You Can't Wash It Off Your Food, But It's Just Been Declared a
Carcinogen
April 28, 2015
Story at-a-glance
-
The research arm of the World Health Organization (WHO) has
declared glyphosate a class 2A carcinogen. Monsanto is
pursuing a retraction of their damning report
-
Health Canada has announced it will update Roundup’s label
to reduce human and environmental exposure
-
As many as 20,000 farm workers in the US may be seriously
injured each year as a result of pesticide exposure
By Dr. Mercola
In late March, the International Agency for Research on Cancer
(IARC), which is the research arm of the World Health Organization
(WHO), published their assessment1,2,3
of the carcinogenicity of a number of organophosphate pesticides,
including glyphosate.
Glyphosate was determined to be a “probable carcinogen” (Class
2A), based on “limited evidence” showing that the popular weed
killer can cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and lung cancer in humans,
along with “convincing evidence” it can also cause cancer in
animals.
Glyphosate and glyphosate formulations have also been shown to
induce DNA and chromosomal damage in mammals, as well as human and
animal cells in vitro.
It’s worth noting that while recent years have turned up studies
raising serious questions about the safety of glyphosate, the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) raised the
allowable limits for glyphosate in food in 2013. And, as
reported by the Institute for Science in Society:4
“The amount of allowable glyphosate in oilseed crops
(except for canola and soy) went up from 20 ppm to 40 ppm,
100 000 times the amount needed to induce breast cancer
cells.” [Emphasis mine]
Root and tuber vegetables (with the exception of sugar) got one
of the largest boosts, with allowable residue limits being raised
from 0.2 ppm to 6.0 ppm. Meanwhile, malformations in frog and
chicken embryos have been documented at 2.03 ppm of glyphosate.5
Glyphosate-Contaminated Foods May Eventually Carry Cancer Warning in
CA
IARC is considered the global gold standard for carcinogenicity
studies, so its determination is of considerable importance.
It may even end up having a significant impact on the sale of
genetically engineered (GE) foods, as the IARC is one of the five
research agencies from which the OEHHA—the California agency of
environmental hazards—gets its reports to declare carcinogens under
Prop 65.
What this means is that in a few years’ time, foods containing
glyphosate will have to have a Prop 65 Warning label to be sold in
California. And since glyphosate cannot be washed off6
once sprayed on a crop, a Prop 65 label would likely have to be
applied to most non-organic processed foods.
Faithful to its modus operandi, Monsanto is pursuing a retraction
of the IARC’s damning report.7
Canada to ReLabel Roundup
While officially disagreeing with the IARC’s determination, after
re-evaluating Roundup in partnership with the US EPA, Health Canada
recently announced it will update Roundup’s label directions to
reduce human and environmental exposure.
As reported by The Star,8
changes to Roundup’s label will include:
- A statement that application should only be done when the
potential for drift to residential or populated areas is minimal
- Agricultural workers will be advised not to enter fields for
12 hours following application
- An environmental hazard statement will inform users that the
product can be toxic to non-targeted species
- Spray buffer zones will be recommended to protect land and
aquatic habitats from unintended exposure
- Precautionary statements to reduce the potential for run-off
of glyphosate into aquatic habitats
Roundup Also Promotes Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs
Right on the heels of the IARC’s reclassification of glyphosate
as a Class 2 A carcinogen, another breakthrough study9,10,11
ties Monsanto’s weed killer to the rising scourge of
antibiotic resistance.
In this first of its kind study, the researchers found that
commonly used herbicides promote antibiotic resistance by priming
pathogens to more readily become resistant to antibiotics.
This includes Roundup, which was shown to increase the
antibiotic-resistance of E. coli and Salmonella.
As reported by Rodale News,12
the herbicide causes this effect by turning on a set of genes in the
bacterium that just so happens to make it more resistant to
antibiotics.
In a nutshell, Roundup “produces tolerance to antibiotics in the
bacteria. This genetic switch-on occurs at the typical levels of
exposure associated with agricultural and residential application.
It’s worth noting that both E. coli and Salmonella
are commonly associated with foodborne illness outbreaks originating
in factory farms where animals are typically fed a diet of
genetically engineered corn and soy, which tend to be heavily
contaminated with glyphosate.
