B- Winter 2019-20

Special Supplement on Glyphosate increases.

With that expanded usage, of course, go ex- panded sales. Glyphosate has become a billion dollar product for Monsanto and the decision of a single health agency as to its safety can mean the gain or loss of $100 million in an- nual sales in a single country.

In March 2015, for example, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Re- search on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic in humans” (cat- egory 2A) based on epidemiological stud- ies, animal studies, and in vitro studies. In contrast, the European Food Safety Authority concluded in November 2015 that “the sub- stance is unlikely to be genotoxic (i.e. damag- ing to DNA) or to pose a carcinogenic threat to humans”, later clarifying that while carcino- genic glyphosate-containing formulations may exist, studies “that look solely at the active substance glyphosate do not show this effect.”

How can such differences exist in hard scien- tific opinion? It turns out that the European Agency based its findings on data a German institution put together which was drawn from a report created by the Glyphosate Task Force, a consortium of chemical companies, includ- ing Monsanto, with the stated goal of winning compiled by Jack Kittredge frequency and volume of application of glypho- renewal of glyphosate’s registration in Europe. sate-based herbicides (GBHs) worldwide, with Greenpeace called the EFSA’s report a “white- Introduction further increases expected in the future, partly wash” that relied heavily on unpublished in response to the global emergence and spread studies commissioned by glyphosate produc- Glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] is of glyphosate-resistant weeds requiring greater (continued on page B-2) a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop application to maintain effectiveness. The desiccant. It is an organophosphorus com- development of glyphosate resistance in weed pound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts species is emerging as a costly problem. Inside this Supplement by inhibiting the plant enzyme 5-enolpyruvyl- shikimate-3-phosphate synthase. It is used to Glyphosate is absorbed through foliage, and Editorial B- 2 kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds minimally through roots, and transported to A Short History of Glyphosate B- 5 and grasses that compete with crops. growing points. It inhibits a plant enzyme involved in the synthesis of three aromatic Monsanto Manufactures ‘Outrage’ B- 6 Monsanto brought it to market for agricultural amino acids: tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenyl- Glyphosate News Notes B- 7 use in 1974 under the trade name Roundup, alanine. It is therefore effective only on actively but its last commercially relevant United growing plants and is not effective as a pre- Understanding Glyphosate B-10 States patent expired in 2000. emergence herbicide. An increasing number Life in Mount Santo B-12 of crops have been genetically engineered to Farmers quickly adopted glyphosate for be tolerant of glyphosate (e.g. Roundup Ready Glyphosate and Health in the USA B-14 agricultural weed control, especially after soybean, the first Roundup Ready crop, also Monsanto introduced glyphosate-resistant created by Monsanto), which allows farmers to Will Lawsuits Kill Glyphosate Off? B-18 Roundup Ready crops, enabling farmers use glyphosate as a post-emergence herbicide Glyphosate Induced Obesity B-19 to kill weeds without killing their crops. In against weeds. 2007, glyphosate was the most used herbicide Jumping Away from Roundup B-20 in the United States’ agricultural sector and While glyphosate and formulations such as Students End Herbicides at Berkeley B-21 the second-most used (after 2,4-D) in home Roundup have been approved by regulatory and garden, government and industry, and bodies worldwide, concerns about their effects Destroying Journalists’ Reputations B-22 commercial applications. From the late 1970s on humans and the environment persist, and Roundup Fact Sheet B-23 to 2016, there was a 100-fold increase in the have grown as the global usage of glyphosate Published by the Northeast Organic Farming Association, (NOFA), www.nofa.org, 411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005, 978-355-2853, [email protected] B- 2 The Natural Farmer Winter, 2019-20 Why Glyphosate? by Jack Kittredge Perhaps even worse were the anti-science efforts of Monsanto to undermine and discredit For many Americans glyphosate, the active researchers and professors who challenged ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, and its maker, the safety of glyphosate. Aggressive internet the chemical company Monsanto, are examples campaigns to anonymously attack respected of the worst aspects of American business. scientists and their work, pressuring journal Despite concerns raised by scientists and health editors to recall already peer-reviewed articles professionals about human carcinogenicity among which question glysophate’s safety, were tracked those exposed to the compound, Monsanto (and now to Monsanto-paid PR firms. Flaks hired by Bayer which recently bought the company) have the company posed as qualified scientists to denied any such possibility and initiated campaigns undermine the reputations and results of eminent to discredit studies and professionals that warn researchers with phony data (see story in this about its danger to health. issue by Carey Gillam).

This is on top of a widespread campaign more All these lies and deceits were authored in the than a dozen years old now to sue farmers who pursuit of corporate profit at the expense of the save seed from their GMO crops. GMOs are innocent. We hope this issue of The Natural genetically modified organisms or crops which Farmer can serve to correct these falsehoods have had specific chemical pathways introduced somewhat. Read within what experts think about into their germ plasm. These pathways enable the glyphosate, what Monsanto has done to obscure crop to survive the absence of certain nutrients these criticisms, and what users of the product which are normally required for plant growth. This have experienced when they have bought and allows glyphosate, which is a chelater (a substance used it. Learn also about real alternatives to what that binds to certain chemicals and makes them has become the most popular toxic chemical in unavailable), to be sprayed throughout a field the world. and kill anything which has not been specifically engineered with the pathways that enable them to We hope that by the time you have finished survive the effects of the spray. GMOs enabled this issue you will never again buy anything farmers to spray several times during the season to containing glyphosate, eat anything raised kill weeds, a trait which farmers valued and which with it, or believe anything said about it by made seed from the crops expensive. When they Monsanto. Unfortunately, in our society there tried to save seeds from their GMO crops in order is a presumption of innocence within which to avoid having to purchase them the next year, falsehoods can be perpetuated without challenge however, farmers were targeted by a hard-hitting not only in the political arena but also in the Monsanto legal campaign to sue them for theft economic one. We need to exercise due diligence of Monsanto’s intellectual property, namely the against such cynical abuse of our trust. This issue engineered seeds. Many farmers lost their farms as is offered in that quest. a result of judgments against them for such seed- saving.

(continued from page B-1) nine, tyrossine, and tryptophan in plants and mi- use. Glyphosate is used to clear railroad tracks ers while dismissing published peer-reviewed croorganisms – but does not exist in the genome of and get rid of unwanted aquatic vegetation. Since evidence that glyphosate causes cancer. This sort of mammals, including humans. It blocks this pathway 1994, glyphosate has been used in aerial spraying in active effort by Monsanto and the chemical industry by inhibiting an enzyme which catalyzes this reac- Colombia in coca eradication programs; Colombia to contest criticism of their products is rampant in tion. announced in May 2015 that by October, it would regulatory decision-making. cease using glyphosate in these programs due to Glyphosate is absorbed through foliage and mini- concerns about human toxicity of the chemical. Discovery mally through roots, meaning that it is only effective on actively growing plants and cannot prevent seeds Glyphosate is also used for crop desiccation (sic- Glyphosate was first synthesized in 1950 by Swiss from germinating. After application, glyphosate cation) to increase harvest yield and uniformity. chemist Henry Martin, who worked for the Swiss is readily transported around the plant to growing Glyphosate itself is not a chemical desiccant; rather company Cilag. The work was never published. roots and leaves and this systemic activity is im- glyphosate application just before harvest kills the Stauffer Chemical patented the agent as a chemical portant for its effectiveness. Inhibiting the enzyme crop plants so that the food crop dries from envi- chelator in 1964 as it binds and removes minerals causes shikimate to accumulate in plant tissues ronmental conditions (“dry-down”) more quickly such as calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, and diverts energy and resources away from other and evenly. Because glyphosate is systemic, excess and zinc. processes, eventually killing the plant. While growth residue levels can persist in plants due to incorrect stops within hours of application, it takes several application and this may render the crop unfit for Somewhat later, glyphosate was independently days for the leaves to begin turning yellow. sale. When applied appropriately, it can promote discovered in the United States at Monsanto in useful effects. In sugarcane, for example, glypho- 1970. Monsanto chemists had synthesized about Uses sate application increases sucrose concentration 100 derivatives of aminomethylphosphonic acid as before harvest. In grain crops (wheat, barley, oats), potential water-softening agents. Two were found Glyphosate is effective in killing a wide variety of uniformly dried crops do not have to be windrowed to have weak herbicidal activity, and John E. Franz, plants, including grasses and broadleaf and woody (swathed and dried) prior to harvest, but can easily a chemist at Monsanto, was asked to try to make plants. By volume, it is one of the most widely used be straight-cut and harvested. This saves the farmer analogs with stronger herbicidal activity. Glyphosate herbicides. In 2007, glyphosate was the most used time and money, which is important in northern was the third analog he made. Franz received the herbicide in the United States agricultural sector, regions where the growing season is short, and it National Medal of Technology of the United States with 180 to 185 million pounds (82,000 to 84,000 enhances grain storage when the grain has a lower in 1987 and the Perkin Medal for Applied Chemis- tons) applied, the second-most used in home and and more uniform moisture content. try in 1990 for his discoveries. garden with 5 to 8 million pounds (2,300 to 3,600 tons) and government applied 13 to 15 million Genetically modified crops Monsanto developed and patented the use of pounds (5,900 to 6,800 tons) in industry and com- glyphosate to kill weeds in the early 1970s and first merce. It is commonly used for agriculture, horticul- Some micro-organisms are resistant to glyphosate brought it to market in 1974, under the Roundup ture, viticulture, and silviculture purposes, as well inhibition. A version of an enzyme that was both brand name. While its initial patent expired in 1991, as garden maintenance (including home use). It has resistant to glyphosate and that was still efficient Monsanto retained exclusive rights in the United a relatively small effect on some clover species and enough to drive adequate plant growth was identi- States until its patent on the isopropylamine salt morning glory. fied by Monsanto scientists after much trial and expired in September 2000. error in an Agrobacterium strain called CP4, which Glyphosate and related herbicides are often used in was found surviving in a waste-fed column at a Mode of action invasive species eradication and habitat restoration, glyphosate production facility. This CP4 EPSPS especially to enhance native plant establishment gene was cloned and transfected into soybeans. In Glyphosate is such a valuable product largely in prairie ecosystems. The controlled application 1996, genetically modified soybeans were made because of its widespread effectiveness. In 2008, is usually combined with a selective herbicide and commercially available. Current glyphosate-resis- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) traditional methods of weed eradication such as tant crops include soy, maize (corn), canola, alfalfa, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist Ste- mulching to achieve an optimal effect. sugar beets, and cotton, with wheat still under devel- phen O. Duke and Stephen B. Powles—an Austra- opment. lian weed expert—described glyphosate as a “virtu- In many cities, glyphosate is sprayed along the ally ideal” herbicide. sidewalks and streets, as well as crevices in between In 2015, 89% of corn, 94% of soybeans, and 89% pavement where weeds often grow. However, up of cotton produced in the United States were from Glyphosate interferes with the shikimate pathway, to 24% of glyphosate applied to hard surfaces can strains that were genetically modified to be herbi- which produces the aromatic amino acids phenylala- be run off by water. Glyphosate contamination of cide-tolerant. surface water is attributed to urban and agricultural Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-3 Environmental fate tallow amine (POEA) are added to glyphosate to and rabbits, no adverse maternal or offspring effects enable it to wet the leaves and penetrate the cuticle were seen at doses below 175–293 mg/kg of body Glyphosate adsorbs strongly to soil, and residues are of the plants. weight per day. expected to generally be immobile in soil. (Adsorb- tion is the taking up of organic compounds by soils Glyphosate alone Glyphosate-based herbicides may cause life- or sediments) Glyphosate is readily degraded by soil threatening arrhythmias in mammals. Evidence also microbes to aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA, Humans shows that such herbicides cause direct electrophys- which like glyphosate strongly adsorbs to soil iological changes in the cardiovascular systems of solids and is thus unlikely to leach to groundwater). The acute oral toxicity for mammals is low, but rats and rabbits. Though both glyphosate and AMPA are commonly death has been reported after deliberate overdose detected in water bodies, a portion of the AMPA of concentrated formulations. The surfactants in Aquatic fauna detected may actually be the result of degradation glyphosate formulations can increase the relative of detergents rather than from glyphosate. Glypho- acute toxicity of the formulation. In a 2017 risk as- In many freshwater invertebrates, glyphosate has a sate does have the potential to contaminate surface sessment, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) 48-hour LC50 ranging from 55 to 780 ppm. The 96- waters due to its aquatic use patterns and through wrote: “There is very limited information on skin hour LC50 is 281 ppm for grass shrimp (Palaemon- erosion, as it adsorbs to soil particles suspended in irritation in humans. Where skin irritation has been etas vulgaris) and 934 ppm for fiddler crabs (Uca runoff. reported, it is unclear whether it is related to glypho- pagilator). These values make glyphosate “slightly sate or co-formulants in glyphosate-containing toxic to practically non-toxic”. Detection in surface waters (particularly down- herbicide formulations.” The ECHA concluded that stream from agricultural uses) has been reported available human data was insufficient to support Antimicrobial activity as both broad and frequent by USGS researchers, classification for skin corrosion or irritation. Inha- although other similar research found equal frequen- lation is a minor route of exposure, but spray mist The antimicrobial activity of glyphosate has been cies of detection in urban-dominated small streams. may cause oral or nasal discomfort, an unpleasant described in the microbiology literature since its dis- Rain events can trigger dissolved glyphosate loss in taste in the mouth, or tingling and irritation in the covery in 1970 and the description of glyphosate’s transport-prone soils. The mechanism of glyphosate throat. Eye exposure may lead to mild conjunctivi- mechanism of action in 1972. Efficacy was de- sorption to soil is similar to that of phosphate fertil- tis. Superficial corneal injury is possible if irrigation scribed for numerous bacteria and fungi. Glyphosate izers, the presence of which can reduce glyphosate is delayed or inadequate. can control the growth of apicomplexan parasites, sorption. Phosphate fertilizers are subject to release such as Toxoplasma gondii, Plasmodium falciparum from sediments into water bodies under anaerobic Cancer (malaria), and Cryptosporidium parvum, and has conditions, and similar release can also occur with been considered an antimicrobial agent in mammals. glyphosate, though significant impact of glyphosate The question whether labeled uses of glyphosate Inhibition can occur with some Rhizobium species release from sediments has not been established. have demonstrated evidence of human carcinogenic- important for soybean nitrogen fixation, especially Limited leaching can occur after high rainfall after ity is hotly contested. A number of European agen- under moisture stress. application. If glyphosate reaches surface water, it is cies have concluded that there is no evidence that not broken down readily by water or sunlight. glyphosate poses a carcinogenic or genotoxic risk to Soil biota humans. The EPA has classified glyphosate as “not The half-life of glyphosate in soil ranges between likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” One interna- When glyphosate comes into contact with the soil, 2 and 197 days; a typical field half-life of 47 days tional scientific organization, however, the Inter- it can be bound to soil particles, thereby slowing its has been suggested. Soil and climate conditions national Agency for Research on Cancer, classified degradation. A 2016 meta-analysis concluded that affect glyphosate’s persistence in soil. The median glyphosate in Group 2A, “probably carcinogenic to at typical application rates glyphosate had no effect half-life of glyphosate in water varies from a few humans” in 2015. on soil microbial biomass or respiration. A 2016 to 91 days. At a site in Texas, half-life was as little review noted that contrasting effects of glyphosate as three days. A site in Iowa had a half-life of 141.9 There is evidence human cancer risk might in- on earthworms have been found in different experi- days. The glyphosate metabolite AMPA has been crease as a result of occupational exposure to large ments with some species unaffected, but others los- found in Swedish forest soils up to two years after a amounts of glyphosate, such as agricultural work. ing weight or avoiding treated soil. Further research glyphosate application. In this case, the persistence According to one systematic review and meta-analy- is required to determine the impact of glyphosate on of AMPA was attributed to the soil being frozen sis published in 2016, when weak statistical associa- earthworms in complex ecosystems. for most of the year. Glyphosate adsorption to soil, tions with cancer have been found, such observa- and later release from soil, varies depending on the tions have been attributed to bias and confounding Endocrine disruption kind of soil. Glyphosate is generally less persistent in correlational studies due to workers often being in water than in soil, with 12- to 60-day persistence exposed to other known carcinogens. The review In 2007, the EPA selected glyphosate for further observed in Canadian ponds, although persistence reported that studies that show an effect between screening through its Endocrine Disruptor Screen- of over a year has been recorded in the sediments glyphosate use and non-Hodgkin lymphoma have ing Program (EDSP). Selection for this program is of American ponds. The half-life of glyphosate in been criticized for not assessing these factors, based on a compound’s prevalence of use and does water is between 12 days and 10 weeks. underlying quality of studies being reviewed, or not imply particular suspicion of endocrine activ- whether the relationship is causal rather than only ity. On June 29, 2015, the EPA released Weight of Residues in food products correlational. Writing for the Natural Resources De- Evidence Conclusion of the EDSP Tier 1 screening fense Council environmental advocacy group, h ow- for glyphosate, recommending that glyphosate not According to the National Pesticide Information ever, Jennifer Sass criticized the influence exerted be considered for Tier 2 testing. The Weight of Evi- Center fact sheet, glyphosate is not included in by Monsanto on research about glyphosate safety, dence conclusion stated “...there was no convincing compounds tested for by the Food and Drug Admin- and noted that the review was funded by Monsanto. evidence of potential interaction with the estrogen, istration’s Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program, androgen or thyroid pathways.” A review of the nor in the United States Department of Agricul- A meta-analysis published in 2019 looked at evidence by the European Food Safety Authority ture’s Pesticide Data Program. However, a field test whether there was an association between an in- published in September 2017 showed conclusions showed that lettuce, carrots, and barley contained creased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in humans similar to those of the EPA report. glyphosate residues up to one year after the soil was and high cumulative exposures to glyphosate-based treated with 3.71 lb of glyphosate per acre (4.15 kg herbicides. The analysis used the most recent update Effect on plant health per hectare). The U.S. has determined the acceptable of the Agricultural Health Study cohort published daily intake of glyphosate at 1.75 milligrams per in 2018 and five case-control studies published in Some studies have found causal relationships be- kilogram of bodyweight per day (mg/kg/bw/day) 2019. The research found a “compelling link” be- tween glyphosate and increased or decreased disease while the European Union has set it at 0.5. tween exposures to glyphosate-based herbicides and resistance. Exposure to glyphosate has been shown increased risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. to change the species composition of endophytic Pesticide residue controls carried out by EU Mem- bacteria in plant hosts, which is highly variable. ber States in 2016 analysed 6,761 samples of food Other mammals products for glyphosate residues. 3.6% of the sam- Glyphosate-based formulations ples contained quantifiable glyphosate residue levels Amongst mammals, glyphosate is considered to with 19 samples (0.28%) exceeding the European have “low to very low toxicity”. The LD50 of Glyphosate-based formulations may contain a maximum residue levels (MRLs), which included glyphosate is 5,000 mg/kg for rats, 10,000 mg/kg in number of adjuvants, the identities of which may be six samples of honey and other apicultural products mice and 3,530 mg/kg in goats. The acute dermal proprietary. Surfactants are used in herbicide for- (MRL = 0.05 mg/kg) and eleven samples of buck- LD50 in rabbits is greater than 2,000 mg/kg. Indica- mulations as wetting agents, to maximize coverage wheat and other pseudocereals (MRL = 0.1 mg/kg). tions of glyphosate toxicity in animals typically ap- and aid penetration of the herbicide(s) through plant Glyphosate residues below the European MRLs pear within 30 to 120 minutes following ingestion of leaves. As agricultural spray adjuvants, surfactants were most frequently found in dry lentils, linseeds, a large enough dose, and include initial excitability may be pre-mixed into commercial formulations or soya beans, dry peas, tea, buckwheat, barley, wheat and tachycardia (a rapid heart rate), ataxia (impaired they may be purchased separately and mixed on- and rye. coordination), depression, and bradycardia (abnor- site. mally slow heart action), although severe toxicity Toxicity can develop into collapse and convulsions. Polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA) is a sur- factant used in the original Roundup formulation Glyphosate is the active ingredient in herbicide A review of unpublished short-term rabbit-feeding and was commonly used in 2015. Different ver- formulations containing it. However, in addition studies reported severe toxicity effects at 150 mg/ sions of Roundup have included different percent- to glyphosate salts, commercial formulations of kg/day and “no observed adverse effect level” doses ages of POEA. A 1997 US government report said glyphosate contain additives (known as adjuvants) ranging from 50 to 200 mg/kg/day. Glyphosate can that Roundup is 15% POEA while Roundup Pro such as surfactants, which vary in nature and have carcinogenic effects in nonhuman mammals. is 14.5%. Since POEA is more toxic to fish and concentration. Surfactants such as polyethoxylated In reproductive toxicity studies performed in rats amphibians than glyphosate alone, POEA is not al- B- 4 The Natural Farmer Winter, 2019-20 lowed in aquatic formulations. A 2000 review of the water pockets where concentrations would be much Legal cases ecotoxicological data on Roundup shows at least 58 lower than label rates. studies exist on the effects of Roundup on a range Lawsuits claiming liability for cancer of organisms. This review concluded that “...for ter- Some researchers have suggested the toxicity effects restrial uses of Roundup minimal acute and chronic of pesticides on amphibians may be different from In June 2018, Dewayne Johnson, a 46-year-old for- risk was predicted for potentially exposed non-target those of other aquatic fauna because of their life- mer California school groundskeeper who is dying organisms”. style; amphibians may be more susceptible to the of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, took Monsanto (which toxic effects of pesticides because they often prefer had been acquired by Bayer earlier that month) to Human to breed in shallow, lentic, or ephemeral pools. trial in San Francisco County superior court, alleg- These habitats do not necessarily constitute formal ing that it has spent decades hiding the cancer-caus- Acute toxicity and chronic toxicity are dose-related. water-bodies and can contain higher concentra- ing dangers of its Roundup herbicides. The judge Skin exposure to ready-to-use concentrated glypho- tions of pesticide compared to larger water-bodies. ordered that jurors be allowed to consider both sate formulations can cause irritation, and photo- Studies in a variety of amphibians have shown the scientific evidence related to the cause of Johnson’s contact dermatitis has been occasionally reported. toxicity of GBFs (glypohosate-based formulations) cancer and allegations that Monsanto suppressed These effects are probably due to the preservative containing POEA to amphibian larvae. These ef- evidence of the risks, with possible punitive dam- benzisothiazolin-3-one. Severe skin burns are very fects include interference with gill morphology and ages. In August 2018, the jury awarded Johnson US rare. Inhalation is a minor route of exposure, but mortality from either the loss of osmotic stability or $289 million in damages. Monsanto said they would spray mist may cause oral or nasal discomfort, an asphyxiation. At sub-lethal concentrations, exposure appeal, saying they were confident that glyphosate unpleasant taste in the mouth, or tingling and irrita- to POEA or glyphosate/POEA formulations have does not cause cancer when used appropriately. In tion in the throat. Eye exposure may lead to mild been associated with delayed development, acceler- November 2018, the award was reduced to $78 mil- conjunctivitis. Superficial corneal injury is possible ated development, reduced size at metamorphosis, lion on appeal. if irrigation is delayed or inadequate. Death has developmental malformations of the tail, mouth, been reported after deliberate overdose. eye and head, histological indications of intersex In August 2018, the potential for additional cases and symptoms of oxidative stress. Glyphosate-based was estimated at up to 4,000. Bayer announced Ingestion of Roundup ranging from 85 to 200 ml formulations can cause oxidative stress in bullfrog in April 2019 that over 13,000 lawsuits related to (of 41% solution) has resulted in death within hours tadpoles. Roundup had been launched in the US. of ingestion, although it has also been ingested in quantities as large as 500 ml with only mild or mod- A 2003 study of various formulations of glyphosate In March 2019, a man was awarded $80 million in erate symptoms. Adult consumption of more than found, “[the] risk assessments based on estimated a lawsuit claiming Roundup was a substantial factor 85 ml of concentrated product can lead to corrosive and measured concentrations of glyphosate that in his cancer, resulting in Costco stores discontinu- esophageal burns and kidney or liver damage. More would result from its use for the control of undesir- ing sales. In July 2019, U.S. District Judge Vince severe cases cause “respiratory distress, impaired able plants in wetlands and over-water situations Chhabria reduced the settlement to $26 million. consciousness, pulmonary edema, infiltration on showed that the risk to aquatic organisms is negli- Chhabria stated that a punitive award was appropri- chest X-ray, shock, arrhythmias, renal failure requir- gible or small at application rates less than 4 kg/ha ate because the evidence “easily supported a con- ing haemodialysis, metabolic acidosis, and hyperka- and only slightly greater at application rates of 8 kg/ clusion that Monsanto was more concerned with laemia” and death is often preceded by bradycardia ha.” tamping down safety inquiries and manipulating and ventricular arrhythmias. While the surfactants in public opinion than it was with ensuring its product formulations generally do not increase the toxicity A 2013 meta-analysis reviewed the available data is safe.” Chhabria stated that there is evidence on of glyphosate itself, it is likely that they contribute related to potential impacts of glyphosate-based her- both sides concerning whether glyphosate causes to its acute toxicity. bicides on amphibians. According to the authors, the cancer and that the behavior of Monsanto showed “a use of glyphosate-based pesticides cannot be consid- lack of concern about the risk that its product might A 2000 review concluded that “under present and ered the major cause of amphibian decline, the bulk be carcinogenic.” expected conditions of new use, there is no poten- of which occurred prior to the widespread use of tial for Roundup herbicide to pose a health risk to glyphosate or in pristine tropical areas with minimal On May 13, 2019 a jury in California ordered Bayer humans”. A 2012 meta-analysis of epidemiological glyphosate exposure. The authors recommended to pay a couple $2 billion in damages after finding studies (seven cohort studies and fourteen case- further study of species- and development-stage that the company had failed to adequately inform control studies) of exposure to glyphosate formula- chronic toxicity, of environmental glyphosate levels, consumers of the possible carcinogenicity of Round- tions found no correlation with any kind of cancer. and ongoing analysis of data relevant to determin- up. On July 26, 2019, an Alameda County judge cut The 2013 systematic review by the German Institute ing what if any role glyphosate might be playing in the settlement to $86.7 million, stating that the judg- for Risk Assessment of epidemiological studies of worldwide amphibian decline, and suggest including ment by the jury exceeded legal precedent. workers who use pesticides, exposed to glyphosate amphibians in standardized test batteries. formulations found no significant risk, stating that Using litigation discovery emails it was later re- “the available data are contradictory and far from Genetic damage vealed that in 2015 when Monsanto was discussing being convincing”. However, a 2014 meta-analysis papers they wanted to see published to counter the of the same studies found a correlation between Several studies have not found mutagenic effects, so expected IARC glyphosate results they wrote in an occupational exposure to glyphosate formulations glyphosate has not been listed in the United States email, “An option would be to add Greim and Kier and increased risk of B cell lymphoma, the most Environmental Protection Agency or the Interna- or Kirkland to have their names on the publication, common kind of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Workers tional Agency for Research on Cancer databases. but we would be keeping the cost down by us doing exposed to glyphosate were about twice as likely to Various other studies suggest glyphosate may the writing and they would just edit & sign their get B cell lymphoma. A 2016 systematic review and be mutagenic. The IARC monograph noted that names so to speak. Recall that is how we handled meta-analysis found no causal relationship between glyphosate-based formulations can cause DNA Williams Kroes & Munro, 2000.” glyphosate exposure and risk of any type of lym- strand breaks in various taxa of animals in vitro. phohematopoietic cancer including non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma. The same review noted that the positive associations found may be due to bias and confounding. The Natural Resources Defense Council has criticized that review, noting that it was funded by Monsanto.

