Below is a brief section from an interesting and frightful article from www.truthout.org about the most widely used herbicide in the world. I've seen hundreds of warning stories about Roundup™ but this one caught my attention — it seems especially well written. If you are at all interested in this, please read the whole article by following the link in the headline:
One Little Piggy Had Birth Defects
By Jeff Ritterman, M.D.Truthout | Op-Ed Friday, 08 August 2014
…
Glyphosate and Birth Defects
Glyphosate is a known teratogen, meaning
"monster-maker." Studies conducted on rats and rabbits since the
1980s have shown an astonishing spectrum of birth defects associated with
glyphosate, including absent kidneys, missing lobes of the lungs, enlarged
hearts, ventricular septal defects (holes in the heart), extra ribs, and
deformed and absent bones of the skull, spine, ribs, sternum and limbs.
But if birth defects in rats and rabbits have not been
enough to get our attention, we are now seeing high rates of spontaneous
abortion and birth defects in human infants born in areas where glyphosate is
being sprayed. This is particularly true in Argentina, Paraguay and other parts
of Latin America where GM acreage has increased significantly. A group of
researchers in Argentina noted alarmingly high rates of miscarriages and birth
defects in families living within meters of glyphosate spraying. They decided
to conduct a study with animals in the laboratory.
The scientists exposed frog and chicken embryos to
glyphosate. The herbicide caused birth defects in the embryos similar to those
seen in human infants. They were able to demonstrate that glyphosate attacks
the Vitamin A (retinoic acid) signaling pathway, which is crucial for normal
fetal development in vertebrates. Since the Vitamin A pathway is found in all
vertebrates, it is likely that the piglet birth defects, too, can be explained
by a glyphosate induced disturbance of this pathway during embryonic
development.
But, there's more.
Glyphosate's Role in Chronic Diseases
… continued
Yes, there's more and none of it is good. -J