Ban RoundUp!

by Laura Gerber, Hamilton

Glyphosate, known commercially as RoundUp, obviously kills weeds. Have you ever wondered what else it kills? Well, it is slowly killing us humans! We must demand an all-out BAN ON GLYPHOSATE. We must tell the stores in our valley to stop selling it, we must stop using it on our lawns, we must help our farmers to find other solutions to treat weeds, and we must insist that it not be used this growing season as a desiccant to dry-down crops for an easier harvest. Glyphosate is a toxic danger- like a wolf dressed in sheep’s skin- that has been allowed to invade our human flock and is wreaking havoc that we have not been taking proper notice of.

New research into the toxic nature of Glyphosate by Professor Stephanie Seneff, a senior researcher at MIT, has revealed that it harms our bodies in many many unique and scary ways. The massive rise in Autism, Alzheimer’s Disease, Celiac Disease, Autoimmune disorders, and Vascular disorders can all be linked back to the use of chemicals containing Glyphosate, like RoundUp. The good news is, we can make this stop Now by banning the use of Glyphosate immediately.

Glyphosate disrupts the Shikimate Pathway, the basic way that plants and microbes make the essential amino acids that we as humans have to consume in order to survive. The Shikimate Pathway is part of the most basic biological functions that all life is built upon, and Glyphosate shuts it off!

Glyphosate binds heavy metals, especially aluminum, carrying them deep into our tissues and even depositing them in our brains! High levels of aluminum in the brain are a marker in Alzheimer’s disease. Glyphosate is not fat-soluble, yet it cleverly integrates itself into commonly used fats like canola oil. At the molecular level, it has a phosphonate unit that mimics the phospholipid unit of the fats and oils we use in our everyday cooking, making it impossible to ‘wash off’ or remove from our foods. Glyphosate kills the microbes in the soil and kills the gut microbiome in our bodies.  

Some of the worst sources of Glyphosate contamination in our foods include Beer! The barley used in beer in routinely sprayed with Glyphosate near harvest time to dry it down and make it more efficient to harvest. Unfortunately, the chemical easily makes its way through the brewing process and comes out the beer tap, intact and ready to wreak havoc on your gut. All non-organic breads, pastas, and cereals are full of this insidious chemical. Non-organic Hummus, a healthy, delicious, and easy food is full of Glyphosate residue!

The effects of Glyphosate are not immediate and obvious- we don’t get a chemical burn from eating bread whose wheat was sprayed with Roundup. We don’t see the inside of our intestines being wiped clean of gut bacteria. We also don’t see a bunch of weeds in the field when Glyphosate has been applied, which seems like a good thing, apparently. Under that Sheep’s skin though, Glyphosate is slowing killing us.

We can stop this. We do not have to allow our bodies, our soils, and our farmers to face such scary odds. We can and we must BAN ROUNDUP NOW! Please, have a conversation with the manager of your local hardware or ranch store and ask them to stop selling RoundUp, ask a farmer how you can help them implement other ways to control weeds or dry down crops, and tell your local brewery to please only source unsprayed barley. Buy and eat certified organic breads, cereals, pastas, and hummus. Donate certified organic foods to your local Food Bank. Research Glyphosate- educate and inform yourself and share that knowledge. Please, Do something now, or we all will face the slow debilitation and death that toxic Glyphosate is imposing on our entire society and all our soils.