A 2015 systematic review of observational studies found that except for an excess of Attention Defi- cit Hyperactivity Disorder among children born to INNOVATIVE, EFFECTIVE, MECHANICAL glyphosate appliers, no evidence that glyphosate WEEDING SOLUTIONS FROM THE SPECIALISTS! exposure among pregnant mothers caused adverse developmental outcomes in their children. Noting the limited size and scope of the review articles Camera Guidance available, the authors noted that “these negative findings cannot be taken as definitive evidence that glyphosate, at current levels of occupational and environmental exposures, brings no risk for human development and reproduction.”

Aquatic fauna

Glyphosate products for aquatic use generally do not use surfactants, and aquatic formulations do not use POEA due to aquatic organism toxicity. Due to the presence of POEA, such glyphosate formula- Finger weeder DUO Next ‘G’eneration ARGUS tions only allowed for terrestrial use are more toxic for amphibians and fish than glyphosate alone. The half-life of POEA (21–42 days) is longer than that 717-984-8980 [email protected] www.kult-kress.com for glyphosate (7–14 days) in aquatic environments. Aquatic organism exposure risk to terrestrial formu- lations with POEA is limited to drift or temporary Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-5 A Short History of Glyphosate from Sustainable Pulse in 1996 glyphosate use had increased 9-fold in the 1961: Glyphosate was patented in the U.S. as a U.S. and 15-fold worldwide by 2014. By 2014, Descaling and Chelating Agent by the Stauffer annual farm-sector glyphosate usage increased Chemical Co. to approximately 240 million pounds (~108.8 Due to its strong metal chelating properties, million kilograms), based on average annual crop glyphosate was initially used as a descaling agent use reported by the NASS. Available use data to clean out calcium and other mineral deposits in published by the USDA, USGS, and EPA show that pipes and boilers of residential and commercial hot a surprisingly large share (approximately two-thirds) water systems. Descaling agents are effective metal of the total volume of GBH applied since 1974 has binders, which grab on to Calcium, Magnesium and been sprayed in just the last decade. heavy metals to make the metal water soluble and easily removable. 2015: The World Health Organization’s cancer agency IARC classified glyphosate as “probably 1970: Glyphosate was discovered to be a herbicide carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2A). (weedkiller) by Monsanto scientist John Franz This was based on “limited” evidence of cancer in and was patented as such. Dewayne Johnson, a California father who has humans (from real-world exposures that actually non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which was caused occur) and “sufficient” evidence of cancer in 1974: Monsanto brought glyphosate to market by Monsanto’s glyphosate-based weedkiller experimental animals (from studies of “pure” under the trade name Roundup. Roundup. glyphosate). IARC also concluded that there was “strong” evidence for genotoxicity, both for “pure” 1982: Monsanto was already working on creating glyphosate and for glyphosate formulations. Roundup Ready genetically modified crops. So was Luca Comai, a scientist from Calgene (a biotech of non-carcinogenicity for humans”. Mysteriously 2016: University of California San Francisco company that Monsanto would later acquire). this change in glyphosate’s classification occurred (UCSF) discovers glyphosate in 93% of urine during the same period that Monsanto was samples collected across U.S. 1985: The United States Environmental developing its first Roundup-Ready (glyphosate- In a unique public testing project carried out by Protection Agency (EPA) classified glyphosate as a resistant) GM Crops. a laboratory at the University of California San Class C Carcinogen. Francisco (UCSF), glyphosate was discovered in On February 11, 1985 the carcinogenic potential of 1992: Pioneer pays Monsanto for use of Roundup 93% of urine samples during the early phase of the glyphosate was first considered by an EPA panel, resistance gene testing in 2015. The urine and water testing was called the Toxicology Branch Ad Hoc Committee. Pioneer (DuPont) paid a one-time payment of half organized by The Detox Project and commissioned The Committee, in a consensus review dated March a million dollars for the rights to use Monsanto’s by the Organic Consumers Association. 4, 1985, then classified glyphosate as a Class C Roundup resistance gene in its soybeans forever. Carcinogen. A Class C Carcinogen has “Suggestive Monsanto’s profit would come entirely via the 2016: Alarming levels of glyphosate evidence of carcinogenic potential” according to the additional sales of Roundup it would gain. contamination found in popular American foods EPA. Glyphosate was found at alarming levels in a 1996: Introduction of Roundup Ready Soybeans wide range of best-selling foods across the U.S., 1985: Monsanto tried to persuade the U.S. Roundup Ready soybeans were commercialized by Food Democracy Now! and The Detox Project EPA that glyphosate was not a possible human Asgrow in coordination with Monsanto and announced in November 2016. The testing project carcinogen separately by Pioneer (DuPont). In 1996, the first found alarming levels of glyphosate in General Dr. George Levinskas, who joined Monsanto in 1971 year genetically engineered (GE), glyphosate- Mills’ Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios, Kellogg’s and became Director of Environmental Assessment tolerant crops were planted commercially in the Corn Flakes, Raisin Bran and Frosted Flakes and and Toxicology, was a lead player in the cover up of U.S., glyphosate accounted for just 3.8% of the total PepsiCo’s Doritos Cool Ranch, Ritz Crackers and the carcinogenic potential of the now banned PCBs volume of herbicide active ingredients applied in Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita Chips, as well as many in the 1970s. In April 1985 he wrote an internal agriculture (28 million pounds in 1995). more famous products. company letter stating the following: “Senior management at the EPA is reviewing a proposal to 2007: Glyphosate usage is more than double that 2017: Groundbreaking study shows Roundup classify glyphosate as a class C “possible human of the next most heavily sprayed pesticide – causes liver disease at low doses carcinogen” because of kidney adenomas in male Atrazine. This peer-reviewed study led by Dr Michael mice. Dr. Marvin Kuschner will review kidney By 2007, the EPA reported agricultural use of Antoniou at King’s College London using cutting sections and present his evaluation of them to the glyphosate in the range of 180–185 million pounds. edge profiling methods describes the molecular EPA in an effort to persuade the agency that the In the 20-year timespan covered by EPA sales composition of the livers of female rats administered observed tumors are not related to glyphosate.” and usage reports (1987–2007), glyphosate use with an extremely low dose of Roundup weedkiller rose faster and more substantially than any other over a 2-year period. The dose of glyphosate from 1985: In the summer of 1985, Monsanto pesticide. Usage in the range of 81.6–83.9 million the Roundup administered was thousands of times successfully created genetically modified petunia kilograms, which occurred in 2007, was more than below what is permitted by regulators worldwide. plants tolerant of small amounts of Roundup “but double the next most heavily sprayed pesticide The study revealed that these animals suffered not to the amounts that farmers typically spray (atrazine, 73–78 million pounds; ~33.1–35.4 million from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). on weeds.” In October of that year, Comai’s kilograms). For over a decade, glyphosate-based This study is unique in that it is the first to show a team published their own work in Nature. Still, herbicides have been, by far, the most heavily causative link between consumption of Roundup at a neither group produced anything that could be applied pesticides in the U.S. real-world environmental dose and a serious disease commercialized. condition. 2010: Glyphosate was patented in the U.S. by 1989: Monsanto strikes deal with Asgrow to create Monsanto as an antibiotic. 2017: Internal Monsanto and EPA Roundup Ready genetically modified crops for This patent has led to major concerns about possible communications, released during a growing commercial market harm being caused by glyphosate including the number of Roundup cancer court cases, reveal the In 1989, three companies struck a deal: Agracetus, killing of beneficial gut bacteria which causes reality of the 30+ year glyphosate cover-up Asgrow and Monsanto. Up until this point, Monsanto immune system damage. The internal company e-mails show how Monsanto had trouble transferring genes into the most valuable has colluded with the EPA to play down glyphosate crops on the market, corn and soybeans, using its 2012: Professor Seralini study shows harm safety concerns, admitted that Roundup / glyphosate existing method of genetic engineering. Agracetus being caused by low doses of glyphosate-based could possibly cause cancer and other harm to human offered a new method, called a gene gun. In hopes herbicides and GM crops health and also attempted to silence the work of of using it on soybeans, Agracetus had approached In 2012 the French Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini Professor Seralini. Asgrow, a leading soybean seed company. The two published his famous toxicity study, which showed approached Monsanto because they needed a gene how rats fed on a diet containing NK603 Roundup 2018: Monsanto Loses Landmark Roundup worthy of engineering into Asgrow’s soybeans. tolerant GM maize or given water containing Cancer Trial, Set to Pay USD 78 Million in Monsanto gave them free access to the Roundup Roundup, at levels permitted in drinking water and Damages Ready gene. GM crops in the U.S., suffered severe liver and kidney damage. This was not the first independent Monsanto lost a landmark cancer trial in San 1991: EPA changes classification of glyphosate study showing the possible damage being caused to Francisco and was ordered to pay over USD 289 from Class C “Suggestive evidence of carcinogenic health by glyphosate-based herbicide but it was the Million (reduced on appeal to USD 78 Million) in potential” to Class E which suggests “evidence of most high profile long-term study. total damages to the former school groundskeeper non-carcinogenicity for humans” Dewayne Johnson, a California father who has The Class C carcinogen classification for glyphosate, 2014: Glyphosate usage booms even more in the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which was caused by which was decided upon in 1985, was changed by the U.S. Monsanto’s glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup. EPA to a Class E category which suggests “evidence Since genetically modified crops were introduced B- 6 The Natural Farmer Winter, 2019-20 public to be informed of the cancer hazard.” so to speak,” he wrote. He cited as an example a 2000 study that has been regarded as influential How Monsanto After the IARC ruling, a storm of protest did erupt by regulators. Documents show Monsanto’s heavy from various individuals and organizations alongside writing and editing involvement in the resulting Manufactured Monsanto’s howls of indignant outrage. Some have purportedly “independent” review. questioned the wisdom of U.S. funding for IARC and Monsanto has perpetuated a false narrative that Monsanto has adamantly denied ghostwriting, ‘Outrage’ but one memo from August 2015 from the files by Carey Gillam the chairman of the IARC working group withheld critical information from the team. of Monsanto scientist David Saltmiras actually uses that term, stating that he “ghostwrote cancer Five years ago Monsanto executives realized they The document trail, which includes internal emails, review paper Greim et al (2015)…” referring to a had a big problem on their hands. It was September paper that showed authorship by German scientist 2014 and the company’s top-selling chemical, the memos and other communications obtained from Monsanto by plaintiffs’ attorneys through litigation Helmut Greim along with Saltmiras. (Monsanto has weed killer called glyphosate that is the foundation acknowledged that Greim worked as a consultant for Monsanto’s branded Roundup products, pending in the U.S., makes clear that the debate over, and challenge to, IARC’s classification did not sprout to the company with part of his job being to publish had been selected as one among a handful of peer-reviewed data on glyphosate). pesticides to undergo scrutiny by the World Health authentically from a variety of voices, but rather was manufactured by Monsanto in advance of IARC’s Organization’s International Agency for Research Another internal email illustrates the writing by on Cancer (IARC). Monsanto had spent decades decision and continued afterward. The goal was—and is—to convince regulators to discount the findings of a Monsanto scientist of a research paper titled fending off concerns about the safety of glyphosate “Developmental and Reproductive Outcomes… and decrying scientific research indicating the the team of independent scientific experts who made up the IARC team that examined glyphosate. after Glyphosate Exposure.” The scientist, Donna chemical might cause cancer or other diseases. And Farmer, did extensive work, including what she even though the IARC review was still months called a “cut and paste” of certain information. But away, Monsanto’s own scientists knew what The internal records obtained through litigation, combined with documents obtained through Freedom her name was not included as an author before the the outcome would likely be—and they knew it paper was submitted to a journal. The published wouldn’t be good. of Information Act (FOIA) and state records requests also show that the actions employed to discredit version concluded there was “no solid evidence IARC were part of a decades-long pattern of linking glyphosate exposure to adverse Internal company records show not just the level developmental or reproductive effects.” of fear Monsanto had over the impending review, deceptive tactics by Monsanto to persuade regulators, lawmakers and members of the press and public that but notably that company officials fully expected The paper trail of documents also show that IARC scientists would find at least some cancer glyphosate and Roundup are safe. The company has used these tactics multiple times over the years to Monsanto feared that a U.S. health agency planning connections to glyphosate. Company scientists to review glyphosate in 2015 might agree with discussed the “vulnerability” that surrounded try to discredit several scientists whose research has found harmful effects associated with glyphosate. IARC and collaborated with the EPA to successfully their efforts to defend glyphosate amid multiple block that agency—the Agency for Toxic unfavorable research findings in studies of people “Orchestrate Outcry” Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR)—from and animals exposed to the weed killer. In addition doing its review. “We’re trying to do everything we to epidemiology studies, “we also have potential The IARC attack plan, which was laid out in a February 2015 memo, involved not only Monsanto’s can to keep from having a domestic IARC occur,” a vulnerabilities in the other areas that IARC will company official wrote. consider, namely, exposure, genetox and mode of internal PR people, scientists and marketing experts, but a range of outside industry players. Various action…” a Monsanto scientist wrote in October The record also shows that well before IARC, 2014. That same email discussed a need to find individuals were assigned tasks. The “strategies and tactics” included: Monsanto recruited networks of academic allies and arrange funding for a “fight”—all months scientists in the U.S and Europe who have before the IARC meeting in March 2015. “Orchestrate Outcry” with IARC Decision—Industry defended Monsanto’s products, including its weed killer, without declaring their collaborations And Monsanto predicted internally before conducts robust media/social media outreach on process and outcome. with Monsanto. And that these silent soldiers IARC even met that the review of the scientific helped Monsanto discredit scientists who evidence would result in a decision that glyphosate reported research showing harm associated with “possibly” was carcinogenic or “probably” “Identify/request third-party experts to blog, op/ ed, tweet and/or link, repost, retweet, etc.” The glyphosate and Roundup, including working at was. Monsanto officials had forecast the IARC Monsanto’s bidding to get one damaging study decision in an internal “preparedness” plan that documents show one such “expert,” academic Henry Miller, was provided a draft article to submit by French scientist Gilles-Éric Séralini retracted warned colleagues to “assume and prepare for from a scientific journal where it was published in the outcome…” The document shows Monsanto to Forbes for publication under his name with no mention of Monsanto’s involvement. Forbes learned September 2012. The company even discounted thought it most likely that IARC would peg concerns by one of its own paid consultants who glyphosate as a “possible human carcinogen.” The of the deceit last month and severed relations with Miller. found evidence of glyphosate’s genotoxicity and rating of probable carcinogen was “possible but refused to do the additional tests he recommended. less likely,” the Monsanto memo stated. IARC “Inform/Inoculate/Engage Industry Partners”— ultimately did classify glyphosate as “probably If what Monsanto says is true, that glyphosate is carcinogenic to humans.” Notably the industry partners listed included three organizations that purport to be independent so very safe, and that there is no evidence it causes of Monsanto but have long been seen by critics cancer or other health problems, then why all the As the IARC meeting loomed, the internal smoke and mirrors? Why would the company documents show that Monsanto did not wait for as front groups for the company—Monsanto named Academics Review and the Genetic Literacy need to ghostwrite research papers to present to the actual IARC decision before acting. It enlisted regulators? Why would Monsanto need to establish teams of PR and lobbying experts, scientists and Project, both based in the U.S. and Sense About Science, which has run operations in the United networks of scientists to promote glyphosate safety others in a plan aimed at creating what was designed and to tear down scientists whose research raises to appear as a storm of “outcry” and “outrage” to Kingdom and the U.S., as groups to help with its mission. In fact, Sense About Science was the group concerns? Why would Monsanto try to block a follow the IARC classification. IARC had a history review of glyphosate by the U.S. ATSDR? of “questionable and politically charged rulings,” identified by Monsanto to lead the industry response the Monsanto memo said. and “provide a platform for IARC observers.” The groups did as Monsanto planned, posting scathing Throughout this debate, it is worthwhile to attacks on IARC on their websites. remember that the concerns about glyphosate The plan was to create enough controversy to safety have deep roots that date all the way back thoroughly discredit IARC’s evaluation because to at least 1985 when EPA toxicologists looked Monsanto officials knew that regulators would be Engagement with Regulatory Agencies—Monsanto planned for grower associations/ growers to “write at data showing rare tumors in mice dosed with influenced by IARC, and continued widespread use glyphosate and determined that glyphosate was of the top-selling chemical could be at risk. regulators with an appeal that they remain focused on the science, not the politically charged decision by “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” IARC.” “It is possible that IARC’s decision will impact Monsanto protests eventually reversed that future regulatory decision making,” Monsanto stated classification but in light of all of the deceptive in its internal correspondence. “Push opinion leader letter to key daily newspaper on day of IARC ruling” with assistance of the Potomac tactics recently revealed in documents, the words Group marketing firm. of an EPA scientist more than 30 years ago are The timing was critical because in 2015 both the worth considering today: “Glyphosate is suspect… U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Monsanto’s argument is unacceptable.” the European Commission were evaluating re- The preparedness plan also called for supporting “the development of three new papers on glyphosate authorizations of Monsanto’s weed killer. Following The EPA scientist in that 1985 memo also wrote: IARC’s classification, both the European Union and focused on epidemiology and toxicology.” As planned, shortly after the IARC decision Monsanto “Our viewpoint is one of protecting the public the EPA delayed final decisions on glyphosate amid health when we see suspicious data. It is not our job the still-brewing debate over the chemical’s safety. arranged for several scientists—many of them former employees or paid consultants—to author to protect registrants…” and publish research papers supporting glyphosate “What this indicates to me is that it was Originally published in EcoWatch. Carey Gillam is obvious to Monsanto that there was evidence safety. It was revealed through discovery documents that Monsanto discussed ghostwriting the papers. In author of “Whitewash – The Story of a Weed Killer, of carcinogenicity,” said Peter Infante, an Cancer and the Corruption of Science” which is epidemiologist who worked for more than 24 years one email, company scientist William Heydens told colleagues the company could “ghost-write” reviewed in this issue. She will also be the keynoter for the U.S. government studying cancer risks to at the NOFA/Mass Winter Conference on January workers from exposure to toxic substances. “It certain reports that would carry the names of outside scientists—”they would just edit & sign their names 11, 2020 and will lead a one-day intensive on would seem to me that Monsanto does not like the pesticide advocacy on January 10, Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-7 Glyphosate News Notes

