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Paul, owner of Amour Wine Bistro in Richmond, Virginia, forbade the use of cell phones at his beloved dining spot. (Paul is French.) He maintained that “gluten allergies” were really a reaction to a pesticide, glyphosate, applied to the fields of wheat used to make bread. It is now also thought probable that intensive exposure to glyphosate can cause Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been reluctant to study the evidence. We took a closer look.

Glyphosate kills plants by penetrating their cells and disrupting the biochemical shikimate pathway where the growth process takes place. People initially thought that since mammal cells have no shikimate pathway, glyphosate was safe for humans. Humans DO have bacteria, archaea, and fungi in our guts, however, and these have shikimate pathways. When some beneficial bacteria die after exposure to glyphosate residues, our gut microbiome may develop too much harmful bacteria, creating dysbiosis.

Gut dysbiosis is a factor in faulty immune response and other health (and mental health) problems, and its symptoms – gas, bloating, etc, – could be mistaken for gluten intolerance, though only a medical evaluation can say for sure. Still, glyphosate-caused gut dysbiosis seems a plausible explanation for the “ballooning” number of wheat-related indigestion cases in the United States.

Without wanting to enter into a debate for experts, everyone should know at least three things about glyphosate:

Farmers spread 280 million pounds of glyphosate on 298 million acres of cropland in the U.S. in a recent year.

Between 1999 and 2010, an estimated 58% of milkweed died off on the North American Midwest where “Roundup Ready” genetically modified crops are grown.Reproduction among monarch butterflies declined an estimated 81% over the same period – a loss tied to the disappearance of milkweed as host to their caterpillars – according to a study by Iowa State University and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation Biology of the University of Minnesota, Saint Paul.

A 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that 81% of Americans over age six have exposure to glyphosate. Agricultural workers have much more, of course.

The rest of us can help (and potentially avoid gut dysbiosis) by choosing organically grown grains. Organic practices such as crop rotation and diversification generally avoid applications of ever-newer pesticides.

The EPA’s endorsement of glyphosate (a very questionable one, secured by corporate nudging*) helped persuade administrators in the European Union to break a tied vote and continue its use until 2033 (while banning it as a method of desiccation). Common sense suggests avoiding it. In the words of Germany’s environmental minister: “What we need is more humming and buzzing.”

Paul would agree.

*Source: Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science by Carey Gillam, Island Press: Washington, DC, 2017

What about you??Please share your personal experience with glyphosate in the comments below.Thank you for visiting!