by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

Lawsuits are now beginning in the United States against Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, the number one herbicide in the world used in modern agriculture. The active ingredient glyphosate, found in most of our foods, has been linked to cancer by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

As reported by EcoWatch, four Nebraskan agricultural workers have now filed a lawsuit against Monsanto Co. alleging that Roundup gave them non-Hodgkin lymphoma after many years of exposure. The plaintiffs have also accused Monsanto of purposely misleading consumers about the safety of its agricultural product, which contains glyphosate as its main ingredient.

The plaintiffs allege that Monsanto mislabeled the product in defiance of the “body of recognized scientific evidence linking the disease to exposure to Roundup.”

The plaintiffs in the case are farmers Larry Domina and Robert Dickey both of Cedar County, York County farmer Royce Janzen and Dodge County agronomist Frank Pollard, the Lincoln Journal Star reported. They are represented by Omaha-based Domina Law Group and New York-based Weitz & Luxembourg.

Glyphosate Found in All European Parliament Members’ Urine

Image source from Twitter.

Could this be the beginning of many more lawsuits? Glyphosate is so prevalent in our food supply, that virtually everyone is affected by it. EcoWatch reports that last month members of the European Parliament (MEPs) volunteered to take a urine test to see if glyphosate was in their system. Forty-eight MEPs from 13 different European Union countries participated in the test, and according to ELISA test results from the accredited Biocheck Laboratory in Germany:

All participants excreted glyphosate by urine.

Depth of Glyphosate Pollution Currently in the U.S.

Glyphosate is used so heavily in the U.S. that it has been found in human breast milk, feeding tube liquids given to babies and children with cancer in hospitals, and 75% of the air and rain samples tested in the Mississippi delta region.

In 2014, Tropical Traditions tested some of the USDA certified organic products they were selling, and found glyphosate residue in organic food as well. They have now begun testing all of their products for the presence of glyphosate.

Other Glyphosate Links to Disease

Besides links between glyphosate and cancer, glyphosate has been linked to autism (see: MIT Researcher: Glyphosate Herbicide will Cause Half of All Children to Have Autism by 2025), gluten intolerance and allergies, destroying the microbiome, antibiotic resistant bacteria, kidney disease, and infertility.

To learn more about the dangers of glyphosate see:

Is Glyphosate Responsible for your Health Problems?

Glyphosate Herbicide Causes Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, Kidney Disease, and Infertility

EPA “Trade Secret” Sealed Files Reveal Cancer Link with Glyphosate was Known Back in the 1970s

As Health Impact News reported last year, Dr. Anthony Samsel obtained documents from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that allegedly show Monsanto knew about research connecting glyphosate to cancer since the 1970s.

Dr. Samsel is a research scientist and consultant who has been studying the toxicity of glyphosate, the world’s most prevalent herbicide used in commercial agriculture on GMO crops, for many years now. He has authored several papers with Dr. Stephanie Seneff on the toxicity of glyposate, including:

• Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff. “Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases III: Manganese, neurological diseases, and associated pathologies.” Surgical Neurology International 2015, 6:45.
• Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff, ” Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance.” Interdiscip Toxicol. 2013; 6(4): 159-184.
• Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff, “Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases” Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1416-1463; doi:10.3390/e15041416

Dr. Samsel states that glyphosate is not a “probable” carcinogen, but it is a carcinogen, based on studies that were hidden for years as they were classified as “trade secrets.” Here is a trailer for an interview he did on this subject:

Listen to the entire interview here.

More information about Glyphosate.

The Healthy Traditions Glyphosate-tested Program. Foods with this logo have been tested for the presence of glyphosate.