Glyphosate Sourced From Controversial Superfund sites that will require years of cleanup. see us all work together in keeping our environment Mines “From the cradle to the grave, glyphosate pristine for all.” is deeply problematic,” said Hannah Connor, a se- A pristine environment, however, is further Roundup, the world’s top herbicide, has been nior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, over the horizon, according to the tribes. The new mired in controversy in recent months as the ju- which has submitted critical comments to the BLM mine would occupy the land and impact treaty rights rors in three court cases have found it causes on the project and is considering legal action. “The and cultural activities, said Kelly Wright, the tribes’ cancer. Bayer Crop Science, the company that pro- environmental costs begin with open-pit mines that environmental waste program manager. Mining duces Roundup, has been ordered to pay billions of destroy hundreds of acres of habitat critical to the would affect elk hunting and the gathering of cul- dollars in damages, and thousands of other cancer survival of imperiled species and end with a pesti- turally important plants such as berries, bitterroot, cases are pending in state and federal courts. And cide that harms wildlife and people. It’s pretty dis- camas bulbs, flowering plants, and mushrooms. It while the majority of the nation’s corn, soybean, turbing.” would also impact sweat lodges, spiritual rituals, and and cotton growers continue to use it, Round- The phosphate ore that’s currently used to journeys. up’s damage to soil health and history of producing make Roundup is mined at the Blackfoot Bridge The BLM said the abundance of similar big herbicide-tolerant “superweeds” are also critical Mine near Soda Springs, in southeastern Idaho’s game habitat and vegetation types near the Caldwell concerns to farmers and consumers. Caribou County, on public land administered by the Canyon project should provide adequate opportuni- But few people know that Roundup is BLM. That mine, which began operating in 2013, ties for the tribes to exercise their rights to hunt, fish, equally contentious at its source. has enough ore supply to last until about 2022, ac- gather, and conduct other traditional uses and prac- Glyphosate, the herbicide’s main ingredient, cording to Bayer. P4 Production LLC, a subsidiary tices, “making these short-term effects negligible.” isn’t manufactured in a lab, but originates in a mine. of Bayer (and formerly of Monsanto), owns and Wright said the tribe does use other ar- To produce it, phosphate ore is extracted and refined operates the mining and processing facilities that eas when a mine closes off a piece of land, but the into elemental phosphorus. While Bayer, which produce the ore and turn it into phosphorus. amount of unoccupied land in the area is shrinking recently bought Monsanto, touts its sustainable Bayer’s newly proposed project, the 1,559- and a new mine site also impacts wildlife on sur- mining process, environmentalists contend that the acre Caldwell Canyon mine located just northeast rounding land. process involves stripping away the soil off moun- of the town of Soda Springs, would start extracting Bayer said the company is working with taintops, which destroys vegetation, contaminates ore in 2023 and operate for an estimated 40 years. Utah State University to conduct a habitat research water and creates noise and air pollution that is det- It would disturb 1,559 acres—one-fourth of it public project on 250 acres of its 2,200-acre Fox Hills rimental to wildlife and the environment for years to land, the rest private land. Ranch just northeast of Soda Springs. The project come. At Caldwell Canyon, the ore would be ex- entails, in part, improving the habitat by transplant- For decades, Monsanto has quietly mined tracted from two new open pits, hauled out by truck ing sagebrush removed from the Caldwell Canyon the phosphate ore in a remote corner of Southeast on a newly constructed road to an existing railroad site, as well as planting additional seedlings raised in Idaho known as the phosphate patch. Because its load and transported daily to the Soda Spring pro- a greenhouse. Such off-site mitigation is no longer current mine is nearly tapped out, Bayer has ap- cessing plant by a train up to 130 rail cars long. required by the BLM under the Trump administration plied for a permit to start a new mine nearby. The local Shoshone-Bannock Tribes are (though pending lawsuits could change that). Envi- In May, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management unhappy with the proposed mine. Their reservation, ronmentalists say because the land restoration is vol- (BLM) released the final environmental impact located just northwest of the phosphate patch and untary and Bayer may decide to stop it at any time, statement analyzing the proposed mine. The agency home to more than 6,000 tribal members, was although BLM’s Cudnick said his agency may decide will issue its final decision later this summer. created in 1868. For millennia, they have hunted to make the cleanup mandatory. But opponents say the government has wild game, fished the region’s abundant streams and After a decision on the new mine is issued failed to properly analyze environmental damage, rivers, and collected native plants and roots for food this summer, and a subsequent 30-day appeals pe- including impacts to the Greater Yellowstone Eco- and medicinal purposes. A treaty enshrines their riod, Bayer’s subsidiary will likely begin to extract system and a connecting regional wildlife corridor, inherent right to freely hunt “on the unoccupied phosphate ore and Bayer will continue to make more the dwindling greater sage grouse population, and lands of the United States.” But the phosphate mines Roundup. local Native American tribes who depend on the —as well as cattle grazing and development—have “It’s a tragedy that the BLM is allowing a land and wildlife. They point to the cumulative im- slowly encroached on these activities. private actor to use public land to create poison,” pact of the proposed mine and a total of about 20 “There is too much destruction on and said Connor from the Center for Biological Diversity. other inactive, active, and proposed mines in the around our reservation that affects our way of life,” “That’s not what public lands are for.” phosphate patch, many of which are contaminated Councilman Lee Juan Tyler said. “I would like to source: Civil Eats. June 24, 2019 B- 8 The Natural Farmer Winter, 2019-20

LA County Bans Roundup on County Prop- based cereals and other oat-based food marketed While the court cases emerged, the U.S. erty Over Health Concerns to children. The brands in which glyphosate was Environmental Protection Agency carried out its The same day that a second jury in seven months detected included several cereals and breakfast bars own review of the evidence. In April, the agency found that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Mon- made by General Mills and Quaker. announced its conclusion that the chemical does not santo’s Roundup, causes cancer, Los Angeles Coun- source: https://www.ewg.org/release/la-county- cause cancer in people. ty banned any further use of the toxic weedkiller by bans-use-monsanto-s-roundup-weedkiller-over- In the wake of mixed evidence and court all county departments. health-concerns. rulings, cities including Seattle are taking a On Tuesday, March 19, 2019 the Los defensive stance against glyphosate. Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordered a “The concern was mainly for the people who moratorium on applications of glyphosate on county Seattle has joined Miami, Austin, and other are applying it,” says Patricia Bakker, natural property until public health and environmental ex- cities in restricting the use of glyphosate resources manager at Seattle’s Parks and Recreation perts can determine whether it’s safe. More than When invasive Himalayan blackberry creeps Department. The department stopped using 50 U.S. cities and counties have banned the use of into one of Seattle’s wooded parks, it takes over, glyphosate last fall, Bakker said, because parks glyphosate on parks, playgrounds and schoolyards. conquering native plants. In the past, Seattle park managers worried they were putting employees in In 2015, the International Agency for Re- managers may have sprayed the noxious plant with harm’s way. It became official policy on August search on Cancer, part of the World Health Organi- the weed killer Roundup. But Seattle is the most 23, 2019, when Mayor Jenny Durkan signed an zation, classified the chemical as probably carcino- recent in a wave of U.S. cities turning away from executive order restricting Seattle city departments’ genic to humans. In 2017, California listed glypho- Roundup because of growing concern that it could use of glyphosate-containing pesticides. sate in its Proposition 65 registry of chemicals be giving people cancer. The executive order designates glyphosate known to cause cancer. Bayer AG, which bought Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, as a last-resort option, to be used only to battle the Monsanto last year, faces more than 11,000 U.S. has helped grow food and stamp out weeds since it worst weeds—weeds the state requires the city to lawsuits alleging that glyphosate causes cancer. was introduced by Monsanto in 1974. Its popularity remove—after other methods have been exhausted. “Kicking Bayer-Monsanto and its cancer- swelled in the 1990s, when Monsanto began also Mowing, mulching, and a plant-killing fungus causing weedkiller off L.A. County property was to sell specially designed crop seeds, including called rust are some of the first lines of defense. absolutely the right call,” said EWG President soybeans, canola, and corn, that could withstand Other herbicides, like those containing the active Ken Cook. “We know glyphosate causes cancer in the herbicide when it was sprayed on surrounding ingredients triclopyr and imazapyr, can also be used. people and shouldn’t be sprayed anywhere – period. weeds. The company’s patent on glyphosate expired Without the power of Roundup, Bakker We don’t know how many Angelenos have been in 2000, and then other companies entered the expects her staff won’t be able to tame non-native exposed to this dangerous chemical through its use market; today, several hundred products for sale in plants with the same vigor. “There are just going to by the county, but we can keep others from being the U.S. contain glyphosate. be some areas that look a little weedy,” Bakker says. exposed.” Public concerns about glyphosate’s safety However, Seattle’s native plants may The county’s decision came the same day a grew in the years that followed, so the World Health have a better chance of survival because of the jury in a federal court in San Francisco delivered a Organization’s International Agency for Research glyphosate restriction, according to one expert. verdict in favor of Edward Hardeman, who said his on Cancer reviewed the scientific evidence. In a Viktoria Wagner, a plant ecologist at the University cancer was caused by exposure to Roundup. Last 2015 report, it classified glyphosate as probably“ of Alberta in Canada, says that because glyphosate year, another California jury awarded Dewayne carcinogenic to humans,” based on the most reliable is non-selective, it can hurt native plants when it’s Lee Johnson, a former school groundskeeper studies at the time, which were carried out on targeted at nearby weeds. Hurting native plants who has non-Hodgkin lymphoma and regularly animals. Since then, people diagnosed with the deprives them of their ability to compete, and “this handled Roundup, $289 million in his case against cancer non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma sued Monsanto gives an opportunity to fast competitors to get a Monsanto. (now owned by Bayer), blaming their disease on head start and take over,” Wagner says. Glyphosate is the most heavily used herbi- their exposure to glyphosate. When Seattle officials were considering cide in the world. People who are not farm workers Juries have sided with plaintiffs, forcing Bayer cutting back on glyphosate, they sought advice from or city or county groundskeepers are being exposed to pay millions of dollars in damages each time. San Francisco, which began rolling out restrictions to the cancer-causing chemical through food. (Bayer maintains that the chemical “can be used on chemical pesticides in 1997. Seattle’s not Two separate rounds of laboratory safely and [is] not carcinogenic,” but recently alone—tens of cities across the U.S. have recently tests commissioned last year by EWG found announced it will spend $5.6 billion to develop cracked down on glyphosate use. In 2018, Portland, glyphosate in nearly every sample of popular oat- glyphosate-free alternatives to Roundup.) Maine, banned the chemical, and Austin, Texas, restricted it. This year, Miami and Los Angeles County approved their own bans on city property. Some cities, like Boston, avoid glyphosate on an KELP unofficial basis. Others, like New York City, may be poised to ban it in the near future. source: https://www.citylab.com/ ANYONE? environment/2019/10/glyphosate-pesticide-cancer- • Meal roundup-lawsuit-bayer-monstanto/598537/ • Liquids Court Documents Reveal That Monsanto • Soluble Paid Industry Front Group to Push Back powder Against Scientific Evidence That Roundup Causes Cancer “If a company like [Monsanto] won’t support us, then who will?” the head of the American Council on Science and Health wrote to a Monsanto scientist in 2015. A day later came the reply: “[T]he answer is yes.... [D]efinitely count us in!!” Emails between Monsanto and the American Council on Science and Health, or Products for ACSH, and related internal Monsanto emails were first made public during the 2018 trial of a lawsuit Animals, Plants, Soils by a former California school groundskeeper who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Roundup. The jury awarded Dewayne “Lee” Johnson $289 million in punitive and compensatory Buy Direct from a damages, later reduced by the judge to $78 million. The internal Monsanto/ACSH emails USA Harvester reappeared as evidence in the most recent lawsuit to go before a court, brought by a California & Processor couple who were both diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after decades of using the herbicide. In May, the jury ordered Bayer-Monsanto to pay Alva and Alberta Pilliod more than $2 billion in damages. It was the third verdict in less than a year in which juries found that glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, causes cancer and that Monsanto covered up evidence of its health risk for decades. Last year, Bayer bought Monsanto for $63 billion and is now facing tens of thousands of NORTH AMERICAN KELP similar lawsuits. 41 Cross Street • Waldoboro, Maine 04572 The emails show that in February 2015, 888-662-5357 • 207-832-7506 Monsanto was working with ACSH to prepare for www.noamkelp.com the expected fallout from a pending report on the Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-9 safety of glyphosate by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, or But on March 16, just days before the IARC’s report, the ACSH’s IARC. The following month the IARC, part of the World Health Organization, Ross wrote to Goldstein complaining the group has still not received payment would release a report that classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to for its work on glyphosate: humans.” Anticipating the report, Gilbert Ross, then the acting head of ACSH, asked Monsanto for support, “particularly if ACSH’s commentary is needed to critique an adverse outcome.” On Feb. 26, Dr. Daniel Goldstein, the head of medical sciences and outreach at Monsanto, wrote to several colleagues, urging them to support continued payment to ACSH for its work.

