A recent study has found that the levels of Roundup and other dangerous chemicals making into most of our food supplies are shocking and scary.
If you’re like the vast majority of people, you’re not going to intentionally eat something that kills your cells. However, that is exactly what you are doing every day when you choose to eat non-organic foods, and even many foods that are being labeled as “natural.”
A new study done by scientists in Norway which was published in Food Technology demonstrates that there are high levels of glyphosate in genetically-engineered soy. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup which is designed to kill weeds. The chemical then makes its way into innumerous packaged foods and animal feed as well.
The reason this is happening is that crops are genetically engineered so that they can withstand the high levels of glyphosate that is sprayed on them as they are growing. These high levels of herbicides would normally kill the crops, which is why there was a need to genetically engineer them. This then results in these dangerous chemicals ending up in food meant for human and animal consumption.
The problem is that weeds are beginning to become more resistant to the glyphosate which requires workers to spray their crops with Roundup in larger amounts, higher concentrations, and more frequently. This is coupled with the genetic engineering of plants not being able to keep up with the amount of chemicals a plant needs to resist.
At the same times as non-organic farmers have been upping the dosage of lethal chemicals on plants, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been upping the levels of glyphosate that is allowed to be present in foods. Glyphosate works systemically, which means the weeds absorb the chemicals and are killed from the inside out. The crops that are being farmed also take up these chemicals in the same way.
In 1999, Monsanto made a statement in The Ecologist about the levels of glyphosate found in plants. The levels that they determined to be “extreme” then were only half of what they actually are now, a shocking 9 milligrams per kilogram. Since more “superweeds” have been emerging, the EPA has slowly doubled the allowable levels of Roundup for soy.
The Norwegian study that was conducted on this topic looked at three different types of soy: genetically engineered, conventional or non-genetically engineered, and organic. Although the truly extreme levels of glyphosate that were found in the genetically engineered soy weren’t surprising, what was surprising is that in most cases, the soy contained higher levels of chemicals than of various vitamins.
In both the conventional and organic soy, there was no glyphosate residue. Organic soy not only has that as a huge benefit, but it also scored higher than the genetically engineered soy in terms of nutritional value. Organic soy was found to contain lower levels of saturated fat and higher levels of protein than genetically engineered soy.
There’s mounting evidence linking glyphosate to infertility, Parkinson’s disease, certain cancer, and birth defects. While the United States doesn’t even require the labeling of foods containing GE ingredients on a federal level, states are starting to take action. The Vermont legislature just passed mandatory GE labeling and 26 other states are in various stages of introducing bills or ballot initiatives that would require labeling of foods containing these GE ingredients.
Other countries are taking steps to keep glyphosate out of lawn-owners’ hands, too. The Dutch government recently decided to ban the sale of glyphosate—including the popular weed killer Roundup—to private citizens starting in 2015.
And get this. A January 2014 study published in the Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology found glyphosate was significantly higher in the urine of chronically-ill people compared tohealthy people. German researchers leading the University of Leipzig study concluded “the presence of glyphosate residues in both humans and animals could haul the entire population towards numerous healthhazards.”
The best way to avoid GE ingredients is to choose organic and to avoid nonorganic packaged foods.
