Glyphosate Threat for Autism, ADHD —
& the Building Blocks for Human Health
Mindd Foundation
Is there a definite link between Autism, ADHD and Glyphosate?
A growing body of experts believe that glyphosate (an organophosphate in herbicides like Round-Up and a proven contributor to non-Hodgkins Lymphoma) is implicated in a long list of health conditions due to its harmful impact on the building blocks of human health. These experts include Dr Stefanie Seneff of MIT, Dr Zak Bush of the University of Virginia and Dr Oscar Coetzee of the University of Bridgeport.
Although there is no definitive study proving this hypothesis “beyond any doubt”, there are numerous scientific research papers and studies that have strongly linked glyphosate with harming human health beyond non-Hodgkins Lymphoma which was proven in a California court in 2018.
The potential damage to human health calls for public education to mitigate the epidemic in chronic illness.
Glyphosate disrupts the building blocks of human health
Dr Stephanie Seneff, a Senior Research Scientist at MIT believes “glyphosate will go down in history as the worst synthetic chemical this planet has ever faced, as a consequence of its perceived non-toxicity to humans and its massive use in agriculture and on people’s lawns with careless handling due to lack of awareness of its insidious, cumulative toxicity. “
Dr. Seneff sees a strong link between glyphosate and the epidemic of chronic illness that has skyrocketed over the past 2 decades that includes autism, ADHD, alzheimers, dementia, chronic fatigue, cancer and a long list of auto-immune diseases. She sees several mechanisms at play;
- disruption of uptake ad transport of essential minerals such as copper, zinc, phosphorous, selenium, iron, molybdenum both through chelating minerals from the plant as well as disrupting uptake of minerals in the human body
- impaired sulfate supply to the tissue which compromises our ability to detoxify – a key component of glyphosate’s toxicity to humans.
- inhibiting enzyme function responsible for thousands of vital biological functions throughout the body in all organ systems
- impacting on mood-regulating hormones like dopamine and tryptophan
- damaging the gut microbiome which weakens the immune system and causes “leaky gut” and “leaky brain” which in turn drives hundreds of digestive, immune and neurological conditions including food allergies and gluten intolerance.
- “altering the balance between pathogens and beneficial biota in the gut” or “gut dysbiosis” which leads to the proliferation of harmful opportunistic infections like Clostridia Difficile, Bacteroides, Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Strep, Canndida
But the greatest harm Dr Seneff sees in glyphosate is its ability to insert itself in protein chains as a substitute for glycine which disrupts the shikimate pathway (among many other resulting problems). She calls this a slow poisoning, “an insidious and accumulative mechanism of toxicity” that results in various acute illnesses depending on what protein chain it disrupts and the state of the individual’s microbiome.
ASD, children’s health and the glyphosate threat
Childhood Autism, ADHD, allergies, asthma, anxiety have all risen at alarming levels in the past 20 years, a time that corresponds to the increased use of glyphosate.
Between 1974 and 2014 over 1.6 billion kilograms of glyphosate have been applied to US soil, representing 19% of total world consumption. In 2014, .8 pounds of glyphosate was used per acre of crop. Glyphosate use globally has risen almost 15-fold since “Roundup Ready” genetically engineered, glyphosate-tolerant crops were introduced in 1996. (Trends in glyphosate herbicide use in the United States and globally, Charles M Benbrooks)
A 2018 report by the Ecological Society of Australia stated that 15,000 tons of glyphosate is used in Australia per annum. A 2018 report from Carex Canada says over 176 products contained glyphosate (34 registered for domestic use) and an average of 25,000,000 kg of “active ingredient” per annum.
While the U.S. and Australian Governments are not testing glyphosate levels in foods, the Canadian Government did so at the urging of Tony Mitra (author of Poisoned Foods of North America) and found high levels of glyphosate in hundreds of different crops including wheat, soy, corn, sugar, canola, lentils.
The use of glyphosate has increased significantly since Monsanto introduced genetically-modified “round-up ready” foods. As a result, a common farming practice is to douse all crops (but especially GM crops) with large amounts of herbicide as a desiccant that enables them to kill and harvest the crop more efficiently. The Canadian study actually found higher levels of glyphosate in non-GMO foods which means that they are not necessarily pesticide/herbicide free and therefore organic is the gold standard.
Unfortunately, glyphosate is found at high levels in many of the foods that children love including cereals, crackers, pasta and bread. So the majority of children are exposed to poisonous and nutrient-deplete food at every meal.
With such widespread use, it is no surprise that researchers have found glyphosate in the breast milk of mothers which makes preconception care essential including an organic diet, an effective water filter and working with an Integrative practitioner who can help support the body’s natural ability to detoxify.