Goldstein replied “count us in!!,” and Ross wrote back: “Great news, thanks Dan.” From the emails, it is unclear how much Monsanto paid ACSH to defend the company and its weedkiller. But since the IARC report, ACSH Later that day, after his colleagues expressed reservations, Goldstein has posted dozens of blogs or releases attacking scientists or organizations wrote: that have raised concerns about the health risks of glyphosate exposure. ACSH officials have also been quoted in news media reports, accusing the Environmental Working Group (EWG) – “an alarmist group” – and other glyphosate critics of scare tactics. According to ACSH’s website, the group is a “consumer advocacy organization” that does “not represent any industry.” But in 2013 Mother Jones reported that an internal ACSH document showed the organization received more than $390,000 in that year from corporations and large private foundations, including $30,000 from Bayer Cropscience, $22,5000 from the Chinese-owned pesticide and seed company Syngenta, and $30,000 from chemical giant 3M, among many others. The ACSH document also lists Monsanto among “potential sources of support from previous donors.” As the recently released emails show, that potential was soon realized. source: Court Docs: Monsanto Paid Chemical Industry Front Group To Claim Cancer-Causing Weedkiller ‘Safe’ and Attack Its Critihttps://www. ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2019/05/court-docs-monsanto-paid-chemical- industry-front-group-claim-cancer

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A presentation by Don Huber sistence and broad impact on the physical-chemical environmental toxicant, since the function of and biological environment, glyphosate damage is numerous essential enzymes is affected. Forty plus years ago, U.S. agriculture started a con- often subtle and attributed to other causes such as version to a primarily monochemical herbicide pro- drought, cool soils, deep seeding, high temperatures, Primary emphasis in understanding glyphosate’s gram focused around glyphosate (Roundup®). The crop residues, water fluctuations, etc. Some of the herbicidal activity has focused on inhibition of near simultaneous shift from conventional tillage to common symptoms of drift and residual glyphosate the enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate no-till or minimum tillage stimulated this chemical damage to crops presented in Table 1 reflect nutrient synthase (EPSPS) at the start of the Shikimate conversion that was reinforced by the subsequent in- and disease interactions affected by glyphosate and physiological pathway for secondary metabolism. troduction of genetically modified crops tolerant to the RR genetics as presented in scientific publica- This enzyme requires reduced FMN Reductase glyphosate. The introduction of genetically modified tions. as a co-factor (catalyst) whose reduction requires (Roundup Ready®, RR) crops has greatly increased manganese (Mn). Thus, by immobilizing Mn the volume and scope of glyphosate usage, and the Understanding Glyphosate by chelation, glyphosate denies the availability conversion of major segments of crop production to Glyphosate was first patented by Stauffer Chemical of reduced FMN for the EPSPS enzyme. It also a monochemical herbicide strategy. The promotion Co. in 1964 as a strong mineral chelator and used to can affect up to 25 other plant enzymes that of glyphosate based herbicides (GBH) as read- descale boilers and steam pipes. Glyphosate chelates require Mn as a co-factor and 290 other enzymes ily biodegradable, non-toxic and environmentally and immobilizes mineral nutrients that are essential in both primary and secondary metabolism that friendly by the Monsanto Company masked the for plant and animal physiological processes. It was require other mineral co-factors (Ca, Co, Cu, fact that glyphosate is a powerful mineral chelater, subsequently patented as an herbicide and later as a Fe, Mg, Ni, Zn). Several of these enzymes also artificial amino acid, and broad spectrum antibiotic general biocide whereby it immobilizes mineral co- function with Mn in the Shikimate pathway that that interferes with mineral nutrition to increase factors (Co, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Zn, etc.) essential is responsible for plant responses to stress and plant, environmental, animal and human disease. for enzyme activity and cell function. In contrast to defense against pathogens (amino acids, hormones, Fraudulent safety reports of non-toxicity provided a some compounds that chelate with a single or only a lignin, phytoalexins, flavenoids, phenols, etc.). false-sense of safety as adoption expanded through- few mineral species, glyphosate is a broad-spectrum By inhibiting these enzymes, a plant becomes out the environment. Although previously over- chelator with both macro and micronutrients. It highly susceptible to various ubiquitous soilborne looked, long-term damage to the soil, environment, is this strong, broad-spectrum chelating ability pathogens (Fusarium, Pythium, Phytophthora, crop, animal and human diseases have become more that also makes glyphosate a broadspectrum Rhizoctonia, etc.). It is this pathogenic activity that prevalent each year as glyphosate accumulation and herbicide, a potent antimicrobial agent and powerful actually kills the plant as “the herbicidal mode of residual effects escalate and become more apparent. TABLE 1. Some things we know about glyphosate that influence plant nutrition and disease. The extensive use of glyphosate, and the rapid 1. Glyphosate is a strong mineral chelator (for Ca, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mg, Ni, Zn) – in the spray tank, in adoption of genetically modified glyphosate-tolerant soil and in plants. crops such as soybean, corn, cotton, canola, sugar 2. It is rapidly absorbed by roots, stems, and leaves, and moves systemically throughout the plant beets, potato and alfalfa; each with its own unknown (normal and RR). toxicity, have greatly increased the indiscriminate 3. Accumulates in meristematic tissues (root, shoot, legume nodules, and reproductive sites) of normal application of glyphosate and intensified deficien- and RR plants. cies of numerous essential micronutrients and some 4. Inhibits EPSPS in the Shikimate metabolic pathway and many other plant essential enzymes. macronutrients. Additive nutrient inefficiency of 5. Increases susceptibility to drought and disease. the Roundup Ready® (RR) genetics and glyphosate 6. Non-specific herbicidal activity (broad-spectrum weed control). herbicide necessitate extensive nutrient remediation, 7. Some of the applied glyphosate is exuded from roots into soil. and increase the need well above previously estab- 8. Immobilized in soil by chelating with soil cations (Ca, Co, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Zn). lished soil and tissue levels for nutrients considered 9. Persists and accumulates in soil and plants for extended periods (years) – it is not readily sufficient for specific crop production. Previous ‘biodegradable,’ but is immobilized by chelation generally. sufficient nutrient levels also may be inadequate 10. Desorbed from soil particles by phosphorus and is available for root uptake by all plants. indicators in the less nutrient efficient glyphosate 11. Toxic to soil organisms that facilitate nutrient access, availability, or absorption of nutrients. weed management program because of its extensive 12. Inhibits the uptake and translocation of Fe, Mn, and Zn at very low, non-herbicidal rates. antibiotic effects on soil biology essential for nutri- 13. Stimulates soilborne pathogenic and other soil microbes to reduce nutrient availability. ent cycling, soil structure, and symbiotic nutrition. 14. Reduces secondary cell wall formation and lignin in RR and non-RR plants. 15. Inhibits nitrogen fixation by chelating Ni for ureide synthesis and is toxic toRhizobiaceae . Understanding glyphosate’s mode of action and the 16. Reduces physiological availability and concentration of Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, and Zn in plant impact of the RR genetics, are necessary to under- tissues and seed. stand the numerous long-term negative impacts of 17. Residual soil activity can damage plants through root uptake at 1/40th of herbicidal concentrations. this monochemical system on plant nutrition and its 18. Increases mycotoxins in stems, straw, grain, and fruit. predisposition to disease. An absolute consideration 19. Reduces photosynthesis (CO2 fixation). in this regard should be a much more regulated use 20. Causes fruit (bud) drop and other hormonal effects. of glyphosate, if not a total ban. Because of its per- 21. Accumulates in food and feed products to enter the food chain as a concern for food safety. Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-11 action”. If glyphosate is not translocated to the roots stress and overt disease damage. The subsequent Dr. Don M. Huber, Professor Emeritus of Plant because of stem boring insects or disruption of the application of glyphosate to plants engineered to Pathology at Purdue University, holds B.S. and M.S. vascular system, aerial parts of the plant may be tolerate it further erodes food and feed production degrees from the University of Idaho (1957, 1959), stunted, but the plant is not killed. sustainability and increases vulnerability to disease a Ph-D from Michigan State University (1963), and and stress. This vulnerability is further enhanced is a graduate of the US Army Command & General Recognizing that glyphosate is a strong chelator to by disruption of the biotic ecological factors Staff College and Industrial College of the Armed immobilize essential plant micronutrients provides essential for efficient feed and food production as Forces. He was Cereal Pathologist at the University an understanding for the various non-herbicidal well as maintaining a healthy supportive ecology of Idaho for 8 years before joining the Department and herbicidal effects of glyphosate. Glyphosate of the organisms within. Soil degradation, void of Botany & Plant Pathology at Purdue University is a phloem-mobile, systemic chemical in plants of important microbial activity to provide an in 1971. His agricultural research the past 55 years that accumulates in meristematic tissues (root, abundance of nutritional and disease suppression has focused on the epidemiology and control of soil- shoot tip, reproductive organs, legume nodules) benefits has generational impacts on the ecology. borne plant pathogens with emphasis on microbial and is released into the rhizosphere through root ecology, cultural and biological controls, nutrient- exudation (from RR as well as non-RR plants) or Glyphosate as a potent antibiotic disease interactions, pesticide-disease interac- mineralization of treated plant residues. Degradation The falsified promotion of glyphosate as a benign tions, physiology of host-parasite relationships and of glyphosate in most soils is slow or non-existent chemical that is non-persistent and safe for the techniques for rapid microbial identification. He is since it is not readily ‘biodegradable’ and is environment has led to its indiscriminant, exten- author or co-author of over 300 journal articles, primarily by microbial co-metabolism when it does sive application at increasingly high rates to result Experiment Station Bulletins, book chapters and occur. Although glyphosate can be immobilized in in its accumulation in the soil, air, water and food review articles; three books, and 84 special invited soil (also spray tank mixtures, and plants) through chain. In addition to glyphosate’s direct impact on publications and an active scientific reviewer; chelation with various cations (Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, the ecology through reduced mineral availability, it consultant to academia, industry, and government; Mn, Ni, Zn), it is not readily degraded and can also damages the ecology through its potent anti- and international research cooperator. Dr. Huber accumulate for years (in both soils and perennial biotic activity whereby it drastically disrupts the is past Chairman of the USDA-APS National Plant plants). Very limited degradation may be a “safety” natural biological balance of soil, animal and human Disease Recovery System; a member of the US feature with glyphosate since most degradation microbiomes. Soil structure, water holding capacity, Threat Pathogens Committee; former member of the products are toxic to normal as well as RR plants. fertility, and ecology are dependent on biological Advisory Board for the Office of Technology Assess- Phosphorus fertilizers can desorb accumulated activity that is damaged by the antibiotic glypho- ment, U.S. Congress; and OTSG Global Epidemiol- glyphosate that is immobilized in soil to damage and sate to reduce crop production, increase disease and ogy Working Group. reduce the physiological efficiency of subsequent threaten agricultural sustainability. crops. Some of the observed affects of glyphosate are presented in Table 1. Few areas have escaped contamination with this potent antibiotic that affects all living matter. As a Understanding the Roundup Ready® Genetics consequence, the populations of bees, frogs, lizards Plants genetically engineered for glyphosate-toler- and other animals have been decimated in many ance contain an alternate EPSPS pathway (EPSPS- areas because of the extensive contamination of II) that is not blocked by glyphosate. The purpose of their habitat with glyphosate that is toxic to the Subscribe to: these gene inserts is to provide herbicidal selectiv- Lactobacillus, Bifidobacteriaand other species ity so glyphosate can be applied directly to these essential for their digestion and disease resistance. plants rather than only for preplant applications. The populations of pollinaters essential for seed This duplicate pathway (Roundup Ready® genetics, production of many plants especially have been by check (to “NOFA”): send $15 for U.S. RR) tolerance of glyphosate requires energy from decimated. Gut dysbiosis of animals and humans address, or $25 for foreign address to: the plant that otherwise could be used for yield. The predisposes them to many diseases because RR genes are ‘silent’ in meristematic tissues where of compromised immunity and the absence of 411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005 or glyphosate accumulates so that these rapidly metab- functional vitamins and compounds otherwise by credit card at: thenaturalfarmer.org olizing tissues are not provided an active alternative produced by their gastro-intestinal microbiome. EPSPS pathway to counter the physiological effects of glyphosate’s inhibition of EPSPS. Meristematic In contrast to glyphosate’s toxicity to many tissues have high physiologic activity requiring a beneficial and essential microbes, many pathogens higher availability of the essential micronutrients are stimulated directly by it or indirectly through needed for cell division and growth that glyphosate its toxicity to the natural biological controls that immobilizes by chelation. would function to suppress pathogen activity. This has resulted in the emergence of new economic Residual glyphosate in RR plant tissues can immo- diseases and the reemergence of endemic diseases bilize Co, Fe, Mn, Ni, Zn or other nutrients applied in more virulent forms that are not readily managed as foliar amendments for 8-35 days after it has been by available control measures. Loss of productivity, applied. This reduces the availability of micronutri- income, and nutrition are observed on the one hand; ents required for photosynthesis, disease resistance, while mycotoxins and other toxic entities in the food and other critical physiological functions. The chain have greatly increased to threaten the health presence of the RR genetics reduces nutrient uptake and well-being of those consuming the products. and physiological efficiency and may account for some of the ‘yield drag’ reported for RR crops when The irresponsible application of this massive experi- compared with the ‘normal’ isolines from which ment with glyphosate and GMO crops appears to they were derived (Table 2). Reduced physiologi- be more of a generalized ecocide than a benefit to cal efficiency from the RR gene is also reflected in society as commercially promoted. Future historians reduced water use efficiency (WUE) and increased may well look back upon our time and write, not drought stress to predispose plants to more exten- about how many pounds of pesticides we did or did sive damage from abiotic factors in the ecology. not apply, but about how willing we are to sacrifice Application of glyphosate to a plant insures the our children and jeopardize future generations for systemic distribution of this powerful antibiotic into this massive experiment we call genetic engineering the soil throughout the root zone, often below areas that is based on failed promises and flawed sci- of microbial activity for potential degradation. ence, just to benefit the bottom line of a commercial enterprise. The widespread presence of the glyphosate tolerance genetics into a high percentage (70-100 %) of our essential and economically important plants (alfalfa, canola, maize, soybean, cotton, etc.) increases societies’ vulnerability to natural

TABLE 2. Some things we know about the glyphosate-tolerance (RR) genetics. 1. Provides selective herbicidal activity for glyphosate. 2. Inserts an alternative EPSPS pathway that is not sensitive to glyphosate action in mature tissue. 3. Reduces the plant’s physiological efficiency of Fe, Mn, Ni, Zn, etc. 4. Inactive (silent) in meristematic tissues (root and shoot tips, legume root nodules, and reproductive tissues). 5. Reduces nutrient uptake and efficiency to predispose to disease. 6. Increases drought stress. 7. Reduces N-fixation. 8. Lowers seed nutrient content. 9. Transferred in pollen to plants, and from degrading plant tissues to microbes. 10. Generally causes a yield ‘drag’ compared with near-isogenic normal plants from which it was derived. 11. Has greatly increased the application of glyphosate. 12. Permanent in plants once it is introduced. B- 12 The Natural Farmer Winter, 2019-20 Life in Mount Santo by Mike Nadeau

