here have better information?
Rebecca, look it up, lazy-ass. It’s not hard.
Hey Rebecca do you work for Monsanto? Get the fuck off this page if you do! Do your research! Open your eyes and read! Listen to your body! It doesn’t lie!
I agree that we need to encourage Rebecca to “wake up and do her research. This website exists to help and educate us, and I’m personally grateful for it…BUT, I don’t believe we need to use profanity, to get our point across to Rebecca. Her mind is made up. Profanity will not change it…it just does not speak well of the user or this website for allowing it.