Babies of all sorts are more susceptible to toxins.
We humans are experts at manipulating the environment. Our fellow creatures on the planet pretty much do their thing and let the environment do its thing. Not us – we conduct “scientific” research, build houses and buildings and high rises, cars and trucks and planes. In many cases, we are looking for easier ways to do things. What we aren’t anywhere so good at is thinking through the possible consequences of our actions or admitting when we’re screwing up. Case in point: glyphosphate, also known as Roundup.
Wild animals aren’t immune to the effects of chemicals in the soil, air and water.
Manufactured by Monsanto, glyphosphate is an herbicide that was hailed for its ability to keep weeds out of more valuable plantings of corn, soybeans and other economically important crops. It worked great, until the weeds became resistant. Unfortunately, people aren’t so lucky. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that concentrations of glyphosphate increased markedly in the urine of 100 people in a long-running study. As in more than doubled, from 0.20 micrograms per liter in 1993-1996 to an average of 0.44 micrograms in 2014-2016. Glyphosphate is “probably carcinogenic” according to the World Health Organization. However, WHO has also been accused of slanting their data by selecting only studies that supported this conclusion. Animal do studies show adverse effects – lots of them heart problems. Heart disease is the top killer in the US. Connection? Maybe.
Neither are kids.
The problem with trying to draw conclusions from today’s scientific research is that most of it (according to expert Stanford epidemiologist John P. Ionnadis) isn’t true. Investigator bias, poor study design and most especially funding that sways the results have led Dr. Ionnadis to that conclusion. Not to mention that much research is suppressed if it doesn’t support the funder’s conclusions – and we only see what’s published. Multiple industries and interest groups (tobacco, sugar and pharmaceutical, to name a few) have been found to cover up stuff. With the decline in government funding, researchers have had to look elsewhere – 65 percent of “scientific” research was funded by private interests in 2006, and I’m willing to bet that figure is higher now.
Recipe for a salad: first, grow the tomatoes, cucumbers, celery and green onions…
I suspect that glyphosphate and many (if not most) of the other chemicals we’ve created for use in agriculture and many other fields are a lot more toxic over the long term than most people realize. Not to mention that we’re not just talking about one toxic substance – we’re talking about hundreds. Your lungs, liver, kidneys and immune system might be able to protect you from one or even a few things – that’s their job, after all – but when the burden becomes too great, your protective systems just can’t handle the job.
Solution? Try to keep it clean – your food, your water, your home – with as few commercially grown foods and manufactured products as possible. You knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?