A long, long time ago, far, far away, in the town of Mount Santo, there started a congregation of citizens, the Herbicidalists, that was in the occupation of forming a great new reality. They created a Magical Elixir that was spread over everything, and everything was rendered uniform, simplified. The Company the Herbicidalists spawned ensured that all the Mount Santoites were enlightened many times daily to this new way of living via this miraculous potion, its virtues touted on television, the Internet and social media, for the benefit of all. Everywhere there were beautiful young mothers with even more beautiful children and Golden Retrievers and kittens cavorting on the perfect green lawns of Mount Santo. Grownup Yuppie larvae husbands came home to their own personal golf courses, replete with landscape linoleum plantings, and nary a not-so-dandy lion to be seen – all thanks to this simple solution. Life was wonderful there – easy, simple, and so green. The Company was governed by a federation of people called the Knights of the Roundup Table. The leader, King Gly of Phosate, wanted all his subjects to know that he and his Knights had everything well in-hand; there was no reason to once pristine and homogenized landscapes of Mount uncool to wear gloves back then. think or even question this new existence. All was Santo. All the while, the Company, incapable of well and always will be well. Should a problem pop change, tried with new and insidious ways to thwart I got really good at these mundane tasks and thought up, the Knights had Dr. Spin and his merry band of the aggressor with More and More Magic Elixir. of myself a “professional”. Or so I thought. A day Fixers on retainer to take care of any trifles. Suddenly, the Consumerables began to sicken and in July came when my boss finally let me do a job Soon, the people found there was no need some of them died. Young and old alike began to totally on my own. I was too young to drive, so he to think for themselves anymore. All of life’s fall prey to this novel ailment that no one could dropped me off and picked me up later. The job was decisions were to be resolved by the Company understand. The numb existence of More was to “prune” Mrs. Jones’ foundation plantings, weed because the Company knew best and was always finally exacting its toll, and the Company began to and edge the beds, and apply mulch for the finishing right. All the while, novel uses for the Company’s lose its grip on its citizenry. Slowly, and without the touch. I use the word “prune” in parenthesis Magic Elixir were dreamed up, and it continued yoke of pacifism the Company had perpetrated upon because I didn’t know the first thing about pruning, to be lavished on the countryside. The townsfolk them previously, they began to develop independent as this story will elucidate. Hand shears were the venerated this new way of life the Company had thought again. Some of the Consumerables noticed pruning tool of the day and I used them to render bestowed upon them. Having all their thinking that most of the Herbicidalists were not as affected perfectly natural plants - Rhododendrons, Azaleas, done for them, they became dreamily compliant by this strange new malady and they wondered Yews and the like – to look like symmetrical boxes and docile as fawns. As life became more and why. It was discovered the one great difference was and meatballs, replete with lower limbs scalped into more simplified, these citizens evolved into a new that most of the Magic Elixir was foisted upon the a vase shape. I weeded all the weeds and created nature of populace: the Consumerables. King Gly Consumerables and not on the Herbicidalists. Dr. a wavy and exaggerated edge, dug deep with the of Phosate, being the astute leader he was, saw Spin and the Fixers, seeing the once all-powerful halfmoon-shaped hand edger, so deep that I cut that it was good for the Company to pacify the Company beginning to unravel, looked to survive. many of the roots of the plants I just pruned within Consumerables, so he bestowed upon them the They decided to turn and feed on the hands an inch of their lives. I stood back and beheld this entitlement of More. More hours at work to get that once fed them: the now impotent Company. travesty and declared it a job well done. My boss More; More house to fit More in it; More land for One by one, court cases decided against the would be proud. Actually, he was pleased. That More lawn and More landscape linoleum; More Company and the Herbicidalists. In a last-ditch should have been a clue. and bigger cars to look and feel like More. And of attempt to survive, the Company allowed itself to be course, More Magic Elixir. So, on life went, blissful devoured, hoping to hide inside, like Lyme Disease Next spring comes around and I am mowing Mrs. and oblivious. spirochetes take refuge in red blood cells. With Jones’ lawn – the same Mrs. Jones where I did the Yes, the people of Mount Santo seemed to lots of money to be made, Dr. Spin and his Fixers shrub butchery ten months earlier. Again, I stepped not have a care in the world. Life continued to be grew more cunning with each victory. Finally, as back to pat my ego with my fine accomplishment. easy, simple and so green. Then one day, a rival the Company fiddled, Mount Santo burned. Now Only this time the foundation plantings of the clan led by the cunning and rapacious Sir Mugwort Mount Santo is laid Bayer. houses on either side of Mrs. Jones’ property were of Artemesia and his doctrine of Invasivism ---- erupting in bloom and the shrubs I so meticulously insinuated itself among the countryside of Mount “pruned” had only a smattering of flowers and the Santo. This scourge began to slowly but surely A fairy tale yes, but sadly not too far from reality. yews looked like they were dying. Huh. How can a pervade the very fabric of life in the once nirvanic I took my own “trip” through that kind of fabled job that looked so good not even a year ago look so Mount Santo. Narcoticized by their sloth and existence when I adopted the pop culture mantra of awful now? You guessed it: back in July I “pruned” desire for More, the Consumerables barely noticed the day, “Better Living Through Chemicals”. The off most of the flower buds and removed too much the changes happening about them. Besides, the day was the early 80’s and I was new in business, foliage from the yews. And those plants were upset, Company was in charge; the Company would take finally for myself. upset with me. I truly felt it. Some “professional” care of “it”. I was. Ironically, my boss didn’t know any better The Knights of the Roundup Table, now To start at the beginning, I was a real Nature Boy either. I wanted to learn from real professionals. bloated with unfathomable wealth and hubris, were and I loved trees. Better yet, I loved woods. And incapable of confronting this new and insidious meadows. And mountains. And swamps. More I don’t know where I heard about it, but there was threat to their supremacy. Even the mighty King than ten years earlier, at the ripe young age of something called an arboretum a few towns south of Gly of Phosate was short to the task. The very 12 years old, I was indentured to the next-door where I lived. Still not old enough to drive and too complacency of the Consumerables that the neighbor’s landscaping company. My dad, a former far to bicycle, I begged and begged my boss to drive Company so craftily instilled over its fiefdom was at potato farmer in northern Maine, had instilled me to the arboretum where there were landscaping stake. Frantically, they chose to use the very power that good ole’ Maine Work Ethic in me. I mowed classes taught at night by real teachers. He thought they infested upon their minions: More. More and lawns, weeded and edged beds, and raked leaves I’d lose interest quickly, so he agreed. I loved it! More Magic Elixir. This, at first, seemed to help. – mountains of leaves. Every day after school, on From the very first day I was mesmerized at what Invasivism was slowed but not stopped. Then most weekends, and every summer vacation was there was to learn; that I could learn. My boss was the unthinkable happened: it stopped working. In spent sweating blood for my boss. This was before less than thrilled. He thought education was for fact, Invasivism was getting stronger and stronger, the advent of rotary mowers and leaf blowers. “others”. Lucky for me there was a man in class in spite of the copious amounts of the once tried- Mowing was done with a “reel mower” called a who owned a landscaping company not far from my and-true Magic Elixir that was smeared over the Locke mower, made by hand in Bridgeport, CT. house and was willing to give me a ride to class and landscape. Sir Mugwort of Artemesia enlisted the Although it was supposed to be self-propelled, it home again every Wednesday night. I learned and I dregs of society to spread his blight of Invasivism. was often necessary to push this sixty-inch cast studied, sucking up the knowledge like dry soil in a He Knighted Sir Stiltgrass to spread thickly and iron and steel monstrosity up hills and through wet downpour. High school didn’t do much for me and rapidly across the land. Knave Burning Bush, spots. Lawn trimming was accomplished with a I wasn’t college material, but I excelled at this kind with his incendiary vitriol, was taking over more push mower and a scissors-like hand trimmer. I of learning. and more of the coveted landscape linoleum of the still remember my throbbing forearms after hand Conusmerables. The diabolical duo, Bitter and trimming long fence lines and the blisters from the The teachers taught me to be aware of weeds, Sweet wrapped themselves like pythons around the rake handle in my sweaty hands because it was insects and diseases and to “control” them as soon Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-13 as possible. I learned about aphids, that they are all The truth is now out, although it is being spun had to change. Armed with a plethora of one- female until more are needed; that cedar trees can by the smartest people money can buy. Roundup sided conventional knowledge, I was still ignorant. spoil apples; that dandelions are slippery and can causes cancer. Period. It is important to remember Although I no longer pruned flower buds off plants hurt a child if they slip on one. Then, one of the that Glyphosate is NOT Roundup; it is only one unintentionally, I still had no idea about the harm I most mysterious things I learned about – pesticides of the major ingredients in the concoction we was causing. The same feeling that prodded me to – can “control” all those bad plants, diseases and know as Roundup. Roundup, with all its top- learn how to be a conventional synthetic nozzlehead bugs. “Wow, how groovy is this!” I thought. Soon, secret adjuvants, synergists, emulsifiers and propelled me away from such misinformation and chemicals with cool names like Methoxychlor, “inert ingredients”, render Roundup many more toward a new mindset and an old personal ethic. Cygon, Metasystox-R, and Thiram began to roll off times toxic than straight Glyphosate. There It appears that I am still a Nature Boy, but a little my tongue. These were the tools that were going to is now a homeowner version of Roundup that more grown up and my mind a little more open. I make me a great tree and landscape “professional”. incorporates another herbicide to make it work have repented my past actions to every organism So many ounces of this, mixed with that, applied at faster. Monsanto knows the consumers’ lust for I “controlled” with narcoticized numbness and ten-day intervals will thwart those nasty pests and “Instant Gratification” and spoon feeds it to us any have devoted a considerable portion of my life make me a landscape hero. This feeling of power way it has to, to sell more Roundup. Multi-billion to inform people of the ills of my past ways and over Nature was truly intoxicating. They were right: dollar lawsuits are being awarded to plaintiffs who how to avoid them. I have slowly come to peace Better Living Through Chemicals! I soon became suffered losses due to using Roundup. But Lawyers, with who I was, who I am today, and who I am the youngest CT-licensed Arborist in the state at Guns and Money (a nod to Warren Zevon) are becoming. Today, my work consists of guiding seventeen years young. My Custom Grounds holding up these settlements, buying time for Bayer/ landowners and business owners toward organic and Supervisory license followed shortly after. Now Monsanto to figure new ways to slither out of these ecological solutions and away from the thoughtless, armed with knowledge and science and licenses comeuppances. reductionist thinking of the day. Because of this I to use them, I was out to “control” everything and have never slept better in my life. anything, from the ground-up. The sky was the I am not a religious man by any stretch of the term, limit. Or so I thought. In all my early education I but if there is an Antichrist, Monsanto (and now In closing, if I may offer a few pieces of free advice never once heard the term, “Beneficial Organism”. Bayer) is it. Speaking of Bayer, the sweet company (and we know what that’s worth!): 1) Disdain the Plants kept getting sick and required new and ever that brought us Bayer Aspirin – the wonder drug – moniker “Consumer”. The term reduces us to units more powerful chemicals to keep them alive. That has bought Monsanto. Why would a respectful (at of measure required by corporations to produce should have been a clue. least for the time being) company like Bayer with their obscene profits, environmental destruction, the such positive consumer recognition, get into such a income inequality gap, and chains us to mindless, That was it. A turning point. The beginning of filthy bed with Monsanto? I’m no economist but I insatiable Capitalism. We are flesh and blood, my enlightenment. I now knew that I didn’t know think Bayer bought Monsanto because Monsanto is bones and muscle, minds, hearts and spirits, not what I didn’t know. I thought, ‘This has to change’. a cash cow in the short term and a huge write-off in consumers; 2) Don’t drink their Kool Aid! Think Another thing I knew was that I wasn’t going to the long term. I also suspect that down the road the for yourself. There are a lot of Mount Santo’s out learn much more than how to work hard from my same fate will befall Bayer, with its exposure to its there. Be individualistic but work in community. boss. I left my boss’ employ and started out on my own Neonicotinoid evils: Colony Collapse Disorder Learn how to work with different opinions. If own. That was 1982. (pollinators and others), near extermination of the everyone is doing it, RUN in the opposite direction! iconic Monarch Butterfly (along with excessive use Find a place where you can stop and think about Around this time a new chemical concoction came of GMO Bt), suspected estrogen production and who and how you want to be, and then do it; 3) Go on the market. It was an herbicide that “destroyed” nervous system disorders in humans. back to what used to work, although it will require anything you sprayed it on. No more “control”; more thought and work, but will align with your out and out death was the new game. What made Did I mention that I was a Nature Boy? Throughout ethics; 4) Look for clues. Use your gut sense. this invention so novel is that it used a new mode the many thousands of gallons and pounds of Always be on the lookout for “the hook” and for of action to kill a plant down to its roots with synthetic pesticides that I personally applied, the opportunities to make life better. very short residual action. We were told that soil feeling that something was wrong never left me. organisms would render it harmless by breaking So many missed clues. I began to feel the same With respect, it down into harmless elements. What’s more is way when I witnessed those sickly plants that I had that it did all this in ten days or less. Miraculous. mis-pruned and almost killed. I began to feel like Mike Nadeau For the first time I could spray this material to kill this almost every day. Again, I knew something everything, then ten days later be able to plant directly in the same soil without the new plants being affected. Another very hip thing was its name: Roundup. Wow, the first chemical without a chemical name. That nice, Italian-sounding “...relief from swelling... recover quickly.” company, Monsanto, really had it going for them. — Jonathan Miedema Or so I thought.

People from Monsanto were sent out to teach us “We like “professionals” how to use this wonder herbicide Udder Comfort™ to our (and their) best advantage. I soon began to and have been use it by the gallon for everything from weeds in driveways to total lawn renovations, to meadow site using it for preparation, to invasive plant removal. They even some time. Being an organic have a formulation that can be used in wetlands with dairy farm, it’s good to have this an equally cool name along the same theme: Rodeo. natural product for preventive The difference is one of the secret ingredients - use in fresh cows. It’s part of which Roundup and Rodeo have many - a surfactant our multi-pronged approach for that was responsible for killing amphibians, was removed. Roundup took the thinking out of quality milk,” says Jonathan herbicide use. It even came in a “Tip & Pour” Miedema of Dutchlane Farms, jug that virtually eliminated spillage and made milking 125 cows near formulating so easy and no need for a measuring Sherburne, New York. cup. It was so easy to use and worked so well on so many plants that it felt like I hit a home run every Jonathan and his wife Lisa are time I used it. It was so convenient to use because the third generation dairying of few restrictions and it is very successful at killing and the second generation to be plants of almost all kinds. The biggest draw of all certi ed organic with his parents was what it said on the label: Relatively Non-Toxic. and sister. The farm has been Quality Udders Make Quality Milk I am still shocked and ashamed to admit that I producing organic milk for more used to use Paraquat, an herbicide so deadly to than 5 years. mammals that it is the suicide elixir of choice in India. One seventieth of a teaspoon is a lethal dose Keep the milk in “Udder Comfort provides relief for a 150-pound man. Now I could do the same from swelling. We apply it after job with something “relatively non-toxic”. Joy! consecutive milkings, keep them Rapture! Or so I thought. Off came the gloves and the system stripped out, and they recover the respirator and the Tyvek suit. Short sleeves and 1.888.773.7153 quickly.” shorts became the garb of the day. I was totally 1.613.652.9086 lulled into an audacious sense of indestructability, DUTCHLANE DAIRY, SHERBURNE, NY as this stuff was “safe” to use. As Jim Jones put it, uddercomfort.com “I drank the Kool Aid”. Monsanto was so good at Jonathan and Lisa Miedema marketing Roundup that clients began asking for it Call to locate a distributor near you. (pictured with David and Danielle) by name. I would bet serious money, (and I am not 125 cows, Certi ed Organic a chance-taker with money), that at least half the For external application to the udder only, after milking, as an essential component of udder management. Always wash and dry teats thoroughly before milking. SCC 180 - 200,000 garages and sheds of the typical American consumer contain Roundup in some form. B- 14 The Natural Farmer Winter, 2019-20 Genetically Engineered Crops, Glyphosate and the Deterioration of Health in the United States of America excerpted by Jack Kittredge from a study by Plants, animals, fungi, viruses and bacteria belong to separate kingdoms. Nancy L. Swanson, Andre Leu, Jon Abrahamson and Bradley Wallet Natural inter-breeding can take place between some species that belong to the same genus and very occasionally between species of different genera. A huge increase in the incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases has been However, species that belong to different families do not inter-breed and reported in the United States over the last 20 years. Similar increases have been definitely species that belong to different kingdoms such as plants, animals, seen globally. The herbicide glyphosate was introduced in 1974 and its use is fungi, bacteria and viruses do not inter-breed in nature. Plants, for example, do accelerating with the advent of herbicide-tolerant genetically engineered (GE) not inter-breed with animals, bacteria or viruses. Genetic engineering allows for crops. Evidence is mounting that glyphosate interferes with many metabolic the transfer of genes between kingdoms in a way that does not occur naturally. processes in plants and animals and glyphosate residues have been detected in both. Glyphosate disrupts the endocrine system and the balance of gut bacteria, The other great misconception is that only one gene with the desired trait is it damages DNA and is a driver of mutations that lead to cancer. inserted. At this stage, science is not sophisticated enough to insert a single gene and get it to work. To overcome this problem, scientists have to combine the In the present study, US government databases were searched for GE crop gene with the desired trait (such as herbicide tolerance or pesticide production) data, glyphosate application data and disease epidemiological data. Correlation with other genes that will make it work, such as promoter genes and marker analyses were then performed on a total of 22 diseases in these time-series data genes. The result is a complex construction of transgenes that can come from sets. The correlation coefficients are highly significant between glyphosate bacterial, viral, fish, plant and other sources. This is completely different from applications and hypertension, stroke, diabetes prevalence, diabetes incidence, natural hybridization. obesity, lipoprotein metabolism disorder, Alzheimer’s, senile dementia, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, autism, inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal The stance taken by Monsanto, Dow, Bayer and the other purveyors of both infections, end stage renal disease, acute kidney failure, cancers of the thyroid, chemicals and genetically engineered seeds is that GE food is “substantially liver, bladder, pancreas, kidney and myeloid leukemia. equivalent” to non-GE products. According to the US FDA, “the substances expected to become components of food as a result of genetic modification of a The correlation coefficients are highly significant between the percentage plant will be the same as or substantially similar to substances commonly found of GE corn and soy planted in the US and hypertension, stroke, diabetes in food, such as proteins, fats and oils, and carbohydrates”. The FDA maintains prevalence, diabetes incidence, obesity, lipoprotein metabolism disorder, that it is up to the biotech companies that manufacture GE seeds to research and Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C, end stage renal determine the safety of their products. disease, acute kidney failure, cancers of the thyroid, liver, bladder, pancreas, kidney and myeloid leukemia. The significance and strength of the correlations But scientists are able to discriminate between organic, conventional and show that the effects of glyphosate and GE crops on human health should be GE soybeans without exception, based on vitamin, fat and protein content. further investigated. Furthermore, they are able to distinguish GE soybeans from both conventional and organic by their glyphosate and AMPA (glyphosate degradation product) Introduction residues, as well as substantial non-equivalence in numerous compositional characteristics of soybeans. The researchers stated, “Using 35 different Within the last 20 years there has been an alarming increase in serious illnesses nutritional and elemental variables to characterize each soy sample, we were in the US, along with a marked decrease in life expectancy. The Centers for able to discriminate GM, conventional and organic soybeans without exception, Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the cost of diabetes and demonstrating ‘substantial non-equivalence’ in compositional characteristics for diabetes-related treatment was approximately $116 billion dollars in 2007. ‘ready-to-market’ soybeans”. Estimated costs related to obesity were $147 billion in 2008 and cardiovascular diseases and stroke were $475.3 billion in 2009. Health care expenditures in the Exponentially increasing use of glyphosate world-wide US totaled 2.2 trillion dollars in 2007. The onset of serious illness is appearing in increasingly younger cohorts. The US leads the world in the increase in Since glyphosate was introduced in 1974 as the active ingredient in Roundup® deaths due to neurological diseases between 1979-81 and 2004-06 for the 55- it has become the most widely used herbicide for urban, industrial, forest 65 age group. These mental disorder deaths are more typical of the over 65 and farm use. Pre-harvest application of glyphosate to wheat and barley as a age group. There have been similar findings for obesity, asthma, behavior and desiccant was suggested as early as 1980, and its use as a drying or ripening learning problems, and chronic disease in children and young adults. Type II agent 7-10 days before harvest has since become routine. It is now used on diabetes in youth is being called an epidemic. The rate of chronic disease in the grain crops, rice, seeds, dried beans and peas, sugar cane and sweet potatoes. entire US population has been dramatically increasing with an estimated 25% According to the Canadian Pulse Growers Association, “Desiccants are used of the US population suffering from multiple chronic diseases . These findings worldwide by growers who are producing crops that require ‘drying down’ to suggest environmental triggers rather than genetic or age-related causes. create uniformity of plant material at harvest. These products may also assist in preharvest weed control. In Canada, products such as diquat (Reglone) During this same time period, there has been an exponential increase in the and glyphosate (Roundup) have been used as desiccants in pulse crops in the amount of glyphosate applied to food crops and in the percentage of GE food past, and there are new products on the way.” In 2012, 98% of spring wheat, crops planted. We undertook a study to see if correlations existed between the 99% of durum wheat and 61% of winter wheat were treated with glyphosate rise of GE crops, the associated glyphosate use and the rise in chronic disease or glyphosate salts in the US. The glyphosate plots in this study include all in the US. formulations of glyphosate.

Genetic engineering Monsanto, the manufacturer of Roundup®, states, “Since its discovery in the early 1970’s the unique herbicidal active ingredient glyphosate has become To genetically modify a plant for herbicide tolerance, genes are identified the world’s most widely used herbicide because it is efficacious, economical which convey tolerance of the active chemical in the herbicide to the organism. and environmentally benign. These properties have enabled a plethora of uses In the case of glyphosate, glyphosate-tolerant genes were isolated from a strain which continue to expand to this day providing excellent weed control both of Agrobacterium . These were inserted into the genome of the plant via a in agricultural and non-crop uses to benefit mankind and the environment. multi-step process resulting in a plant that can withstand the direct application Glyphosate has an excellent safety profile to operators, the public and the of the herbicide. Genetic modification is also utilized for developing insect environment. ... It is approved for weed control in amenity, industrial, forestry resistant plants by using insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis , or and aquatic areas. Roundup Pro Biactive and ProBiactive 450 can be used at Bt toxin. The promoter used to drive the expression of the foreign genes is any time of the year as long as weeds are green and actively growing”. generally the 35S promoter from the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMV). Not only are the virus and bacteria genes themselves potentially harmful, but the The Monsanto document outlines use areas including vegetation control on plants are sprayed directly with herbicides. The herbicide-tolerant plants absorb agricultural land, on GE Roundup Ready Crops and on non-agricultural land. the poisons and humans and domestic animals eat them. By 2006, glyphosate became used routinely for both agricultural and non- agricultural weed control and pre-harvest treatment. Since 1995, glyphosate The GMO industry claims that genetic engineering is no different than plant use has rapidly increased with the planting of GE glyphosate-tolerant crops. hybridization, which has been practiced for centuries. It is the reason they gave, Glyphosate and its degradation product, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted, for not having have been detected in air, rain, groundwater, surface water, soil and sea water. to submit GE food to rigorous safety testing to obtain FDA approval. This These studies show that glyphosate and AMPA persist in the soil and water, and distortion of the facts needs to be corrected. One critical issue is that multiple the amounts detected are increasing over time with increasing agricultural use. genes are being transferred across taxonomical kingdoms in ways that do not occur by natural breeding methods. Because glyphosate is in air, water and food, humans are likely to be accumulating it in low doses over time. Glyphosate residues of up to 4.4 parts All living things are classified according to a ranking system that starts with per million have been detected in stems, leaves and beans of glyphosate- species and sub species. Closely related species are grouped together under a resistant soy, indicating uptake of the herbicide into plant tissue. Reports rank that is called a genus. Closely related genera are grouped together under from Germany of glyphosate in the urine of dairy cows, rabbits and humans the rank of family. There are seven ranks. Starting with the highest they are: ranged from 10-35 ppm. According to the study, “Chronically ill humans had kingdom, phylum or division, class, order, family, genus, species. significantly higher glyphosate residues in urine than healthy humans.” Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-15 B- 16 The Natural Farmer Winter, 2019-20

Furthermore, the cows were dissected and glyphosate residues in the tissues of the kidney, liver, lung, spleen, muscles and intestines were comparable to that found in the urine. This means that the glyphosate is not being passed through the urine without affecting the organism and that meat and dairy are an additional source of dietary glyphosate for humans.