The Growing Plight of Farm Workers Exposed to Toxic Chemicals
Getting back to the issue of toxicity, as many as 20,000 farm
workers in the US may be sickened each year as a result of pesticide
exposure. More than half are undocumented immigrants, which
compounds the problem by the fact that they have no real legal
recourse, and usually refuse to speak up for fear of deportation.
Mere handfuls of formal complaints are filed each year, which
makes it difficult to track and evaluate the human health impacts of
pesticide exposure. As previously reported by Mother Jones:13
"’The system in place to address pesticide exposure is
horrible. It's dysfunctional,’ said Caitlin Berberich, an
attorney with
Southern Migrant Legal Services, a Nashville nonprofit that
provides free legal services to farmworkers in six Southern
states...
Some top state regulators agree the full toll of
pesticides on farmworkers is not documented. Yet reforms
requiring more complete disclosure of pesticide use have been
caught up in EPA red tape...
The EPA ‘estimates that 10,000-20,000 physician-diagnosed
pesticide poisonings occur each year among the approximately 2
million US agricultural workers,’ federal records show... No
one, the EPA included, has a full picture of the problem.
An EPA slideshow report14
in 2006, for instance, opened with a question: How many
occupational pesticide incidents are there each year in the
United States?
The slide listed multiple possibilities, from 1,300 to
300,000. Each number could be true, the report said—it just
depends upon the source... This uncertainty... can carry real
consequences.
As its slide noted, the lack of accurate information ‘inhibits
clear problem identification.’ Advocates say the dearth of
information triggers another problem: It's hard to hold
government and industry accountable when there is no benchmark
from which to judge.”
As noted by Think Progress,15
while there’s a shortage of studies showing the effects of pesticide
exposure on farmworkers, effects ranging from vomiting and skin
rashes to leukemia, brain cancer, birth defects, and nerve damage
have been reported.
With regards to glyphosate, drinking water contaminated with
glyphosate and spraying glyphosate on rice fields without protective
gear has been linked to chronic kidney disease.16
Environmental Causes May Account for 90 Percent of Diseases
According to Joseph E. Pizzorno,17
founding president of Bastyr University, co-author of the
Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine and The Clinician's
Handbook of Natural Medicine, and former advisor to President
Clinton on complementary and alternative medicines, toxins in the
modern food supply are now “a major contributor to.
In some cases the cause of, virtually all chronic diseases.” Dr.
David Bellinger, a professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School
has expressed similar concerns. According to his estimates,
Americans have lost a total of 16.9 million IQ points due to
exposure to organophosphate pesticides.18
Pizzorno believes pesticides may also play a significant role in the
worldwide obesity epidemic, saying:
"Researchers are now finding such a strong connection
between the body load of these chemicals [contaminating the food
supply] and diabetes and obesity that they are being called
'diabetogens' and 'obesogens'."
Pizzorno also points out that our modern food supply (most of
which is heavily processed) also hampers your body’s detoxification
process as a result of being deficient in key nutrients. An
interesting admission and change of thought expressed on the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) webpage on exposomics19
is the fact that, conversely to what researchers originally thought,
the vast majority of diseases do NOT appear to have a genetic
origin. According to the CDC:
“One of the promises of the human genome project was that
it could revolutionize our understanding of the underlying
causes of disease and aid in the development of preventions and
cures for more diseases. Unfortunately, genetics has
been found to account for only about 10% of diseases, and the
remaining causes appear to be from environmental causes.
So to understand the causes and eventually the
prevention of disease, environmental causes need to be studied.”
How to Reduce Your Family’s Exposure to Pesticides
As noted by Pizzorno, your toxic load is closely linked to your
diet, as so many of the chemicals we’re exposed to on a daily basis
are contaminants in foods and/or its packaging. Non-organic
processed foods will expose you to the greatest amounts of chemicals
and potential toxins, including
pesticides and genetically engineered organisms (GMOs), but
virtually all non-organic whole foods will tend to be contaminated
with pesticides to some degree as well. To reduce your family’s
exposure to pesticides and other toxic chemicals, consider the
following advice:
- Buy organic fruits and vegetables.
