September 2021
Glyphosate-based herbicides have become ubiquitous in our food chain and in our environment. Their presence has been boosted, especially, by GM glyphosate-tolerant commodity crops such as soya, maize, sugar-beet, cotton, and oil-seed rape.
How much damage are these herbicides doing to our children? Even before they've been born? And even threatening their very existence?
Inconvenient science suggesting glyphosate-based herbicides are sex hormone disruptors was published over a decade ago (Romano), and you don't have to look very far to find the mechanism.
Glyphosate is designed to block the action of 'aromatase' enzymes. In plants such enzymes are essential for building plant proteins. Animals have a range of aromatase enzymes which have nothing to do with building proteins, but everything to do with the conversion of male hormone (testosterone) to female hormone (oestrogen) and, therefore, the vital balance between the two [1].
*Note. This kind of hormone disruption is extremely complex and very difficult to study. The male/female hormone balance must be exactly right and at the exactly the right time for both a healthy pregnancy, and for a healthy baby with a healthy reproductive system in later life.
A blockage in the male-to-female hormone conversion can, for example, result in a toxic accumulation of male hormone, or, can drive an uncontrolled excess of female hormone to overcome the blockage.
Add to this complexity, the disruption of oestrogen-dependent pathways, interactions with other hormones and other endocrine disruptors, on top of individual differences in sensitivity due to age and health.
A growing body of scientific evidence from laboratory animal studies is proving the reality of glyphosate herbicide-induced sex hormone imbalances (Manservesi), including womb abnormalities [2], impaired womb receptivity to embryo implantation (Lorenz), disrupted ovarian function (Ganesan), and sperm abnormalities (Jarrell). A study of glyphosate-based herbicide-exposed ewe lambs, whose uterine development is more similar to women than rodent models, found adverse developmental effects which could result in subfertility (Alarcón).
Actual studies in humans are problematic to carry out. However, the evidence is gradually mounting.
Small-scale studies of pregnant women in Indiana [3] and Puerto Rico (Silver) found glyphosate exposure to be linked to shortened pregnancy (a known factor in reduced cognitive achievement and adult coronary disease).
A detailed study of one agricultural town in Argentina, carried out because physicians in the area had noted a decline in reproductive health in their patients since GM crops became dominant in the surrounding cropland, found the town to be heavily contaminated with glyphosate: congenital abnormalities presented at twice the national average (probably an underestimate because only surviving children were recorded), and the incidence of spontaneous abortion was three times the national average [4].
A 7-year survey of birth outcomes in Brazilian municipalities downstream of GM soya-growing areas where the water was contaminated with glyphosate, reported a 5% increase in infant mortality compared with upstream areas. There was also a higher probability of low birth weight and premature birth. This mortality translated into 503 infant deaths per year and was correlated to the timing of glyphosate application and to soil erosion after rainfall.
*Note. In 2010, 93% of soya planted in Brazil was GM, credited with making the country the largest producer of the grain in the world. It's worth noting what one anti-pesticide campaigner said: "Brazilian water can be considered potable containing up to 500 micrograms of glyphosate per litre, while water in the European Union can have a maximum of 0.1 micrograms of glyphosate. So, the Brazilian limit is 5,000 times higher than the European Union limit".
A recent international study of baby girls in America found a correlation between glyphosate in the mothers and masculinisation of the baby's genitals (Lesseur). The finding was backed up by similar results in previous rodent tests (Manservisi).
OUR COMMENT
If you haven't caught it already, check out EPIGENETIC MAYHEM, coming September 2021.Glyphosate, its toxic breakdown product, AMPA, and all the toxic ingredient added to its herbicidal formulations, are taking the human race on a road to nowhere.
Time to say NO to pesticides, especially the ones boosted by GM crops.
Background
[1] AROMATASE ASSUMPTIONS - May 2015
[2] GLYPHOSATE HARMS THE WOMB - August 2016
[3] REAL-LIFE INFANT HARM FROM GLYPHOSATE - May 2018
[4] WHAT GLYPHOSATE HAS ACHIEVED IN ARGENTINA - June 2018
SOURCES:
R. M. Romano, et al., 2010, Prepubertal exposure to commercial formulation of the herbicide glyphosate alters testosterone levels and testicular morphology, Archive of Toxicology
Marco Aurelio Romano, et al., 2011, glyphosate impairs male offspring reproductive development by disrupting gonadotropin expression, Archives of Toxicology
New Studies Show Glyphosate Causes Reproductive Health Damage, Sustainable Pulse 5.05.21
Fabiana Manservisi, et al., 2019, The Ramazzini Institute 13-week pilot study glyphosate-based herbicides administered at human-equivalent dose to Sprague Dawley rats: effects on development and endocrine system, Environmental Health
Global Glyphosate Study Pilot Phase Shows Reproductive and Developmental Effects at 'Safe' Dose, Sustainable Pulse 13.03.19
Virginia Lorenz, et al., 2020, Perinatal exposure to glyphosate or a glyphosate-based formulation disrupts hormonal and uterine milieu during the receptive state in rats, Food and Chemical Toxicology 143
Shanthi Ganesan and Aileen F. Keating, 2020, Ovarian mitochondrial and oxidative stress proteins are altered by glyphosate exposure in mice, Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 402
Zachery Ryan Jarrell, et al., 2020, Glyphosate-based herbicide formulation sand reproductive toxicity in animals, Veterinary and Animal Science 10
Ramiro Alarcón, et al., 2020, Neonatal exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide alters the uterine differentiation of prepubertal eye lambs, Environmental Pollution 265
Monica Silver, et al., May 2021, Prenatal Exposure to Glyphosate and Its Environmental Degradate, Aminomethylphosphonic Acid (AMPA), and Preterm Birth: A Nested Case-Control Study in the PROTECT Cohort (Puerto Rico), Environmental Health Perspectives 129(5)
Glyphosate herbicide exposure linked to preterm births, GM Watch 19.05.21
Corina Lesseur, et al., 2021, Maternal urinary levels of glyphosate during pregnancy and anogenital distance in newborns in a US multicenter pregnancy cohort, Environmental Pollution 280
Glyphosate Hacks Hormones of Baby Girls after Exposure in the Womb - New Groundbreaking Pilot Study, Sustainable Pulse 7.04.21
Mateus Dias, et al., December 2020, Down the river: glyphosate use in agriculture and birth outcomes of surrounding populations, LACEA Working Paper No. 0024
Glyphosate associated with 503 infant deaths per year in Brazil - study details, GM Watch 2.06.21
Paola Ingaramo, et al., 2020, Are glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides endocrine disruptors that alter female fertility? Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 518
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