New Study: Roundup could be linked to health issues

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around the increasing interest in organic farming and concerns about the health impacts of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide. A recent study published in the journal Entropy suggests a link between glyphosate and various health issues, including Parkinson's disease, infertility, and cancers, raising skepticism about the safety of conventional agriculture. Participants share personal experiences with organic gardening, emphasizing the benefits of avoiding pesticides and herbicides, while some express doubts about the validity of the study due to the journal's low impact factor and the authors' backgrounds. There are also discussions about the toxicity of surfactants used in glyphosate formulations, particularly polyethoxylated tallowamine (POEA), which may pose greater health risks than glyphosate itself. The conversation highlights a growing trend towards organic practices, alongside a critical examination of scientific studies related to agricultural chemicals.
Greg Bernhardt
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Anyone find themselves going more organic these days?

Heavy use of the world's most popular herbicide, Roundup, could be linked to a range of health problems and diseases, including Parkinson's, infertility and cancers, according to a new study.

The peer-reviewed report, published last week in the scientific journal Entropy, said evidence indicates that residues of "glyphosate," the chief ingredient in Roundup weed killer, which is sprayed over millions of acres of crops, has been found in food.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/roundup-herbicide-health-issues-disease_n_3156575.html

Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases
http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416
 
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If it is an important finding, why is it published in a journal with a (very) low impact factor of 1.183? And why in the journal Entropy and not something related to the field of study? Maybe it's a conclusion that's already widely published, or their conclusions are not supported enough? With such a publication I'm skeptical.
 
Greg Bernhardt said:
Anyone find themselves going more organic these days?
For years. When my wife and I bought this property, we rehabilitated that expanse of clay and rock (garden) that the previous owner had sprayed relentlessly. Since then, I have bucketed in and tilled cow manure and compost into the soil. No pesticides nor herbicides.

If there are bugs we deal with them manually, if there are weeds, we pull them. We try to keep this property as welcome to birds as possible, so they will help with the bugs. A pair of common yellow throats will eat a LOT of bugs, so we don't have to pick them off. It's so nice to see the birds patrolling the tomato and pepper plants, eating the insect pests. Phoebes also do a bang-up job on flying insects - especially when their nestlings are hungry.

We tend not to buy organic produce, since it is expensive and there is no way to verify that the vegetables are truly organic, but we save as much produce as we can in our chest freezers, and I can (preserve) stuff like tomatoes and other vegetables that don't freeze well. Need onions, green peppers, jalapenos, green beans, etc? Head right for the freezers. Need tomatoes for sauces? Head for the pantry. No need to buy them at the store. It has worked out really well. We grow a lot of garlic, and it keeps well in our cold cellar. Root vegetables (carrots, beets, etc) don't keep as well, so we have seasonal ups and downs with those, but that's OK.
 
Monique said:
If it is an important finding, why is it published in a journal with a (very) low impact factor of 1.183? And why in the journal Entropy and not something related to the field of study? Maybe it's a conclusion that's already widely published, or their conclusions are not supported enough? With such a publication I'm skeptical.
I'm also skeptical

Viewing Stephanie Seneff's page, she's a Computer Scientist. Her co-author is a retired consultant on environmental issues.

From her page
Seneff has published 9 articles in the medical and biochemistry research literature since 2011 on her novel ideas regarding environmental toxins, metabolism, and modern diseases

Note: Entropy is an Open Access journal that is willing to publish novel hypotheses regarding biochemical and biophysical phenomena, which can help the community break out of its current straitjacketed research paradigm.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/
 
I call BS - Roundup is supposed to cause all of these?

The pathologies to which glyphosate
could plausibly contribute, through its known biosemiotic effects, include inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, depression, ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, multiple sclerosis, cancer, cachexia, infertility, and developmental malformations.

there is no actual research in the paper - no double blind studies, just conjecture and pasting together a data from bunch of dubious sources
 
Greg Bernhardt said:
Anyone find themselves going more organic these days?



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/roundup-herbicide-health-issues-disease_n_3156575.html

Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases
http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416



Studies like this make me believe "organicism" is a psuedoscience. They already have predetermined conclusions (organic = good, anything non-organic = poison) and they warp their evidence accordingly.

Their deliberate bypassing of any worthwhile peer review makes me suspect this was mostly for the consumption of the scientifically illiterate masses, who see a very real looking study and assume this is the real deal.
 
On the other hand, I'd expect all pesticides/herbicides to be harmful to my health, which is why I would wash my food before eating it...

Please don't turn to the Dark Side, Greg. I don't care if they have cookies, it's a trap!
 
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russ_watters said:
On the other hand, I'd expect all pesticides/herbicides to be harmful to my health, which is why I would wash my food before eating it...

Yeah I always wonder how to wash produce or is a quick rinse with water good enough?
 
I always wash it thoroughly. Organically-grown produce, rice and pulses as well. You don't know how it was grown or who touched it. There have been cases of food poisoning from parsley contaminated with salmonella or E. coli. Things like lemons I always wash with a scourer and detergent when I want to zest it.
 
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  • #10
I buy only organic food and stay strictly away from inorganic food.

I have gotten some strange looks from the produce dept when I ask after the inorganic bananas!
 
  • #11
A lot of recent studies indicate that the surfactant used in Roundup is much more toxic than the glyphosate.

One specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA, was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than the herbicide itself – a finding the researchers call “astonishing.”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=weed-whacking-herbicide-p

It is called an inert ingredient because it doesn't perform any chemical function when it comes to killing weeds. It certainly isn't inert.

Edit.

Bear in mind that Monsanto's studies were done in the 1990's. There are more and more much recent studies.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx800218n
 
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  • #12
edward said:
A lot of recent studies indicate that the surfactant used in Roundup is much more toxic than the glyphosate.



http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=weed-whacking-herbicide-p

It is called an inert ingredient because it doesn't perform any chemical function when it comes to killing weeds. It certainly isn't inert.
Doctors there examined patients who drank Roundup, either intentionally or accidentally, and determined that their sicknesses and deaths were due to POEA, not glyphosate.
Oh dear, I'm going to have to stop drinking it.
 
  • #13
aquitaine said:
Studies like this make me believe "organicism" is a psuedoscience. They already have predetermined conclusions (organic = good, anything non-organic = poison) and they warp their evidence accordingly.

Their deliberate bypassing of any worthwhile peer review makes me suspect this was mostly for the consumption of the scientifically illiterate masses, who see a very real looking study and assume this is the real deal.

Did you bother to download and read the entire 48 page PDF. The scientific illiterate masses wouldn't be capable of understanding it. What was published in Entropy was a study that contained information gathered by a compilation of a number of studies.
 
  • #14
Evo said:
Oh dear, I'm going to have to stop drinking it.

:smile:

The dose makes the poison.

-- Paracelsus, circa 1530
 
  • #15
  • #18
OCR said:
We did, edward... :approve:




We sure can.



OCR... :wink:

:approve:
 

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