Gluten is the protein found in grains such as wheat (also known as kamut), rye, spelt, barley and triticale. Celiac disease is a food allergy to gluten. When someone with celiac disease eats something with gluten, their immune system starts to attack the villi in their small intestine. This causes immediate problems such as bloating, gas and diarrhea and can eventually lead to malnourishment, loss of bone density, neurological diseases and certain types of cancers.
About 1 in 100 people (roughly 1%) have celiac disease in North America. However, 39% of people in North America have a self-diagnosed food sensitivity to wheat. Obviously, something doesn’t add up.
The vast majority of people with food sensitivities to wheat don’t actually have issues with gluten at all. I know this personally because I can go to Europe and eat bread with no issues, but a single cracker here in North America gives me major gastrointestinal distress. Most people with food sensitivities to wheat are actually sensitive to the herbicide Round Up sprayed on the crop.
In North America, wheat fields are drenched with Round Up several days before harvest as this practice allows for an earlier, easier and bigger harvest. When you expose wheat to a toxic chemical like glyphosate (the main ingredient in Round Up), it releases more seeds, resulting in a much greater crop yield. According to a 2012 study done by the US Department of Agriculture, 99% of durum wheat harvested in North America has been treated with Round Up.
So what’s the issue with Round Up? The World Health Organization’s cancer group recently classified Round Up as a probable carcinogen. The state of California has also recently classifiedthe herbicide as a probable carcinogen. Recent research has documented health concerns of Round Up such as it being an endocrine disruptor, that it kills beneficial gut bacteria, damages the DNA in human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells and is linked to birth defects and reproductive problems.
Glyphosate was discovered in urine samples at an average level of 3.096 parts per billion (PPB) during a 2015 public testing project conducted by the University of California San Francisco. Children had the highest levels with an average of 3.586 PPB. What’s terrifying is that research shows that Round Up can cause liver and kidney damage in rats at only 0.05 ppb.
The University also tested the glyphosate content of popular foods and found the following levels –
- General Mills’ Cheerios – 1,125.3 PPB
- Kashi soft-baked oatmeal dark chocolate cookies – 275.57 ppb
- Ritz Crackers – 270.24 ppb
“If consumers had any doubt about the extent to which they are being poisoned by Monsanto’s Round Up, these tests results should put those doubts to rest,” said Ronnie Cummins, international director of Organic Consumers Association.
The US environmental protection agency (EPA)set an acceptable daily intake (ADI) for glyphosate at 1.75 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight per day (mg/kg/bw/day). Nonprofit organizations have been lobbying that the API set by the EPA has been unduly influenced by industry as the European Union set the ADI for glyphosate at only 0.3 mg/kg/bw/day.
With all the health concerns of Round Up, why are farmers still using this herbicide? Money. Monsanto is making a killing off of all of this. Not only is Monsanto selling the farmers the Round Up, they are also selling the farmers Round Up Ready crop seeds. Roundup Ready crops are genetically modified to be resistant to the herbicide Roundup. Since the crops are resistant to Roundup, the herbicide can be used in the fields to eliminate unwanted foliage without effecting the crop being grown.
To make matters even worse, Roundup Ready crop seeds are often referred to as “terminator seeds” because the crops produced from Roundup Ready seeds are sterile. This means that farmers must purchase the most recent strain of seed from Monsanto each year. Farmers who buy seeds from Monsanto must also sign a contract that dictates how their crop is grown and forbids them from saving seeds.
With wheat being a publicly traded commodity, farmers really have no choice but to abide by Monsanto’s rules. There is no way they could price their grain competitively otherwise.