Industry and lobbyists claim that GE crops reduce the amount of pesticides used on crops, resulting in a more sustainable agriculture. This has proved not to be the case. Since the introduction of GE seeds in 1996 the amount of glyphosate used on crops in the US has increased from 27 million pounds in 1996 to 250 million pounds in 2009. Charles Benbrook showed that there was a 527 million pound increase in herbicide use in the United States between 1996 and 2011. Furthermore, Benbrook states that the spread of glyphosate-resistant weeds has brought about substantial increases in the number and volume of herbicides applied. This has led to genetically engineered forms of corn and soybeans tolerant of 2,4-D, which he predicts will drive herbicide usage up by approximately 50% more. In the US, glyphosate residues allowed in food are some of the highest in the world. In July of 2013 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) raised the maximum allowable residues of glyphosate. An abbreviated list is provided in Table 1 and Table 2.

Table 1. Glyphosate residues allowed in food from crops Crop Maximum residue allowance for glyphosate (ppm)

Beet, sugar, dried pulp 25 Beet, sugar, roots 10 Beet, sugar, tops 10 Canola, seed 20 Corn, sweet, kernel plus cob 3.5 Grain, cereal, group 15, 30 Oilseeds, except canola 40 Pea, dry 8 Peppermint, tops 200 Quinoa, grain 5 Shellfish 3 Soybean, seed 20 Spice subgroup 19B, 7 Sugarcane, cane 2 Sugarcane, molasses 30 Sweet potatoes 3 Vegetable, legume, except soy & dry pea) 6

Table 2. Glyphosate residues allowed in livestock feed Animal feeds Maximum residue allowance for glyphosate (ppm)

Grass, forage, fodder and hay, group 17, 300 Grain, cereal, forage, fodder and straw 100 Soybean, forage 100 Soybean, hay 200 Soybean, hulls 120 Cattle, meat byproducts 5

Glyphosate and disease

The connection between glyphosate and chronic disease has been outlined in a recent review paper. The authors show how glyphosate disrupts the metabolic process by interfering with the Cytochrome P450 (CYP) pathways. The CYP is known as a super-family of enzymes that are present in most tissues of the body. They are responsible for around 75% of the reactions involved in drug metabolism and the oxidation of organic molecules. According to the authors, “glyphosate enhances the damaging effects of other food borne chemical residues and environmental toxins. Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body. Here, we show how interference with CYP enzymes acts synergistically with disruption of the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids by gut bacteria, as well as impairment in serum sulfate transport. Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. We explain the documented effects of glyphosate and its ability to induce disease, and we show that glyphosate is the ‘textbook example’ of exogenous semiotic entropy: the disruption of homeostasis by environmental toxins”. Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-17 Séralini reviewed 19 studies of animals fed with GE soy and corn. The studies report (Fernandez-Cornejo & McBride, 2002). The survey states accounted for covered more than 80% of the GE varieties that are widely cultivated around 85-90% of all corn, cotton and soy grown in the US. Sampling errors for the the world. Their review found significant levels of negative effects to the percentage of GE crops planted are given as 1-2%, varying by year and crop. kidneys and livers of the animals that ingested GE feed. In another review The increase in the adoption of GE crops in the US from 1996-2010 is shown in article, Samsel & Seneff point out that glyphosate is patented as a biocide and, Figure 1. as such, it kills the beneficial bacteria in our gut, leading to the steep rise in intestinal diseases. This has also been reported in the microbiota of horses and Data files containing the information for herbicide applications are available cows and poultry where it was found that, “such highly pathogenic bacteria from 1990-2012 (USDA:NASS 2013b). Sampling errors (reported as standard as Salmonella Entritidis , Salmonella Gallinarum, Salmonella Typhimurium, errors) are small (<5%) in both the PAT and the application rate if the PAT is Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium botulinum are highly resistant greater than 50%. Sampling errors are 5-10% if the PAT is between 10-50%, to glyphosate. However, most of beneficial bacteria such as Enterococcus while the sampling errors are 10-100% if the PAT is <10%. We extracted the faecalis, Enterococcus faecium , Bacillus badius , Bifidobacterium adolescentis data for glyphosate applications to corn, cotton and soy. Data for cotton was and Lacto-bacillus spp. were found to be moderate to highly susceptible”. not included in these results because, except for cottonseed oil in food and The authors postulate that glyphosate is associated with the increase in C. cottonseed meal in animal food, cotton is not generally considered a food botulinum-mediated diseases in these domestic farm animals. Carman reported crop. Though the manufacturers claim that there are no GE content or traits in that a diet of GE corn and soy was associated with stomach inflammation in processed foods (like oil), it has been reported that glyphosate residues up to pigs. 0.350 ppm have been detected in refined soy oil (GEAC, 2006).

In 2012, Antoniou published a review of the evidence on the teratogenicity and From 1990-2002, glyphosate data were available for all three crops, but reproductive toxicity of glyphosate on vertebrates. Gasnier published evidence beginning in 2003 data were not collected for all three crops in any given year. that glyphosate-based herbicides are endocrine disruptors in human cells. They Data on the application rates were interpolated for the missing years by plotting reported toxic effects to liver cells at 5 ppm and endocrine disrupting actions and calculating a best fit curve. Results for the application rates for soy and corn starting at 0.5 ppm. They concluded that glyphosate damages DNA in human are shown in Figures 2 and 3. Because the PAT was relatively small prior to cells. Subsequent studies have also shown that glyphosate is an endocrine about 1995, the sampling errors are much larger for pre-1995 data, more so for disruptor. A more recent study showed that glyphosate causes the multiplication corn than for soy. Also, data were not missing until 2003 for soy and 2004 for of estrogen sensitive human breast cancer cells, which further confirms that it corn. For these reasons, the interpolated curves begin in 1996 for soy and 1997 acts as an endocrine disruptor. for corn in Figures 2 and 3.

An endocrine disruptor is a chemical that either mimics or blocks hormones To calculate the amount of glyphosate applied, it was also necessary to and disrupts the body’s normal functions. This disruption can happen through interpolate the PAT for both corn and soy. This was easier because they followed altering normal hormone levels, halting or stimulating the production of almost exactly the curves for the percentage of acres planted in GE crops. GE hormones, or interacting directly with the organ the hormone was meant to soy crops are only herbicide tolerant (HT), which nicely tracked with the PAT regulate. Because hormones work at very small doses, endocrine disruption for glyphosate, as shown in Figure 4. GE corn crops can be either insecticide can occur from low dose exposure to hormonally active chemicals. Threshold resistant (Bt) or HT or both (stacked). The HT and stacked trait percentages, doses of pesticides are set based on toxicology studies assuming the response reported separately in the USDA files for corn, were plotted with the PAT for is linear. But the response is not only non-linear, it is also dependent on the glyphosate as shown in Figure 5 hormone level in the body at any given time. The meta study on endocrine disruption by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Epidemiological disease data Environment Program clearly makes this point: “Endocrine disruptors produce non linear dose responses both in vitro and in vivo; these non linear Databases were searched for epidemiological data on diseases that might have dose responses can be quite complex and often include non-monotonic dose a correlation to glyphosate use and/or GE crop growth based on information responses. They can be due to a variety of mechanisms; because endogenous given in the introduction. The primary source for these data was the Centers hormone levels fluctuate, no threshold can be assumed.” Consequently, low for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These data were plotted against the doses over long periods of time may lead to very serious illnesses. amount of glyphosate applied to corn and soy from Figure 6 and the total %GE corn and soy crops planted from Figure 1. The percentage of GE corn and soy Endocrine disruptors can increase or decrease hormone production, imitate planted is given by: (total estimated number of acres of GE soy + total estimated hormones or even transform one hormone into another. Endocrine disruptors number of acres of GE corn)/(total estimated acres of soy + total estimated acres can also tell cells to die prematurely, compete with essential nutrients and build of corn)x100, where the estimated numbers were obtained from the USDA as up in hormone-producing organs. These imbalances and malfunctions of the outlined above. endocrine system can lead to diabetes, hypertension, obesity, kidney disease, cancer (breast, prostate, liver, brain, thyroid, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), Statistical analyses osteoporosis, Cushing’s syndrome, hypo- and hyperthyroidism, infertility, birth defects, erectile dysfunction, sexual development problems and neurological A statistical analysis was performed on each of the data sets. A standard disorders such as: learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder (ADD), analysis for correlating two sets of data is to calculate the Pearson correlation autism, dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia. Endocrine coefficients. The Pearson correlation coefficient is based on the linear least- disruptors are especially damaging to organisms undergoing hormonal changes: squares formulation, which in turn is based on the assumption that each of the fetuses, babies, children, adolescents and the elderly. individual variables is normally distributed. All of the US government data, both crop data and disease data, were gathered from surveys and census data. Given that glyphosate disrupts gut bacteria balance, the metabolic process, the uptake of nutrients, the endocrine system, and damages DNA, it seemed likely Results and Discussion that there would be correlations between the increase of these diseases and the exponential increase in the use of glyphosate, particularly with the advent of We found strong correlations for cancers of the liver, kidney, bladder/urinary glyphosate-resistant food crops. To this end, we searched for epidemiological and thyroid. Results are shown in Figures 7-10. Thyroid and bladder cancers disease data, along with pesticide use on crops and the percentage of GE crops especially seem to track with the advent of GE crops and associated glyphosate planted since first being introduced in 1995. These were plotted and Pearson applications. Thyroid cancer seems to affect females more, while males are correlation coefficients were calculated. These data, provided by the US more susceptible to liver and kidney cancers (not shown in graphs). We found government, are readily available on the internet. weaker correlations between pancreatic cancer incidence (R = 0.84 with %GE crops & R = 0.92 with glyphosate applications) and deaths from acute Methods myeloid leukaemia (R = 0.89 with %GE crops & R = 0.88 with glyphosate applications). Both of these peaked in the 1980s, then decreased and are now United States Government databases were searched for GE crop data, rising again. Pancreatic cancer incidence began rising again in 1996 and glyphosate application data and disease epidemiological data. Correlation myeloid leukaemia deaths in 1989. analyses were then performed on these time-series data sets. From Swanson, Leu, Abrahamson & Wallet in the Crop data Journal of Organic Systems , 9(2), 2014 ISSN 1177-4258 33 The United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA:NASS) maintains a database of US crops. Every year they randomly select fields of certain crops and send surveys to the persons who manage those fields. Among other things, they ask what herbicides were used, the application rate, how many times was it applied, and whether or not the field was planted with a GE variety. Surveys are only sent to the states that are the major producers of a given crop, usually accounting for about 90% of the total US acreage planted in that crop. They then perform a statistical analysis and report the total acreage planted, the percentage of acres that are GE, the Percentage of Acres Treated (PAT) with each herbicide for that crop and the application rate per acre per year. One can then calculate the total amount of an herbicide that was applied to that crop in the survey states for that year.

Data files from the USDA containing the information for GE varieties are available from 2000-2013 (USDA:NASS 2013a), but only corn, cotton and soy are tracked. Data for 1996-1999 were obtained from a USDA agricultural B- 18 The Natural Farmer Winter, 2019-20 Will the Lawsuits Kill Glyphosate Off?

Baum Hedlund legal team which won 2019 verdict against Monsanto/Bayer for Dewayne Johnson. Johnson is in white in center.

by Jack Kittredge based on a Consumer-protection and health groups have long In the court cases over Roundup, though, plaintiffs’ NY Times story by Patricia Cohen warned about the safety of chemicals and pesticides lawyers used evidence of Monsanto’s attempts over used in agriculture. But alarm about a cancer the years to influence regulators, shape scientific In September the NY Times ran a story challenging link with Roundup exploded in 2015, when the research and discredit critics to undermine whether the lawsuits being awarded against Bayer International Agency for Research on Cancer, an governmental pronouncements. and it’s recent acquisition Monsanto, based on arm of the World Health Organization, reviewed findings that their herbicide glyphosate caused Non- public studies and concluded that glyphosate can Documents released as a result of the litigation, Hodgkins Lymphoma among applicators, will be “probably” cause cancer. for example, included a confidential report from a enough to destroy the value of the product to the consulting firm that Monsanto hired in 2018, which companies. The paper interviewed farmers who The chemical was introduced to commercial assured company executives that a White House dismissed the court’s findings, arguing that it is too agriculture in 1974. But the Roundup revolution adviser had said, “We have Monsanto’s back on valuable a product for them to stop using it. took off in 1996, when Monsanto started selling pesticides regulation.” genetically modified seeds that produced crops “Roundup is still a fabulous tool,” said one, Andy resistant to the herbicide’s attack on weeds. It also summarized differences between the Bensend, who farms 5000 acres in northwestern “professional” staff at the E.P.A. and the “political” Wisconsin and grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa. “We spray the weeds and the crop keeps growing, employees over what the scientific evidence about He says he relies on Roundup’s key ingredient — and it’s just lovely,” said Lorenda Overman, one glyphosate indicated. glyphosate — to easily kill weeds, helping increase of the farmers interviewed in the article, who has his yields and reduce his costs. 4,000 acres in eastern North Carolina. “We used to Bayer now pledges to do business differently. It till the ground, then plant, then go back and plow has announced that it will release all crop-safety “The faith that American farmers like Mr. at least twice, and then spray a chemical,” said Ms. studies — including the negative ones — and Bensend have in Roundup,” the paper says, “is Overman, who grows soybeans, corn and wheat. identify third-party funding so there is no confusing what prompted the German company Bayer to “Now we’re not tilling at all,” which means less soil independent research with industry-financed work. spend $63 billion in 2018 to buy Monsanto, the erosion and less chemical runoff. We’re not using herbicide’s creator. And it is now what undergirds that diesel fuel, and our employees are doing other Most of the lawsuits filed so far have been brought Bayer’s confidence that Roundup will remain a things so they’re more productive.” by homeowners and groundskeepers, estimated R. moneymaker, even if the company ends up paying Brent Wisner, a plaintiffs’ lawyer who worked on billions of dollars to settle the legal morass it Although the patent on glyphosate expired in the Roundup trials and represents clients in more inherited with the sale.” 2000, the combination of Roundup and Roundup than 3,000 additional cases. Those kinds of buyers Ready seeds has ensured the products’ continued account for a only small slice of Roundup sales. Nationwide, 94 percent of soybeans and roughly popularity. Farmers saw their costs fall. Glyphosate Farmers are by far the primary users, and many say 90 percent of cotton and corn are resistant to was also considered less toxic and environmentally they are satisfied with glyphosate’s safety record. glyphosate, allowing it to kill weeds but not crops. friendlier than many of the other substances that American farmers were using. According In fact, it may be that one of the most daunting A settlement has been looking more likely, to estimates by the United States Geological threats to glyphosate’s dominance and Roundup the Times suggests, because a federal judge Survey, 287 million pounds of glyphosate was sales aren’t health concerns or lawsuits but in California ordered Bayer to enter into sprayed nationwide in 2016, 20 times as much as weeds themselves. As use of the herbicide negotiations with plaintiffs’ lawyers and appointed was used in 1992. exploded, resistant variants evolved that can the victim-compensation expert Kenneth R. withstand higher concentrations of glyphosate or Feinberg to lead them. In addition, rattled investors The phenomenally fast adoption of such a shrug it off altogether. Palmer amaranth, an Iron have ratcheted up pressure on Bayer to put the transformative technology, though, unsettled the Man of superweeds, for instance, grows to eight feet litigation behind it. The three court losses so public and spurred fears about the safety of the food and arms each plant with a million seeds. far undermined confidence in what is now the supply. Glyphosate was drawn into the bitter public world’s largest pesticide-and-seed company. Its debate over genetically engineered crops, the “That is the much bigger issue,” said Scott H. Irwin, stock lost nearly 40 percent of its value at one point. international cancer agency’s report immediately a professor in the department of agricultural and At this year’s spring meeting, shareholders delivered turned into a rallying point for critics, and it consumer economics at the University of Illinois what amounted to a rare vote of no confidence in provided ammunition to mount legal challenges to at Urbana-Champaign. Whatever the cumulative Bayer’s chief executive, Werner Baumann. Some Roundup’s safety. effect of the lawsuits, he said, “in farmers’ minds, institutional investors say that without a deal, Mr. the weed-resistant question will determine whether Baumann is unlikely to survive next year’s annual In succeeding years, several countries, localities and they’re using it or not.” meeting. But they also insist that their gamble on school districts banned or restricted its use. Some Bayer will pay off. retail outlets, including Costco, stopped selling it. That is one reason Bayer announced in June that it Just this month, Germany, Bayer’s base, announced planned to invest $5.6 billion over the next 10 years Glyphosate is already the most widely used it would ban glyphosate by the end of 2023. in research on weed control. Whatever alternatives agricultural chemical in history, they reason, and are developed, says Mr. Condon at Bayer, farmers will continue to depend on Roundup as a But Bayer continues to maintain that decades of glyphosate will remain a base product. growing population increases the demand for food. scientific studies have repeatedly shown glyphosate Independent market researchers project that the to be safe. Regulators around the world, in Canada, And according to the NY Times, farmers seem global market for glyphosate could reach $12 billion Australia, the European Union and the United receptive. by 2024, regardless of health worries. States, have for the most part agreed. As recently as August, the Environmental Protection “I’ve used it for over 40 years, since I was first According to the article, Liam Condon, president Agency issued a ruling that it would not approve around the farm,” said Davie Stephens, who has of Bayer’s crop science division, said the litigation any product labels that said glyphosate caused 6,000 acres in Clinton, Ky., and is president of the “doesn’t fundamentally change the rationale” for cancer, stating it was a “false claim.” American Soybean Association. “I’ve never had any its purchase of Monsanto. As for Roundup, he said, problems whatsoever, and the farming community “We are committed to making sure the product uses it more than anyone.” remains available.” Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-19 Could something as simple as reducing the grown diets further disrupt nutrient availability opportunistic enterobacter via diet be the solution while increasing inflammation and the cascade of Glyphosate to obesity? To answer this question, the researchers ill-health is set in motion. went back to lab and designed an experiment to test the hypothesis, only they did it in the reverse. Metabolic Starvation in the Face of Obesity Induced They asked if enterobacter was a causative factor in obesity, could they induce obesity in mice bred Every cell in the body requires energy to exist specifically to resist excessive weight gain simply and function. That energy comes in the form of Obesity? by increasing the bacterial load? mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate or ATP. The production of ATP requires nutrients as co- by Chandler Marrs, PhD From the fecal matter of the obese patient, the factors and for enzyme functioning. Many of researchers isolated the particular strain of these nutrients come from diet and others are Are you struggling with your weight? Are you enterobacter clocae called B29. They took the B29 produced de novo or from scratch by the bacteria eating well and exercising but still not losing and inoculated four groups of seven, germ-free in our gut. Glyphosate grown foods attack both. weight? Well then, it might be time to consider mice; B29 inoculated plus normal diet or high Glyphosate reduces the nutrient availability of what’s on or in what you are eating or what you fat diet and non-inoculated normal or high fat foodstuffs, even in the less processed, presumed are eating eats. Sound complicated? It’s not. An diet. Germ-free mice are a strain of mice that are healthy fruits and vegetables, while simultaneously emerging body of evidence shows a strong link microorganisms free and raised in isolation. They killing the good bacteria in our guts. Glyphosate between eating foods sprayed with commercial are resistant to obesity even when fed a high fat diet. is a potent bactericide that in a perverse twist of herbicides and eating meats raised on commercial design preferentially targets the beneficial bacteria feedlots (that are born and bred on a cocktail of One mouse from each of the inoculated groups while leaving untouched the opportunistic and chemicals) and obesity. died immediately after the inoculation indicating pathogenic bacteria, like enterobacter clocae. the toxic nature of this bacteria. Remember, this So while eating a healthy diet might lead to After years of eating highly processed and strain of bacteria represented 35% of the original weight loss and improved health outcomes under chemically laden fruits, vegetables and meats, patient’s gut bacteria, likely acquired gradually over normal circumstances, when that diet consists the bacteria in our guts shift radically towards a the course of lifetime. During the first week, all of of conventionally grown foods, with genetically species that emit what are called endotoxins. These the inoculated mice lost weight, again indicating the engineered seeds capable of withstanding the toxic endotoxin releasing bacteria induce inflammation, mounting immune response. Anorexia is often a sign insults of glyphosate and its adjuvants, neither the which then shifts a series biochemical pathways that of illness as the body reallocates resources towards diet nor the disrupted intestinal flora can produce favor fat storage as a protective and compensatory fighting an infection. the nutrients required to enable healthy cellular reaction to the steady state of chemicals coming metabolism. The GM-glyphosate combo induces from our diet and the lack of nutrients contained Subsequently, and after the immediate anorexic a state of metabolic starvation and through a within these foods. Indeed, what we now responses, both groups of inoculated mice gained number of survival pathways shifts towards fat call autoimmune reactions, the continued elevation excessive weight, whereas the non-inoculated mice storage rather than fat loss as a secondary source of in inflammation and antibodies, may be a result of did not. The inoculated plus high fat diet group not energy. the food we eat (and the other pharmacological and only gained significantly more weight but expressed environmental chemical exposures). It turns out, higher levels of enterobacter inflammatory markers Critical to this entire equation is the fact that that the constant state of inflammation many of us and insulin resistance showing an interaction the bactericidal properties of glyphosate disrupt find ourselves in is the body’s way of trying to clear between diet and bacterial growth. The researchers normal gut microflora. Glyphosate directly shifts those toxins. speculate that the high fat diet facilitates the the balance of power away from the healthy, vitamin transfer of this bacteria to the bloodstream and and mineral factories that feed the body’s enzymes With obesity in particular, there have been several increases the systemic inflammatory reaction. and mitochondria, towards more pathogenic bacteria interesting studies published over the last couple The inflammation then shifts the body towards fat that are resistant to glyphosate and may even feed years providing clear links between chemical storage via a range biochemical cascades meant on it, further evoking metabolic starvation. As the exposures and fat storage. Whether the body stores to fight the infection but that also induces other bacterial balance continues to shift, disease appears fat or uses fat depends upon the balance of good and reactions along the way; reactions we consider and inflammation ensues. Those diseases are then bad bacteria in the gut and that balance is predicated hallmarks of metabolic disease including high treated pharmacologically with drugs that also heavily upon nutrient availability and toxic cholesterol, insulin resistance, liver damage, disrupt gut bacteria, deplete nutrient stores and exposures. High calorie, low nutrient, chemically decreased adiponectin (satiety hormone – low damage mitochondria. The cascade of ill-health dosed foods, shift bacterial communities that adiponection means one is always hungry) and becomes more and more difficult to end using increase fat storage and inflammation. Not only that, even increased amyloid A proteins associated with traditional approaches. Moreover, where and how but since gut bacteria metabolize dietary vitamins Alzheimer’s. This study, albeit small and in need of disease appears is as much based upon individual and even synthesize vitamins from scratch on their replication, shows us that when the balance of good predispositions as it is on nutrition and other own, the high fat, low nutrient, chemically laden to bad bacteria shifts, obesity is induced. It doesn’t exposures, making the complexity of modern illness diet down regulates the vitamin producing bacteria, tell us, however, how environmental chemicals in something modern medicine is not accustomed in favor of the more pathogenic and opportunistic and on food impact this bacterial shift. For that we too. In other words, these diseases do not fit neatly bacteria. This further depletes nutrient stores while have to go to a couple other reports. into the one disease, one medication model, and enhancing inflammation. The cycle becomes very thus, very rarely respond favorably to treatment. difficult to end, as anyone struggling to lose weight Nutritional Perils of the Western Diet knows all too well. There is hope, however. New To Lose Weight, Feed the Body What it Needs: research from disparate sources demonstrates how The Western diet has become a synonymous Nutrients. reducing the toxic load and increasing nutrient with highly processed foods that barely resemble availability can re-calibrate fat usage and storage actual food in nutrient and DNA composition. Despite the complexity of the interactions that parameters. Indeed, in our efforts to produce the largest and come together and create the chronic health issues prettiest produce, we’ve cultivated out 95% of we face today, there is one variable that can be Gut Bacteria and Obesity the genetic variation from food crops; reducing to controlled that will mitigate obesity and ill-health almost nothing the ~200,000 plant metabolites that directly: eating, or more specifically, what is Just a few years ago, researchers from Shanghai, provide nutrition. To make matters worse, we have eaten. The simple act of cleaning up one’s diet, of China identified one of the gut bacterial over substituted for nutritionally rich and diverse crops moving away from processed foods and away from growths associated with obesity and published ones that originate from plant seeds engineered conventionally grown foods towards organics, can their results in a paper entitled: An opportunistic with bacterial RNA and DNA and are laced with have a tremendous effect on reducing the body’s pathogen isolated from the gut of an obese human glyphosate, adjuvants and other chemicals. In toxic load and subsequent inflammation, weight causes obesity in germfree mice. Called enterobacter addition, all commercial meat production relies gain, and disease. Similarly, replacing needed clocae, the endotoxin producing bacteria was found heavily on genetically modified, glyphosate-doused micronutrients so that bacterial and mitochondrial overpopulated in the gut of a severely obese patient feed to grow the cattle, combined with prophylactic functioning can come back online and switch from who was also insulin resistant, hypertensive and antibiotics, growth hormones and a cocktail of fat storage to fat/energy burning will be critical. suffered from the array of obesity related health other chemicals that compensate for the deplorable This will take time, however, and the transition issues. The enterobacter clocae pathogens made up conditions under which Western foods are towards health may be slow. Obesity and ill- 35% of the total bacterial content in this patient’s produced. The genetically modified, chemically health did not emerge overnight and they will not gut; a huge bacterial load. laden food stuffs are then sold to the consumer as disappear overnight. Finally, we have to recognize fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy or processed that there is no one-size-fits-all, silver bullet, diet Knowing that enterobacter emitted endotoxins and even further into other food-like products. From vitamin or diet pill. Each of us adapts to chemical that endotoxins were associated with inflammation beginning to end of the food chain are exposures to exposures and the lack of nutrition individually and and insulin dysregulation, the researchers speculated chemicals and foreign bacterial DNA that our bodies uniquely. So each of us requires a different cocktail that a reduction in the enterobacter population cannot accommodate and that provide only limited of nutrients to move forward. Which nutrients and would correspond with a reduction in weight and nutrients. at what doses should be determined individually and the other health issues. They were correct. With a may involve some degree of trial and error. As the special diet and traditional Chinese herbs, weight So, in addition to the direct exposure to chemical Western diet is devoid of critical vitamins, minerals loss and health parameters changed along with the toxicants, conventionally grown Western foodstuffs and amino acids, it is likely many individuals reduction in toxic load. After 9 weeks, enterobacter also impair health by reducing vital nutrient content are suffering from broad based deficiencies. It is represented only 1.7% of the total gut bacteria and required for even the most basic cell functioning. also likely, that restoring what has been absent at 23 weeks, .32%. The total weight loss during that By disrupting the balance between good gut bacteria chronically will go a long way towards health and period was 50kg or 110lbs. and bad or pathogenic bacteria, conventionally healing, regardless of one’s particular health Published originally on Hormones Matter B- 20 The Natural Farmer Winter, 2019-20 Making the Jump Away from Glyphosate: Bernard Perry and Perry-Dice Organics by Jack Kittredge