Supporting gut health, immune health and brain health
Education in accurate science is the first step to finding solutions to our epidemic of brain-immuno-gut conditions. With a deep knowledge of glyphosate’s damaging effects, Dr Seneff offers some important solutions;
- eat certified organic foods
- eat fermented foods that help restore the microbiome and heal the gut
- take 2 shots of apple cider vinegar daily which “breaks down glyphosate completely” in your body
- eat Sulphur-rich foods and mineral-rich foods like sea salt
- enjoy Epsom Salt baths rich in sulphur
- supplement with fulvic and humic acid (Dr Kruger) -bentanite clay, sauerkraut juice
Cleaning up the Glyphosate Threat
Dr Oscar Coetzee toured Australia in December 2018 where he trained Integrative Medicine practitioners. Based on his clinical experience he discussed the dangers of Glyphosate. The video below and transcript notes offer some of his presentation highlights.
Dr Oscar Coetzee, PhD and Clinical Nutritionist is the Clinical Director of the Natural Health Center in Long Branch, New Jersey. He has a master’s degree in human nutrition from the University of Bridgeport, a PhD in holistic nutrition from Clayton College of New Hampshire, and a Doctor of Clinical Nutrition (DCN)
Dr Oscar Coetzee: the Glyphosate threat to human health
Dr Oscar Coetzee talks about Glyphosate, how it’s been abused in the world for many years, and its negative effects on the building blocks of our health.
Excerpts from the Video Transcript…
Glyphosate is interesting, it’s been abused in the world for many, many years. I believe it is pretty radically used in Australia, now.
The Glyphosate problem – it is water-soluble…
Since 2006 I believe Australia started buying Glyphosate from China and using it in radical amounts. The problem with Glyphosate is that it is a chemical or an organophosphate that is water-soluble so, it tends to go everywhere.
Mineral depletion in the food supply
Glyphosate is a chelating agent so it pulls metals out of just about everything. It pulls all the minerals that people need for their health out of the food supplies so people are finding fewer and fewer minerals in their food. Therefore, they cannot have the building blocks for health.
And, the biggest problem with it is the fact that we’re using it as a desiccant, so that means that we’re spraying these pesticides on foods that we want to harvest earlier because we want to get the food out to the world quicker or, enhance profit and, that is putting that organophosphate on our food supply and, that is a really disastrous issue.
Glyphosate is pulling minerals out of our food supply
01:15 What are we doing about the Glyphosate exposure currently? There’s some research, in the U.S. done by Dr Zack Bush where he has used a lignite extract that has been helpful but, we really don’t know what to do with it at this particular point. The only way that you can really compensate for this is, whatever you’re lacking you have to substitute because it is pulling minerals out of the system.
Proper supplementation may compensate for nutrition loss
01:37 It’s also affecting the aromatic amino acids and these aromatic amino acids are the tryptophans and the tyrosines that convert to dopamine and serotonin so, once again, the only way that you can really compensate for some of that stuff at this particular point is proper supplementation.
01:52 As far as pulling all the Glyphosate out of the world and the food supply and the water and the shower water, we’re looking at a bigger issue there. We don’t really have the answers on that, which is kind of a scary thought but, at this particular point that’s really what we know, including up the act, you know, staying away from the foods that are being sprayed with the product as a desiccant, eat as much organic as you can because it’s helpful.
Glyphosate tests positive in most patients
02:15 We’ve run some Glyphosate tests in my office on patients and, everybody tested positive, there are levels of it but, it’s pretty much out there for all of us at this point.
I work with a tremendous amount of intestinal permeability cases where, if you clean up the diet, try and get them away from as many of glyphosate-containing foods as you can and then you give them supplementation of a reasonably aggressive dose, you definitely can see improvement in those cases most of the time.
Integrative practitioners deal with intestinal permeability
02:42 Intestinal permeability is something I think any kind of integrative practitioners is working with today. I think it is because we are the only people that people come to for answers, because nobody can figure it out, because it’s chronic and you can’t point the finger at exactly what it is but, in clinical practice, on a daily basis, if I have to say that there’s one particular case that stands out, there isn’t, because I’m working with so many IBS cases and IBD cases and, from a foundational standpoint, the only thing that I can say is, in my own opinion, I feel there are levels of intestinal permeability and that’s not really been written about or published much.
03:24 I believe that if I look at my patient base, some patients react to everything that they eat, even real, good quality food, and that’s a severely permeable person because even the antioxidant reach in healthy and healing foods are actually causing an inflammatory response that’s so strong in that person’s body that they actually have a negative reaction to it.
Dietary intervention to improve nutritional intake can help
In those particular cases, it’s very, very slow, progressive steps. Some people, when you just remove the Glyphosate, the herbicides and the desiccant sprayed or, over-sprayed food groups, you see improvement immediately because, if they’re not severely compromised then those aromatic amino acids start to convert properly, they’re starting to get the minerals and the vitamins back in the food supply and into their systems and, they can absorb it again and, that’s obviously the level one in permeability in my opinion.
