Mike Barrett
NaturalSociety
October 24, 2011

About 6 months ago pesticides were once again recognized by the mainstream media for the destruction they are causing to plants, animals, the environment, and humans, but some people may not have heard this news. The report revealed a further connection between the top selling herbicide Roundup and its causing of birth defects and disruption of male hormones due to the main active ingredient – glyphosate.

Andres Carrasco, chief scientist at the National Council for Sciences and also head of the molecular Embryology Lab at the University of Buenos Aires, once again proved the connection between glyphosate and birth defects. The ingredient found in Roundup has been shown to cause cyclopia (a single eye on the forehead), infertility, stillbirths, miscarriages, and cancer.

After Carrasco was run down by a mob after presenting his findings, he stated:

“I didn’t discover anything new. I just confirmed what other scientists discovered. In spite of the evidence, they still tried to run down 30 years of my reputation as a scientist. …. They know they can’t cover up the sun with one hand. There is scientific proof and, above all, there are hundreds of affected towns [that] are a living evidence of this public health emergency.”

The Effects of Roundup and Glyphosate Have Been Known for Decades 

Carrasco was right, he didn’t discover anything new regarding Roundup and glyphosate and there harmful effects. In fact, it has been known for decades that glyphosate is responsible for birth defects. It was known as early as the 1980′s by industry and EU regulators that Roundup caused birth defects, but they simply failed to inform the public of such findings. A special report even shows that the industry’s own studies (including one commissioned by Monsanto) make it very clear that Roundup and glyphosate cause birth defects in laboratory animals.

Not only has the  pesticide industry known this information for decades, but none of the information was made public, with glyphosate even being deemed as ‘safe’. The EU commission signed off on the current approval of glyphosate with full knowledge that the ingredients causes malformations. What’s worse is that the birth defects caused by Roundup and glyphosate can be triggered with extremely low doses of the pesticide – much lower than the amount sprayed on crops.

Reduce Pesticide Exposure

It is unfortunate that pesticides are being used so rampantly in agriculture. Millions are spent each year on pesticides in order to rid the soil of weeds while at the same time food crops are being genetically modified to withstand extreme amount of pesticide exposure. This extremely irresponsible type of agriculture is leading to the creation of superweeds which require a huge amount of pesticide spray to be killed due to built up resistance. At the same time, the incredible amount of pesticides being sprayed is also being sprayed on the crops and is traveling through the air, affecting other farmers and sometimes organic crops.

The easiest thing to do to avoid pesticide exposure is to eat organic crops since they are not tainted with pesticides. You should also check on the Environmental Working Group‘s guide to pesticides for their ‘dirty doze’ report to see which fruits possess the highest amounts of pesticides. They also provide a ‘clean 15′ to show the top 15 least contaminated fruits and vegetables. Some other things you can do is rinse fruits and vegetables under filtered or purified water and scrub produce with hard surfaces such as melon or cucumbers with a brush.

Explore More:

1. Explosive: Monsanto ‘Knowingly Poisoned Workers’ Causing Devastating Birth Defects
2. Birth Defects Caused by World’s Top-Selling Weedkiller, Scientists Say
3. Persistent Organic Pollutants Could Lead to Birth Defects in Half of All Newborns
4. Second-hand Smoke Could Actually Cause Birth Defects
5. Monsanto’s Best-Selling Herbicide Roundup Linked to Infertility
6. Monsanto’s Roundup Shown to be Ravaging Butterfly Population