Machais, NY, in western New York State is just a few miles south of the long east-west stretch of limestone-based upland soils that supports abundant crops and runs along central New York from Schenectady to Buffalo. When it comes to soils, however, even a few miles is a miss and the Machais region developed small dairy operations when farming spread there two hundred years ago.

Now the dairy squeeze, driven by a long-term drop in the price of milk, has forced out all others and the only remaining dairy farm in town shipping milk is Perry-Dice Organics, owned by Bernard Perry.

“I grew up helping my parents and my siblings on the homestead,” says Perry, who comes from a long line of dairymen. “There were fifteen of us siblings. I am the twelfth child -- ten boys and five girls, and each and every one of us helped on the farm. We considered it life. What could ever be better -- one family pulling for one another?” But despite these advantages, in 2007 Bernard can’t fault farmers who use it. When we converted At one time there were nine dairy farms in the area decided to turn his conventional dairy farm into neighbors thought we were cookoo and going back that were operated by Bernard’s father’s sons and an organic one. He has always had an interest in to horse farming.” grandsons. how Mother Nature works, but until 2007 there just wasn’t any opportunity to go with the Natural “But our going organic was driven by health needs”, Bernard bought his farm at the age of twenty three, approach. he explains. “I had a wife with asthma and cattle in 1984. It is 91 acres (although he points out that with all sorts of problems. It took us several years the power company has a lien on 7, so it is 84, “That’s when I knew things had to change!” he on organic feed to correct these – not till 2010 or really). Of those, 54 acres are productive land in hay says. “It became quite clear that the issues that I was 2011, really. I’m told that a typical dairy farm takes and crops, and the rest is split between pasture and having with the cows was coming from Roundup 7 years to convert to organic, and for several of woods. Perry raises his cows on corn silage, ensiled and GMO’s. It was quite obvious, There were those you will lose money.” the old-fashioned way in old tall silos. The farm constant digestive issues, such as nausea, headaches, ships their milk to Horizon and is certified by New excessive saliva, gastrointestinal issues, such as There were signs that Bernard had made the York NOFA. cows would fill up with gas (known as bloat), right move, though. The weed pressure gradually diarrhea, cows became miserable to work with, they improved as the soil health got better, confirming At the time he bought the farm, of course, it wasn’t were aggressive as in super Bitches.” Jerry Brunnetti’s statement that every weed brings organic and neither was Bernard. Due to a number some balance back to the soil. And if you see the of available farm chemicals, dairying in this country “What most people don’t realize,” he continues, “is cows today, he asserts, you would say they are as had developed an addiction. One chemical was that cows have the same basic needs as humans do. peaceful a group of cows as you have ever seen. particularly beguiling! Speaking of just necessities, they want a diet that Kevin and Lisa Englebert, long-term New York keeps them healthy, full, and comfortable.” organic dairy farmers, have been a continuing “Roundup!” recalls Bernard, “the great all around inspiration to him. spray of all sprays! It sure is easy to use -- basically When Bernard started to transition into organic he anyone can use it. You spray it on once a year, and got very little support, he says. Perry married a year after buying the farm, and had the weeds are gone for 90 days or longer, with two sons shortly thereafter. They both farm, one beautiful brown spots wherever it is used, as in “For one, I was the only one in this area going this with his own three kids (3, 9, and 11 years old) on barren-looking. It sure is easy to tell where it has route”, he explains. “A high percentage of producers an organic diary farm 20 miles away. He has 70 been used. It kills the weeds and leaves the fields who have gone into the organic world have dealt head and ships milk with Horizon. The other son free of them, so the only plant that grows is the with this also. I was able to handle the negativity grows organic grains on a portion of his dad’s farm. one that is desired. One can’t fault any agricultural from the farmers in the area. But I had expected producer for using it. Especially in today’s to get some support from my siblings. That didn’t Bernard is fully aware of the dire straits of the economy.” happen either. Which made the struggles that much organic dairying industry. He is not at all sure he worse. It was difficult enough not being able to will be able to continue shipping milk at current When Bernard bought his farm, of course, Roundup share your findings, within the area, but when prices. was used before planting, to clean up any unwanted family wouldn’t give any support, it stung. I don’t plants in the fields by tying up the nutrients they want to share negativity, but sometimes it happens.” “Yes, I am thinking about transitioning out of needed. The compound was considered completely the cows”, he nods, “and into a crop operation. safe to use. One could even buy it in a grocery store. When he was conventional Perry strived to keep Especially as I age. I may not be able to stay organic Supposedly if one used it according to the label it 40 cows in milk production at all times. Now unless prices improve, but there is a good market for was considered completely harmless. that he is organic he strives to keep 30 cows in non-GMO grains. If I gave up dairying I’d do corn, milk production at all times. Not because of the soy, wheat, and oats and maybe after 5 years move Once GMO’s were introduced, starting in about difference in the milk pricing, he says, but more for into vegetables. I already do some of the grains now. 1992, Roundup could be used not only before the ability to do a better job of taking care of the planting, but after planting as well. So long as you cows, as in not being so excessively busy that one “When I started on this farm 35 years ago”, he planted ‘Roundup Ready’ crops, or those which had can hardly keep pace. continues, “there were for the most part cows been engineered to tolerate glyphosate, Roundup’s on all the farms in the road that I live on, and active ingredient, then you could continue to “By taking care of fewer cows I have to be more predominately every farm in this town. Now 35 spray after planting and continue to kill weeds observant”, he admits, “but I have more of an years later I am the only one left shipping milk! and any other non-Roundup Ready plants. The opportunity to re-act, I should probably say that I With that said the farm land is pretty much still crops themselves had been engineered to include a have a better opportunity to be pro-active. By being in production. Either grain crops, hay fields, or in pathway to survival despite Roundup being sprayed pro active I have more time to pay attention to gravel mining. and denying them the normal nutrients they needed. Mother Nature, and what she is trying to show me.” “The sad part of this”, he concludes, “is that there “Originally,” recalls Perry, “one was not supposed Perry will be 59 shortly, he says, and there is no is not enough reason for the youth to want to stay in to use it 2 years in a row in the same field. And sense in working 7 days a week forever! the area. It’s like most small towns USA: dissolving with other sprays one needs a permit to spray them daily. I’d like my grandkids to farm. I hope they on, which I have never had. So when the GMO Asked whether he is glad to have gone organic and will. Once it is in your blood it is hard to get rid of. technology came about I could spray my fields ditched the chemicals, he answers a loud “yes”! But farming is much more of a cut-throat business myself, which made for quite a savings. With the than it was when I started. You used to get farmers GMO technology I had tremendous yields of only “I’m tickled to have changed to organic”, he asserts. to work together. That is harder now. They have the plants that one truly wants -- regardless of “I understand, Roundup was great on weeds. You been forced to focus on economics.” whether one grows conventional or organic, nobody wants to see or deal with weeds”. Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-21 How Did Students Convince the University of California to End Herbicide Use? Interview With Mackenzie Feldman of pick weeds or mulch with the groundskeepers. We moving away from carcinogenic pesticides that are Herbicide-Free Campus also passed a Resolution stating that we wanted an currently used year-round in the islands, at great risk published by Independent Science News Nov., 2019 herbicide-free campus. to public health.