Additional Functional Tests may be relevant
04:14 When I get severely permeable patients, I’ll actually do some additional testing. Apart from the GI-Map Test where we’re looking at the biome, I will also do intercellular nutrient testing. I will do organic acid testing because I want to determine which of the pathways are being affected from the energy standpoint, I want to look at what your intercellular status is of Glutathione and Vitamin C and Vitamin B6 and so, it becomes a very individualized case at that particular point.
Mineral deficiencies can lead to other conditions
04:42 What we generally see are most of the important minerals being depleted. We see a tremendous amount of iron deficiency, anemia in people that use a lot of the Glyphosate products because, I know people are always pointing the finger at gluten and on I’m a big believe in Dr Fasono’s research in gluten but, if you look at some of the research of some of the more published people in Glyphosate, you’ll see that they actually have the same Villi atrophy from Glyphosate use in other products that you get from gluten and celiac disease.
Prescriptive considerations
05:13 As far as what I use for these people? Well, anything that you can put your hands onto that they deficient in. So, clearly, we give them the B complex that we use. I’m a big, big, big promoter and all people, not just people with intestinal permeability. Berberine is useful when it comes to any kind of glucose regulation and insulin control and lipidemia issues. The Liposomal Glutathione is something that I use all the time because I believe that a very overlooked aspect of health in our world is the over abuse of alcohol and, alcohol has a tendency to deplete one of the major antioxidants in the body called, Glutathione so, the Liposomal Glutathione is definitely something that I utilize.
05:58 Alcohol is one of the biggest creators and irritators of permeability. A very unknown fact but, if you drink excessively, it actually causes tight-junction permeability.
Video Source: Live interview with Dr Oscar Coetzee, December 2018, Sydney Australia
Studies on ASD and the Glyphosate Threat
From the studies mentioned above:
- Is there a link between autism and glyphosate-formulated herbicides? 2016
Authors James E. Beecham1 and Stephanie Seneff2*
Here the authors stated:
‘This paper presents a hypothesis that glyphosate exposure in utero can cause developmental defects leading to autism due in part to impaired thyroid function in the mother and in the foetus.’
‘Many different factors have purported to be linked to autism. These have included, among others, genetic factors, iodine deficiency, vitamin D deficiency, and toxic exposures to a variety of substances, including lead, mercury, aluminium, thimerosal, fluoride, particulate matter in air pollution, to name a few. Whether, and to what magnitude, glyphosate/GFH have a place on the list is still debatable.’ - Clostridium Bacteria and Autism Spectrum Conditions: A Systematic Review and Hypothetical Contribution of Environmental Glyphosate Levels 2018
Authors Argou-Cardozo I, Zeidán-Chuliá F
Here the authors asked:
‘Is there an interrelation between clostridium bacteria colonization of the intestinal tract and the neurological symptoms associated with ASD patients?”
Their conclusions stated:
The results of the present systematic review demonstrate an association between Clostridium bacteria colonization of the intestinal tract and ASD. In addition, we also postulate about how environmental GLY levels may deleteriously influence the gut-brain axis by boosting the growth of Clostridium bacteria in these patients. - Prenatal and infant exposure to ambient pesticides and autism spectrum disorder in children: population-based case-control study June 25, 2019
Their conclusions stated:
Findings suggest that an offspring’s risk of autism spectrum disorder increases following prenatal exposure to ambient pesticides within 2000 m of their mother’s residence during pregnancy, compared with offspring of women from the same agricultural region without such exposure. Infant exposure could further increase risks for autism spectrum disorder with co-morbid intellectual disability.
Further References and Research
Prenatal and infant exposure to ambient pesticides and autism spectrum disorder in children: a population-based case-control study
BMJ 2019; 364 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l962 (Published 20 March 2019)
https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l962
Is there a link between autism and glyphosate-formulated herbicides?
James E. Beecham1 and Stephanie Seneff2*
MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
Clostridium Bacteria and Autism Spectrum Conditions: A Systematic Review and Hypothetical Contribution of Environmental Glyphosate Levels
Isadora Argou-Cardozo and Fares Zeidán-Chuliá
Study Says 50% of Children in US Will Be Born With Autism by 2025
MIT Research Glyphosate Herbicide Will Cause Half of All Children to Have Autism by 2025. (2017) http://winewaterwatch.org/2018/04/mit-researcher-glyphosate-herbicide-will-cause-half-of-all-children-to-have-autism-by-2025/
Research Contributions
Dr Coetzee’s insights and additional research from Mindd Health Partner: Designs for Health
