New study suggests that Monsanto’s popular weedkiller Roundup is linked to fatal kidney disease (CKDu)
According to a new study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s best selling herbicide ‘Roundup’ could be linked to fatal chronic kidney disease that has been affecting poor farming regions around the globe.
Researchers suggest that the active ingredient in Roundup known as glyphosate is toxic on its own, but not toxic enough to cause fatal kidney disease. However, according to RT, researchers have discovered that glyphosate becomes highly toxic when mixed with ‘hard’ water or heavy metals like arsenic or cadmium that naturally exists within the soil or it’s added as fertilizer. Keep in mind that hard water contains metals such as calcium, magnesium, strontium, and iron, among others including bicarbonate, carbonate, sulphate and chlorides.
This might explain why in some poor regions like Sri Lanka there has been a strong coloration between consumption of hard water and mysterious fatal Chronic Kidney Disease (CKDu):
Fatal Chronic Kidney Disease (CKDu) in both Sri Lanka, and in El Salvador, is the second leading cause of death among males. According to the new study, researchers have discovered that 96% of the patients who had CKDu have been consuming “hard or very hard water for at least five years, from wells that receive their supply from shallow regolith aquifers.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been recording the deadly string of chronic kidney disease (CKD) outbreaks since it first struck farmers in the 1990s and estimates that more than 20,000 workers in Central America alone have died as a result of increase in CKD.
CKDu did first occur 20 years ago, in rice farms of northern Sri Lanka. Since then, the Fatal Chronic Kidney Disease has spread out so quickly that it now affects 15% of working age people in the region, or a total number of 400,000 patients. So far, 20,000 people or more have died from CKDu in there.
According to researchers, CKDu does not carry common risk factors of chronic kidney disease, such as kidney inflammation, diabetes, high blood pressure and glomerular nephritis. So, in 2009, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health introduced new criteria for CKDu that did not include past history of diabetes, glomerulonephritis, or high blood pressure.
Considering all the geographical and socioeconomical factors associated with CKDu, researchers assumed that CKDu is a form of toxic nephropathy that’s linked to the environmental and occupational hazard – in this care contact from the chemicals.
The new study also suggests that previously, the World Health Organization had discovered that CKDu is caused by chronic exposure to arsenic, cadmium, pesticides and other factors such as consumption of hard water, low water intake and exposure to high temperatures.
No answers were found at the time on why CKDu did not occur before the mid-1990s. However, the new study points out that the political changes in Sri Lanka, in the late 1970s did lead to large application of agrochemicals and use of Glyphosate, especially in rice farming:
In a study published in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, the researchers tested Roundup on human’s cells and they found that one of the “insert” ingredients used as surfactant in Roundup called “polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA”, can significantly increase the toxic effect of “glyphosate”. There are also other toxic chemical compounds used in Roundup such as “5-Chloro-2-methyl 3(2H)-isothiazolone and 3-Iodo-2-propynyl butyl carbamate” and they are all linked to many health issues including infertility, allergies, genetic damage, cancer and thyroid problems.
Keep in mind that Roundup was introduced in 1970s; however researchers believe that the 12 to 15 years of cumulative exposure to low concentration of compounds (that could severely damage the kidneys) could have led to birth of the new fatal kidney disease known as CKDu by the mid-90s.
According to researchers, the incriminating agent or the hypothesized Compound "X" should have one or more of the following characteristics:
>> The compound should be made of chemicals that have recently been introduced (in the last 20 to 30 years)
>> The compound should have the ability to form stable complexes with hard water
>> The compound should be capable of capturing and retaining nephrotoxic metals like arsenic and should be able to deliver them to kidneys
>> The compound should be capable of multiple routes of exposure, like ingestion and skin or respiratory absorption.
All the above criteria pointed out to glyphosate that’s widely used in Sri Lanka. Researchers also found out there are different ways to be exposed to glyphosate-metal complexes (GMCs) such as consuming contaminated food, hard water or complexes that could be formed when it comes to direct contact with glyphosate. In addition, the study suggests that exposure to GMCs could result in severe liver and kidney toxicity or even death. Therefore, farmers around the globe, especially in countries like El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and India are high risk of exposure to GMCs through inhalation, drinking water or skin absorption.
According to reports by the Center for Public Integrity, in the last five years, CKDu is responsible for more deaths in El Salvador and Nicaragua than diabetes, AIDS, and leukemia combined.
Monsanto, DuPont and their biotech buddies are bunch of corporate criminals killing farmers and shoving ‘Frankenfoods’ down our throat:
Beside all the health risks associated with Roundup, the sales of the popular weed killer have skyrocketed after Monsanto introduced a series of GM crops that were resistant to Glyphosate. Now Roundup makes up for more than 60% of the company’s income. Thanks to giant biotech Monsanto, glyphosate is now everywhere, even in the air that we breaths, the food that we eat and the water that we drink.
Roundup is now commonly used in public parks, school yards and home gardens. In U.S. alone, homeowners and farmers use about 100 million pounds of Roundup herbicide every single year. At the same time, weeds are becoming more resistant to Roundup, so farmers are using more and more chemicals to deal with super-pests and super-weeds. From 1994 to 2005, the use of glyphosate has increased by 1,500 percent.
Have you noticed that even grass beneath your feet isn’t real grass anymore? In fact, the green color of the grass doesn’t look real anymore and the grass in your favorite park stays green for the entire year. Most of them are Monsanto’s grass and even homeowners use Roundup to control weed like ‘Quackgrass’ in their backyard.
Sources:
http://rt.com/news/monsanto-roundup-kidney-disease-921/