Mackenzie Feldman, Founder of Herbicide-Free Step 2: Beyond Pesticides: Thanks to Parents for a This multi-island speaking tour, featuring Lee Campus, has been working to end herbicide use by Safer Environment, who heard about us from the Johnson, allowed Lee to share his story with the University of California campus system. This Op-Ed, we were given a grant that allowed Beyond community leaders, policy makers and government May, the University announced a ban on glyphosate Pesticides to come to UC Berkeley, and bring officials. To see how this journey unfolded, watch citing “concerns about possible human health and Professional Horticulturist Chip Osborne to teach this video. ecological hazards”. the groundskeepers how to manage the landscapes without the use of chemicals. We initially chose two During this trip, immediately after a Board of ISN: What events caused you to protest test sites: Memorial Glade and Faculty Glade. This Education community meeting with Johnson, the chemicals on your campus? was a huge test for the sustainability of the campaign, Hawaii Department of Education issued a memo as we would monitor this model before expanding. prohibiting herbicide use on all island-wide school Mackenzie: Recently at the 2019 Brower Later, we used it as an example for other schools grounds. So I suppose my campaign spread to Youth Awards, I spoke about some of looking to transition away from herbicide use. Hawaii because it is my home, but also because it is the defining moments that catalyzed my activism. a state deeply in need of this reform. Our work there During my time at UC Berkeley, I took an Step 3: Food and Water Watch: At this point in the was a huge victory and I am determined to continue environmental biology class taught by Dr. Ignacio campaign, we had the passion and were acquiring this work in every state, and around the world. Chapela. On one of our field trips, Professor the tools, but needed to learn how to combine them Chapela told our class that herbicides like Roundup to create active, permanent change. The non-profit In Hawaii specifically, the work is not over yet. were sprayed on campus. I was shocked, and organization Food and Water Watch taught me and As of September 2019, the counties of Maui, I wanted to do something about this. I wrote a Bridget campaign strategy. This included leadership Hawaiʻi and Kauaʻi are actively working towards research paper on this subject for class, titled “Can development, digital organizing tools, student implementing pesticide and herbicide-free county the Campus of UC Berkeley Be Turned Into an recruitment, and how to align our vision with parks and roadways. Herbicide-Free Campus?” but didn’t know what to university-wide policy. One of the most important do from there. tools I gained was how to teach other students to ISN: What do you say to people who have start and lead a campaign. Empowering others concerns that institutions that ban Roundup will As I reflect back now, I suppose it was only a has allowed this campaign to multiply across the replace it with compounds that are perhaps even matter of time before I found the moment that country. We have expanded this campaign to schools worse? would propel me into action. I began to exercise across the UC-system, and then began to expand to my activism after a personal experience made me schools nationwide. Food and Water Watch published Mackenzie: This question is exactly why we are realize I had no other option. During my time at this article on the work we did together. not Glyphosate-Free or Roundup-Free Campus. UC Berkeley, I was a student-athlete on the Beach We are “Herbicide- Free Campus.” I would say Volleyball team. When I showed up for practice one ISN: How did you meet Dewayne ‘Lee’ Johnson? that activists need to be cautious when fighting day in the Spring of 2017, our coach cautioned us for reform, that institutions don’t just replace not to chase after the balls if they rolled off the court Mackenzie: I met Lee Johnson at the Dewayne glyphosate with barricade or glufosinate, for because the surrounding area had just been sprayed Johnson v. Monsanto trial on August 7th, 2018, in a example. Moreover, there are other herbicides used with an herbicide. San Francisco courtroom. on campuses like 2,4-D and dicamba that are worse, so it’s best not to focus on glyphosate. At the same My teammate Bridget Gustafson and I were During closing arguments, when the Monsanto time, liability concerns around glyphosate have a lot shocked, and we spoke with the Athletics Grounds lawyer was speaking, I simply could not listen of schools, cities, and states worried about potential Manager to ask what herbicide was applied and anymore. I was sitting with my mentor Anna Lappé, litigation, and this factor can be used as meaningful how often. He told us that he sprays the Monsanto and I felt moved to write Lee a note, so I took out a dialogue to initiate stakeholder engagement. product “Ranger” once a year all around our courts. spare piece of paper and composed my thoughts. I Ranger contains 41 percent glyphosate, the active explained that Hawaii, where I am from, is ground ISN: Why were Baum Hedlund (the law firm ingredient in Roundup. I knew that the California zero for industrial agriculture, and many people, that represented Mr. Johnson) successful in a Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment especially Native Hawaiians, are getting sick from Monsanto lawsuit when others have not been, do (OEHHA) had determined that glyphosate would pesticides. I also told him about the campaign we you think? be added to the list of Proposition 65 chemicals started at UC Berkeley, and how we are trying to known by the state to cause cancer. Additionally, eliminate these cancer-causing chemicals from Mackenzie: This is a question that involves a glyphosate has been identified as a contributor, our campus. I left my email for him and passed number of layers of detail. To give you the most even at low doses, to autism, Alzheimer’s disease, the letter to the lawyer sitting in front of me, who accurate information, I have reached out to depression, ADHD and many other illnesses. passed it to Lee. Later that day, as we were sitting representatives of the Baum Hedlund firm. in the courtroom, Anna Lappé whispered to me that I was shocked that we were being exposed to I needed to expand this campaign. I knew she was It is not true that others have not been successful. chemicals in our everyday environment. This right. Only three cases have gone to trial and there, they realization, combined with my passion for have won. Baum Hedlund co-tried the first and last protecting the environment is what set my activism On August 10th, I was back in the courtroom for trials (Johnson and Pilliod) with the Miller Law into motion. I wrote about this day at the volleyball the final verdict. My mom and I were on the edge of Firm. Furthermore, Baum Hedlund paired with courts in an Op-Ed for The Daily Californian, which our seats. The verdict was announced-Lee Johnson Aimee Wagstaff and Jennifer Moore to assist with garnered much attention to the issue, and from there, had won! This day was incredibly emotional for the second trial (Hardeman). The trial teams in all our campaign was born. everyone. I hugged Mr. Johnson and cried, and I three cases were very fortunate to win on behalf could feel how significant this moment was, how of the plaintiffs. What is also of interest is the ISN: Tell us about your campaign to ban all important this day would be in history. A few days momentum that this has carried into 2020. There are synthetic herbicides on your campus? later after the trial, Lee Johnson emailed me. He six more trials scheduled for 2020 for 37 plaintiffs. asked how he could help with our campaign. Mackenzie: Soon after this day at practice and In terms of the details of the actual trials, the the article was published, Bridget Gustafson and ISN: How did your campaign spread to Hawai’i? success comes down to evidence and the jury. The I decided to start Herbicide-Free Cal, a campaign Baum Hedlund legal team, on the Monsanto cases, to ban herbicides at UC Berkeley. To be clear, the Mackenzie: Hawaii, where I was born and is deeply educated about the chemicals. Presenting campaign is about banning all synthetic herbicides, raised, is my home. Hawaii is ground zero for numerous studies linking Roundup to Non not just Roundup. More specifically, this campaign industrial agriculture, and 17 times the amount of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, along with the experts who is about teamwork. pesticides are sprayed in Hawaii compared to the explain what they mean, and trusting that educated mainland United States, resulting in cancer clusters juries will understand, has been a straight-forward Step 1: We have put a lot of our efforts into and birth defects. I learned all about this in high method leading to success. developing personal relationships with the school, and since then, it has been an issue incredibly groundskeepers on campus. When we met with close to my heart. ISN: As advertisements appear seeking potential the Athletic Grounds Manager, he agreed to stop victims of glyphosate exposure, what do people spraying near our courts as long we could figure out It was important to me that eventually, my efforts need to know about the law firms who advertise? how to manage the weeds without herbicides. So our would expand to Hawaii, so that I could give back Are they all equally competent and effective? team began having weeding days before practice. As to a place that has given me so much. This summer, we expanded our efforts campus-wide, we worked I had the opportunity to partner with the Protect Mackenzie: There are many law firms now with the UC Berkeley ASUC Student Government Our Keiki Coalition and return to Hawaii with Lee advertising for Roundup clients, especially after to put together an herbicide-free student team, Johnson and his family. The visit was part of the the second and third verdicts were handed down. and together we began to hold educational events Coalition’s efforts to continue to educate the public, Moreover, since the Baum Hedlund law firm and host weeding “work-days” where students teachers, groundskeepers and policy-makers about discovery documents are public record, any lawyer B- 22 The Natural Farmer Winter, 2019-20 can take that information and use it in court. For ISN: Currently, many communities are the use of synthetic herbicides and transitions to anyone seeking a claim for their Roundup or Non banning herbicides. What advice can you give organic land care maintenance. My other priorities Hodgkin’s Lymphoma damages, it is important to communities that have yet to make that step? are advocating for farm worker safety by forcing carefully study the firm(s) of interest and find out as the EPA to write more stringent regulations and much as possible about their record. Mackenzie: I think the biggest piece of advice enforce them, and to make sure that part of the I would offer is to understand where the Green New Deal includes replacing herbicides used A word of caution: many law firms have jumped groundskeeper workers are coming from, and then in agriculture with regenerative farming solutions. on the band-wagon and some are pressuring people partner with them. They are being instructed by their In general, there is systemic change that is with deadlines and other techniques. Those would be supervisors, therefore it is not their fault, but rather necessary for our country, and I intend for my firms to steer clear of. Compare what one might offer the fault of a larger systemic problem–the way we campaign to be part of that solution. relative to others. A straight 40% fee is about the norm, view and treat our natural world. It may take more and a Mass Tort (where each client’s settlement will labor to maintain an organic landscape, but as we Any day now, the University of California system vary according to their specific losses) is far better than fight for systemic change, we must support the will decide whether or not to renew its ban on a Class Action (where settlement amount for all clients groundskeepers every step of the way through this glyphosate-based herbicides, including Roundup is the same). transition by being their allies. — on their campuses Tell UC President Napolitano to permanently ban glyphosate and adopt organic ISN: Have Lee Johnson and his family yet received What are your future plans? land management. If you are a student and are any compensation following their court victory? interested in bringing this campaign to your Mackenzie: I am looking forward to advancing the school, or a community member interested in Mackenzie: As far as I know, he still has not been momentum from the Brower Youth Award in order getting involved, visit the website (https://www. awarded compensation. Lee Johnson was initially to grow the campaign. My goal for Herbicide- herbicidefreecampus.org/) and fill out the Get awarded $289 million, which was reduced to $78 Free Campus is to continue expanding to schools Started form! Additionally, feel free to contact us million on Oct. 22, 2018. nationwide, ensuring that every school discontinues at herbicidefreecampus(at)gmail.com.

Monsanto Built a Step-By-Step Strategy to Destroy my Reputation as a Journalist by Carey Gillam, August 9, 2019 in the Guardian 2017 email, dated a month before the October 2017 of its seed technology, or its latest expansion efforts. release of Whitewash. Cubbage, senior director of But if a story I wrote quoted a critic of the company As a journalist who has covered corporate America strategic communications, sent Monsanto employees a or cited scientific research that Monsanto didn’t for more than 30 years, very little shocks me about the list of “action items” ahead of the book launch. On the consider valid, Monsanto would repeatedly complain propaganda tactics companies often deploy. I know list: the development of an “issue alert” laying out the to editors, tying up editorial time and resources. the pressure companies can and do bring to bear when “flaws of argument” in the book and a link to the book trying to effect positive coverage and limit reporting sales page on Amazon where people presumably could In one email, the Monsanto media relations executive they deem negative about their business practices and post negative reviews. The plan called for enlisting Sam Murphey discussed how he and colleagues products. “industry & farmer customers” to potentially post “collectively get to share the Carey headache” after reviews using points puts together by Monsanto. publication of a September 2015 story I wrote for But when I recently received close to 50 pages Reuters. The story, titled US Workers Sue Monsanto of internal Monsanto communications about the This was played out on Amazon one weekend. Shortly Claiming Herbicide Caused Cancer, brought attention company’s plans to target me and my reputation, I was after the book’s publication, dozens of “reviewers” to the growing number of Roundup cancer lawsuits shocked. suddenly posted one-star reviews sharing suspiciously against Monsanto. similar themes and language. The efforts were not I knew the company did not like the fact that in my very successful as Amazon removed many reviews “We continue to push back on her editors very 21 years of reporting on the agrochemical industry it deemed fake or improper. (The book won the strongly every chance we get,” Murphey wrote to his – mostly for Reuters – I wrote stories that quoted Rachel Carson Book Award from the Society of colleagues after that story. “And we all hope for the skeptics as well as fans of Monsanto’s genetically Environmental Journalists and two other literary day she gets reassigned.” engineered seeds. I knew the company didn’t like awards.) me reporting about growing unease in the scientific It does not appear that my departure from Reuters community regarding research that connected FTI’s Cubbage also designated for “immediate action” eased Monsanto’s irritation much. After I left in late Monsanto herbicides to human and environmental the “paid placement of existing blog post on Carey October 2015, joined US Right to Know, a not-for- health problems. And I knew the company did not Gillam when google search ‘Monsanto Glyphosate profit organization seeking transparency in the food welcome the 2017 release of my book, Whitewash – Carey Gillam”. industry, and started writing Whitewash in January The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer and the Corruption 2016, a Monsanto email dated May 2016 referred to of Science, which revealed the company’s actions to The code name “Project Spruce” is the internal me as “a pain in the ass”. suppress and manipulate the science surrounding its company reference for Monsanto’s plans to defend its herbicide business. glyphosate and Roundup herbicide business from all The internal Monsanto records are merely a small perceived threats, including scientists and journalists. part of a trove of such records that I’m told mention But I never dreamed I would warrant my own Code names exist for other Monsanto concerns. me in some way. And they only hint at the breadth Monsanto action plan. The company’s efforts to counter litigation over of the company’s attack on me. I’m routinely trolled its involvement in PCB contamination was dubbed on social media by individuals with connections to The company records I’ve obtained show a range “Project Chrome”, according to a deposition of the Monsanto, many making outlandish allegations about of actions. One Monsanto plan involved paying former Monsanto counsel Todd Rands, who now me and US Right to Know. for web placement of a blogpost about me so that works with FTI. Monsanto-written information would pop up at the Monsanto affiliates have repeatedly harassed editors top of certain internet searches involving my name. The records are part of a cache of communications at publications that carry my stories, and hosts of The correspondence also discussed a need to produce turned over through court-ordered discovery in webinars and conferences featuring my work have “third party talking points” about me. In addition, litigation brought by thousands of cancer victims been pressured to exclude me from participation. Monsanto produced a video to help it amplify who allege their exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup And, in a particularly juvenile move, an FTI company-engineered propaganda about me and my herbicides caused their diseases. These internal employee attempted to heckle me at one of the work. Monsanto documents have revealed years of dealings Monsanto Roundup cancer trials in California. by the company aimed at manipulating the scientific I even inspired a Monsanto spreadsheet: as part of record about Roundup. They reveal multi-layered I’m just one person, just one reporter working from a “Project Spruce”, the “Carey Gillam Book plan” lists strategies aimed at crafting and controlling the public home office in the midwest, juggling three kids with more than 20 items, including discussion of how the regarding Monsanto’s top-selling Roundup herbicide irregular writing deadlines. So the knowledge that a company might get third parties to post book reviews products. multibillion-dollar corporation spent so much time about Whitewash. and attention trying to figure out how to thwart me is Monsanto also had an action plan aimed at discrediting terrifying. The documents show that Monsanto enlisted the International Agency for Research on Cancer Washington DC-based FTI Consulting to help it (IARC) after the scientific group classified glyphosate, Truth and transparency are precious commodities, with its plans. FTI was in the news earlier this year the key ingredient in Roundup, as a probable human the foundations for the knowledge we all need and after one of its employees posed as a reporter at carcinogen in March 2015. It had a “preparedness and deserve about the world we live in. Without truth we the Roundup cancer trial held this March in San engagement plan” for IARC even before the agency cannot know what risks we face, what protections we Francisco. The woman pretended to be reporting on issued its classification of glyphosate. must make for our families and our futures. the Hardeman v Monsanto trial, while suggesting to real reporters covering the trial certain storylines that The company emails also briefly touch on pressure When corporate power is so intensely brought to were favorable to Monsanto. that Monsanto applied while I was at Reuters. The silence messengers, to manipulate the public record company was perfectly happy with stories that and public opinion, truth becomes stifled. And we FTI’s Adam Cubbage was the author of a September highlighted its new products, or the spread of adoption should all be afraid. Winter, 2019-20 The Natural Farmer B-23 Glyphosate (Roundup) Fact Sheet

Despite the prevalent myth that this widely-used herbicide is harmless, glyphosate (N-phosphono- methyl glycine) is associated with a wide range of illnesses, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), genetic damage, liver and kidney damage, endocrine disruption, as well as environmental damage, including water contamination and harm to amphibians. Researchers have also determined that the “inert” ingredients in glyphosate products, especially polyethoxylated tallow amine or POEA – a surfactant commonly used in glyphosate and other herbicidal products, are even more toxic than glyphosate itself. Monsanto, manufacturer of glyphosate, formulates many products such as Roundup TM and Rodeo TM and markets formulations exclusively used on genetically engineered (GE) crops. Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, due in large part to the increased cultivation of GE crops that are tolerant of the herbicide.

General First registered for use in 1974, glyphosate is used to kill a variety of broadleaf weeds and grasses. Labeled uses of glyphosate account for approximately 276 million pounds applied in 2014 on over 100 terrestrial food crops, as well as other non-food sites, including forestry, greenhouses, rights-of-way, turf, garden beds, and hardscapes.

The greatest overall glyphosate use by acreage is in the Mississippi River basin where most applications are for weed control on GE corn, soybeans, and cotton, as well as other crops. Contrary to industry claims that GE crops would result in lower pesticide use rates, glyphosate use in agriculture rose 300- fold from 1974 to 2014, with non-agricultural uses Glyphosate causes DNA and chromosomal damage glyphosate and its degradate aminomethylphosphonic increasing by 43-fold during the same time. in human cells. Glyphosate and its formulated acid (AMPA) in the majority of samples, persisting products adversely affect embryonic, placental from spring through to fall. Glyphosate and/or Plants treated with glyphosate translocate the and umbilical cord cells, affect fetal development, AMPA have also been detected in significant levels systemic herbicide to their roots, growing points, and increase the risk for spontaneous abortions. in rain in agricultural areas across the Mississippi and fruit, where it blocks the activity of the enzyme Detectable concentrations of glyphosate have been River watershed, in more than 50 percent of soil and 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase found in the urine of farm children. Chronic, ultra- sediment samples, in water samples from ditches and (EPSPS), a key enzyme in the shikimate pathway of low dose exposure to glyphosate in drinking water drains, and in more than 80 percent of wastewater aromatic amino acid production, ultimately leading results in adverse impacts on the health of liver and treatment plant samples. Glyphosate also contributes to the plant’s death by starvation. Because plants kidneys. Glyphosate is considered to be an endocrine to phosphorous pollution of waterbodies. absorb glyphosate, it cannot be completely removed disruptor. It can cause changes to DNA function by washing or other food preparation. It persists in resulting in the onset of chronic disease. Residues of glyphosate may persist for months food products for up to two years. in anaerobic soils deficient in microorganisms. Glyphosate Is An Antibiotic Heavy use of Roundup on GE crops appears to Glyphosate Formulated Products And Other Glyphosate works by disrupting a crucial pathway cause harmful changes in soil, potentially hindering Ingredients for manufacturing aromatic amino acids in plants— yields of crops. Concerns for soil health from long- Glyphosate products (Roundup) are more toxic than but not animals—and, therefore, many have assumed term glyphosate use include reduction of nutrient glyphosate alone, resulting in a number of chronic, that it does not harm humans. However, many availability for plants and organisms; disruption of developmental, and endocrine-disrupting impacts. bacteria use the shikimate pathway, and glyphosate organism diversity, especially in the areas around The “inert” ingredients in Roundup formulations has been patented as an antibiotic. The destruction plant roots; reductions of beneficial soil bacteria; kill human cells at very low concentrations. At least of bacteria in the human gut is a major contributor to increases in plant root pathogens; disturbed some glyphosate-based products are genotoxic. One disease, and the destruction of soil microbiota leads earthworm activity; reduced bacterial nitrogen “inert,” polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA), is to unhealthy agricultural systems with an increasing fixation; and compromised growth and reproduction extremely toxic to aquatic organisms. It accounts dependence on agricultural chemicals. Disturbing the in some soil and aquatic organisms. for more than 86% of Roundup toxicity observed in microbiota can contribute to a whole host of “21st microalgae and crustaceans. century diseases,” including diabetes, obesity, food Effects On Nontarget Animals allergies, heart disease, antibiotic-resistant infections, Glyphosate use directly impacts a variety of Acute Exposure To Glyphosate cancer, asthma, autism, irritable bowel syndrome, nontarget animals, including insects, earthworms, Although EPA considers glyphosate to be “of multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, celiac and fish, and indirectly impacts birds and small relatively low oral and dermal acute toxicity,” disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and more. The mammals. Roundup kills beneficial insects, including symptoms following exposure to glyphosate rise in these same diseases is tightly correlated with parasitoid wasps, lacewings and ladybugs. Repeated formulations include: swollen eyes, face and joints; the use of the herbicide glyphosate, and glyphosate applications of glyphosate significantly affect the facial numbness; burning and/or itching skin; exposure can result in the inflammation that is at growth and survival of earthworms. Environmental blisters; rapid heart rate; elevated blood pressure; the root of these diseases. Glyphosate appears to factors, such as high sedimentation, increases in chest pains, congestion; coughing; headache; and have more negative impacts on beneficial bacteria, temperature and pH levels increase the toxicity of nausea. In developmental toxicity studies using allowing pathogens to flourish. Roundup, especially to young fish pregnant rats and rabbits, effects of glyphosate in high dose groups include diarrhea, decreased body Antibiotic Resistance Roundup, in sublethal and environmentally relevant weight gain, nasal discharge and death. Bacteria resistant to the most commonly prescribed concentrations, causes morphological changes antibiotics result in longerlasting infections, higher in two species of amphibians by interfering with Chronic Exposure To Glyphosate medical expenses, the need for more expensive or hormones. It is “extremely lethal” to amphibians in Since EPA’s classification of glyphosate as a Group hazardous medications, and the inability to treat life- concentrations found in the environment. E carcinogen—or “evidence of non-carcinogenicity threatening infections. The development and spread for humans,” the International Agency for Research of antibiotic resistance is the inevitable effect of the Food Residues on Cancer (IARC) in 2015 classified glyphosate as a use of antibiotics. Use of antibiotics like glyphosate Group 2A “probable” carcinogen, which means that in agriculture allows residues of antibiotics and Sampling by the U.S. Food and Drug the chemical is probably carcinogenic to humans antibiotic-resistant bacteria on agricultural lands Administration), under pressure after the release of based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity to move through the environment, contaminate the IARC report, found residues of glyphosate in in experimental animals. As of July 7, 2017, waterways, and ultimately reach consumers in food. honey and oats. Residues, which have no established glyphosate is listed as a cancer-causing chemical Both the human gut and contaminated waterways legal allowance in honey, were found in all samples under California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic provide incubators for antibiotic resistance. and in some cases at double the allowable limit set Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65). This in the European Union. FDA also found residues in requires cancer warning labels be placed on end- Environmental Fate oat products, including cereals for babies. These tests use glyphosate products in California. It has been Glyphosate has the potential to contaminate surface follow European findings of glyphosate residues in specifically linked to non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma waters and is not broken down readily by water or German beer and British bread, in addition to private (NHL). and multiple myeloma. sunlight in surface water, with a half-life of 70 to 84 testing in the U.S. in Cheerios, cookies, crackers, and days. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) surveys detect wine. Winter 2019-20 $5.00 Permit No. 28 Barre, MA 01005 MA Barre, U. S. Postage Paid Non-Profit Organization Non-Profit 411 Sheldon Rd. 411 Barre, MA 01005 Barre, MA NOFA Education Fund NOFA

Activists protest against the production of herbicides and genetically modified food products out- side Monsanto’s St Louis headquarters during its annual shareholders meeting.

This newspaper contains news and features about food and farming in the Northeastern US, as well as a Special Supplement on Glyphosate