Non-organic fruits and vegetables most likely to be grown using
pesticides include apples, peaches, celery, and potatoes. For a
full list of the most and least contaminated produce, please see
the Environmental Working Group’s shopper’s guide to pesticides.20
- Add fermented foods to your diet. The
lactic acid bacteria formed during the
fermentation of kimchi may help your body break down
pesticides, so including
fermented foods can be a wise strategy to help your body’s
natural detoxification processes. Pizzorno also recommends
making sure you’re getting enough
fiber in your diet, as it too plays an important role in
detoxification.
- Choose seafood wisely. Opt for
low-mercury fish varieties, such as wild caught Alaskan
salmon, anchovies, and sardines, and avoid farm-raised fish,
which are often heavily contaminated with PCBs and mercury. To
optimize your
omega-3, you may also consider taking a krill oil
supplement.
- Filter your tap water.
Municipal water supplies can be contaminated with any number of
potential toxins, so filtering your water is always a wise idea.
Be particularly mindful of avoiding
fluoridated water when preparing infant formula.
- Replace your non-stick pots and pans with
ceramic or glass cookware.
- Avoid plastic food containers, bottles, and mugs.
Instead, opt for glass, ceramic, or stainless steel
varieties.
- Avoid using dangerous chemicals on your lawn.
If you have a lawn care service, make sure they’re not using
organophosphate pesticides.
- Check your school's/employer’s pest control policy.
If they have not already done so, encourage your school
district/employer to move to Integrated Pest Management, which
uses less toxic alternatives.
- Switch to organic personal care products,
and avoid using artificial air fresheners, dryer
sheets, fabric softeners, or other synthetic fragrances. Any
product containing “fragrance” will typically contain high
levels of endocrine-disrupting phthalates.
What Are GMOs?
GMOs are a product of genetic engineering, meaning their genetic
makeup has been altered to induce a variety of “unique” traits to
crops, such as making them drought-resistant or giving them “more
nutrients.” GMO proponents claim that genetic engineering is “safe
and beneficial,” and that it advances the agricultural industry.
They also say that GMOs help ensure the global food supply and
sustainability. But is there any truth to these claims? I believe
not. For years, I've stated the belief that GMOs pose one of the
greatest threats to life on the planet. Genetic engineering is NOT
the safe and beneficial technology that it is touted to be.
Help Support GMO Labeling
The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA)—Monsanto’s Evil
Twin—is pulling out all the stops to keep you in the dark about
what’s in your food. For nearly two decades, Monsanto and corporate
agribusiness have exercised near-dictatorial control over American
agriculture. For example, Monsanto has made many claims that
glyphosate in Roundup is harmless to animals and humans. However,
recently the World Health Organization (WHO) had their research team
test glyphosate and have labeled it a probable carcinogen.
Public opinion around the biotech industry's contamination of our
food supply and destruction of our environment has reached the
tipping point. We're fighting back. That's why I was the first to
push for GMO labeling. I donated a significant sum to the first
ballot initiative in California in 2012, which inspired others to
donate to the campaign as well. We technically "lost the vote, but
we are winning the war, as these labeling initiatives have raised a
considerable amount of public awareness.
The insanity has gone far enough, which is why I encourage you to
boycott every single product owned by members of the GMA, including
natural and organic brands. More than 80 percent of our support
comes from individual consumers like you, who understand that real
change comes from the grassroots.
Thankfully, we have organizations like the Organic Consumers
Association (OCA) to fight back against these junk food
manufacturers, pesticide producers, and corporate giants.
Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More
Together, Let's Help OCA Get The Funding They Deserve
Let’s Help OCA get the funding it deserves. I have found very few
organizations who are as effective and efficient as OCA. It’s a
public interest organization dedicated to promoting health justice
and sustainability. A central focus of the OCA is building a
healthy, equitable, and sustainable system of food production and
consumption. That's why I'm proud to announce I will be matching
donations up to $250,000 this week.
Please make a donation to help OCA fight for GMO labeling.
Copyright 1997- 2015 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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