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GLYPHOSATE CONNECTION TO DISEASE in eighteen European countries. Measurable Glyphosate
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While mammals don’t possess the shiki- amounts of glyphosate were found in 44 percent
mate pathway, all of the microbes that take up of these people, despite the fact that Europe has disrupts the
residence in our digestive tract do have this a much more conservative view towards GMOs gut bacteria in
pathway, and exposure to glyphosate, the active than does the U.S. chickens, cows,
ingredient in Roundup, will cause them serious So, why is the shikimate pathway so im-
stress as a consequence. Studies have shown that portant? Plants and microbes use the shikimate and pigs,
glyphosate disrupts the gut bacteria in chick- pathway to produce the aromatic amino acids, causing
ens, cows, and pigs, causing inflammation in tryptophan, tyrosine and phenylalanine. Be- inflammation
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the gut along with an overgrowth of pathogenic cause they don’t have this pathway, mammals
forms and concurrent loss of beneficial bacteria. can’t produce these essential nutrients, and in the gut
It is now becoming apparent that our gut bacteria, therefore we depend on plants and microbes to along with an
which outnumber our own cells by a factor of ten provide them for us. So it is logical that glypho- overgrowth
to one, play many important roles in supplying sate, by interfering with this pathway, would lead
nutrients and protecting us from toxins. There’s to a deficiency in these nutrients. Tryptophan is of pathogenic
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also an intricate connection between the gut and the sole precursor to serotonin, and serotonin forms and
the brain, such that an unhealthy digestive system deficiency is implicated in a litany of diseases concurrent loss
translates into pathologies in the brain. 35 and conditions that are prevalent today, including
Together with Anthony Samsel, I recently autism, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, of beneficial
published a paper arguing that Roundup® could suicide, and homicidal behavior. Serotonin is an bacteria.
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plausibly be the most important factor in the appetite suppressant so it’s hard not to overeat
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observed increase in a number of diseases and when it is in short supply. If you are disciplined
conditions like obesity and autism over the past to resist these urges, then you run the risk of
two decades in the U.S. Despite spending nearly depression and Alzheimer’s disease, or autism
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two and a half times as much on health care as in your children. Serotonin is the precursor to
our peer nations, the U.S. lags behind many of melatonin, the neurotransmitter that regulates
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these other nations in basic metrics like infant the wake-sleep cycle, and melatonin deficiency
mortality and life expectancy. The most recent is also implicated in autism. 2,39 Tyrosine is the
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figures for infant mortality place the U.S. at num- precursor to dopamine, and impaired dopamine
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ber forty-six, behind Cuba and Guam. Clearly we supply is the key defect associated with Parkin-
are doing something wrong, and our wholesale son’s disease. Glyphosate activates an enzyme
embrace of GMOs is an obvious candidate. called phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL),
Ninety percent of the GMO crops (GMO which breaks down phenylalanine and releases
corn, soy, cotton, sugar beets, and canola) are ammonia as a by-product. Excess ammonia in
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engineered to be “Roundup Ready,” which means the blood stream can trigger a cascade leading
that they can be sprayed with Roundup and they to encephalitis and seizures. 30
will happily soak it up into their tissues. The
practice of “desiccating” crops like wheat and AUTISM EPIDEMIC AND ROUNDUP USAGE
sugar cane just before the harvest by spraying Autism is a condition characterized by cog-
them with Roundup is also becoming more and nitive and social deficits, which has been alarm-
more popular as a way to reduce the amount of ingly on the rise in the last decade. Some children
vegetation that needs to be cleared in prepara- seem to be born with the condition, while others
tion for planting next year’s crop. These two develop normally up to a certain point and then
changes in agricultural practices almost certainly begin regressing into autism. Autism is as-
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mean that Roundup is entering our food supply sociated with two comorbidities that may yield
in record amounts. And most homeowners are hints as to its underlying etiology: disrupted gut
likely careless in their use of Roundup to fight bacteria and impaired sulfur metabolism. A
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weeds on the lawn, due to a misconception that characteristic feature of children with autism is
it is nearly nontoxic. A recent study involved an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria in the gut,
sampling glyphosate in the urine of city-dwellers which can lead to neurological defects arising
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