Is Glyphosate hazardous?

Glyphosate is a herbicide used by farmers, in a bid to kill off weed, but it is not selective. It kills any plants in its way whether it is weed or food. Once it comes in contact with the plant, it stops it from creating some proteins that are necessary for its growth.

Glyphosate prevents a certain type of enzyme pathway, which is christened, the shikimic acid pathway. It is commonly seen in herbicides like Roundup.

Why is Glyphosate bad?

Glyphosate may be great for destroying weeds, but it comes with its fair share of problems. The world health organization (WHO) has ranked glyphosate as a carcinogen but can also cause the following.

ADHD

Those farming communities that use herbicides containing glyphosate like Roundup are known to have a greater chance of having ADHD because glyphosate is known to affect thyroid hormone functions.

Alzheimer’s disease

When glyphosate was tested in the lab, it was noticed that it showed similar neural cell death seen in ailments like Alzheimer’s disease.

Anencephaly (birth defect)

A research was done on women that live close to farms that were applied with glyphosate, and it was noticed that they had the tendency of giving birth to kids with neural tube defects.

Cancer

There have been strong calls for the banning of herbicides that contain glyphosate because of its ability to cause cancer. It is currently ranked as a carcinogen, meaning that those who live close to farms that use glyphosate are at risk of suffering from cancer.

Autism

There have been controversial arguments that link glyphosate with autism. Some say that the toxic side effects of glyphosate mirrors that of autism, others will argue that there is no connection. The safest bet is to avoid it altogether if possible.

How Does Glyphosate End Up In Our Food?

Glyphosate, since it is used in making herbicides, sometimes finds itself on crops grown in farms that used such herbicides. If the grocery store you patronize, buys their food items from a farm that makes use of glyphosate, there is a great chance that the food contains traces of it.

Where is Glyphosate found?

Glyphosate is found in herbicides, especially Roundup, and is known to be very strong. Since it is not naturally occurring in any food, it gets in contact with foods when they are spread with the herbicide.

Not only that, some farmers are known to make use of Glyphosate in Roundup as a desiccant, a means of drying out every crop to ensure that harvesting can be done quickly.

Currently, glyphosate is also sprayed on some non-GMO crops like dry beans, soybeans, lentils, oats, barley, wheat, and even canola.

Alternatives to Glyphosate

Not surprisingly natural and earth-friendly weed killer exists. If you have a home garden and want to keep the weed out without spraying glyphosate on your plant, alternatives exist. High potency vinegar is one option. Check out the options here.

How Can You Recognize and avoid Glyphosate?

Since there is no label that shows you that food was grown using glyphosate, it won’t be a bad idea to either grow your food or patronize organic farmers and stores.