How Does Glyphosate Affect Your Health?

When Monsanto introduced glyphosate in the 1960s, it was considered a miracle chemical. It eliminated weeds without harming the crops, how could it cause any damage? Now, almost 50 years later, mankind is finally realizing the devastating health and environmental impacts this probable carcinogen, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, has caused.

Many places around the world are winning the fight against glyphosate. A California judge just ruled that Monsanto will be required to include a warning that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen on their best-selling product, Roundup. Unfortunately misinformation is proliferating the use of these toxic synthetic pesticides elsewhere, especially across the developing world, and many populations are being affected.

For example, in Argentina, between 2002 and 2008, the number of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers produced in the country increased by 48%, 75% of these synthetics are herbicides like Roundup. Now, in areas surrounding the 30 million hectares of cultivated land, there are reports of unprecedented levels of sickness ranging from cancer, chronic diseases, deformities and miscarriages. Damián Verzeñassi, the Director of Social Environmental Health at the National University of Rosario in Argentina, took his students to investigate communities smaller than 10,000 people in more rural areas of Argentina. What they found was that people in these smaller villages – no matter the location in Argentina – were not dying of cardiovascular diseases, like the majority of Argentinians in urban locations, but from cancer. This, compounded with the facts that 80% of these areas were located less than half a mile from cultivated areas and that over half of all cases of cancer in the past quarter century have occurred in the last five years, brings to light a very scary conclusion: these synthetics can cause cancer, and fast!

According to the Argentinian National Institute of Cancer, the average incidence of cancer in 2012 was 217 per 100,000 inhabitants, whereas in the data taken by Verzeñassi, that number was 397.4. What can be done?

There are cost-effective and much safer ways to safely produce enough food for the world. One natural way is neem. Neem’s unique compound azadirachtin is extremely effective at repelling pests and protecting crops, while while being 100% natural! The best part? Neem is non-toxic to non-target animals such as pollinators, humans, and the environment! Without all of the toxic chemical runoff, communities such as these in Argentina that rely on food production for their livelihood can continue to thrive and flourish without worrying about the potential fatal health risks from synthetic chemicals.