A Summary of Issues With Genetically Modified Agriculture and Glyphosate Herbicides

 by Edward Ulrich, February 3, 2025




Image from Wikipedia.

This article explains what genetically modified agriculture is (GMO), what its dangers are, and how it is being implemented in the United States.

Also explained is issues with the herbicide glyphosate that is also often sprayed onto crops that are not GMO.


[Note: Make sure to see this video in the article where Robert F. Kennedy jr. explains how the government is being corrupted by Big Ag.

Also see this recent Infowars article that explains RFK’s confirmation is being opposed by Mike Pence-type Republicans.

The article explains that such Republicans are using his previous stances on abortion and legalizing marijuana as an excuse to attack him, where actually they are looking to empower the Establishment’s corrupt agendas such as Big Pharma’s vaccines.  (It’s a shame that his great anti-Big Ag activism isn’t talked about more.)

He did improve his stance on abortion last year.

I think his previous stance on legalizing marijuana could be problematic however, both in terms of what he said he wanted to do, and the fact that it will cost him the support of many conservatives.  Recently however he has walked back his stance, which I think was appropriate for him to do. (link)  I agree with not having extreme penalties for using it, but nonetheless I think it should at least be curtailed through various methods such as requiring a prescription from a doctor to legally use it, and the laws about it should be decided at the state level rather than federally.]










BACKGROUND INFORMATION




Video: “The Shocking Truth About Weed Killer (Glyphosate) in Your Food!”




This video by Dr. Steven Gundry explains that a commonly used weed killer known as glyphosate is shown to be harmful to humans, and it is currently being sprayed on many agricultural crops including ones that are not generally modified.

Also spoken about are suggestions about how to deal with the problem of glyphosates being in your food, such as by consuming a natural compound known as “glycine” which can reverse some of its harmful effects.

Following are points made in the video:

— Glyphosates are the ingredient in a weed killer called “Roundup” that is produced by a company called Monsanto, which is now owned by Bayer.

— Roundup was originally developed to be sprayed on crops to kill weeds without killing the crop itself, where the crops such as soybeans, corn, and oats have been genetically engineered to not the harmed by being exposed to the herbicide.

— Now however, “super weeds” are becoming resistant to the action of the glyphosates, where they require even more glyphosates to be poured onto them.

— Glyphosates work by interfering with a plant’s energy-producing pathway.  It was initially patented as an antibiotic because bacteria also uses the same type of chemical pathway mechanism to reproduce.  Humans don’t use that type of pathway as plants do, so Monsanto used it as an argument to convince the FDA that it is completely safe for humans to ingest.

— Glyphosates are now shown to cause people to have a “leaky-gut” without other reasons, it preferentially kills “friendly” bacteria in our bodies while leaving “bad” bacteria alive, and it kills bacteria that is turned into serotonin, which is the “feel-good hormone.”  It also interferes with mitochondrial functions, which makes energy for us.

— The IARC working group classified glyphosate as being carcinogenic to humans, the World Health Organization classifies it as carcinogenic, and in 2019 researchers and the University of Washington concluded that glyphosate use increases the risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma by 41%.

— There have been a number of successful multi-million dollar and even billion dollar lawsuits against Monsanto and Bayer for cancers that Roundup has caused.

— Many people assume that if food is labeled as “non-GMO” then it must free from glyphosates, however that is usually not the case because non-GMO fields are often sprayed with Roundup anyway before they are harvested in order to speed up the harvesting process.  Therefore, most of even conventional crops such as wheat, corn, soybeans, and oats are also sprayed with Roundup for that reason.

— Since the FDA has declared glyphosates to be safe to eat, food does not need to be labeled as glyphosates being used on it.

— Right now glyphosates are sprayed on 70% of agricultural crops, including 90% of corn and 90% of soybeans.

— In one study, more than 80% of Americans, including 87% of children, had large amounts of glyphosate in their urine.

— Animals who are fed crops that are sprayed with glyphosate have it in their tissue, which humans then consume when they eat the animals.  Therefore when you eat a hamburger, the meat and the bun both likely have glyphosates in it.  You usually can’t be safe even when eating a plant-based burger for the same reason.

— Glyphosates are almost always in oatmeal and oats, including even in Bob’s Red Mill brand organic oats, where almost all oat products tested in the U.S. have been found to contain large amounts of it, including in many kid’s cereals, granola, and granola bars.

— Glyphosate often finds its way onto fields that are designated as being organic due to it being sprayed onto nearby fields.

— Many California wines have glyphosate in them because it is often used as a weed killer between the vines.  Wine producers in California are starting to improve their practices, and a large movement in Europe exists to ban glyphosates.  You are safest looking for the words “organic” or “biodynamic” on labels for wine.

— Stay away from breakfast foods and granola bars.  Even 60% of cherries are sprayed with glyphosates, 65% of dates are sprayed with it, it is in apple and cherry juices, it is in fresh corn, asparagus, figs, grapefruit, hazelnuts, olives, oranges, and peaches— all because the weeds around the crops are sprayed with it.

— It is important to wash all of your produce when you get home.  It is also said that vinegar help to remove glyphosates but there are no studies proving that yet.

— Eat organic, grass-fed or pasture-fed meat whenever possible.  Buy food from your farmers market and ask how they grow their crops.

— Don’t personally use glyphosates with your gardening, and help advocate locally that glyphosates are not sprayed, such as around schools.

— Some studies suggest that “Humic Acid” and “Fulvic Minerals” help to protect the lining of your gut from glyphosates.

— Glyphosates are shown to be able to get into your DNA which might be the reason that it causes cancer or is associated with cancer.  In order to counter that you can consume a natural compound known as “Glycine” which you can buy as a powder or you can take as capsules.  Glycine is also one of the amino acids that makes collagen, so you can also consume glycine in place of collagen powder.






See the documentary “A World Without Monsanto”


Also see the video “The World According to Monsanto,” which is a 2008 documentary that explains the domination of the agricultural industry by one of the world’s most powerful and harmful chemical companies known as Monsanto.  It explains past and present abuses of the company, including how it creates a popular glyphosate weed killer called “Roundup” which is harmful, and how the company also creates genetically modified crops that are immune to being harmed by the application of Roundup.

See the video with a full written description at this link.






Other sources of information about Monsanto, GMO food, and glyphosates


Other good sources of information about Monsanto, GMO food, and glyphosates is in Jeffrey Smith’s 2003 book “Seeds of Deception,” his 2007 book “Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods,” and the 2021 book “How the Weedkiller Glyphosate Is Destroying Our Health and the Environment,” by Stephanie Seneff.







WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE THAT GMO CROPS AND GLYPHOSATES ARE DANGEROUS?




Various organizations have identified glyphosates as a cancer risk, among other issues


An international body called the IARC had classified glyphosates as being carcinogenic to humans, (link) the World Health Organization classifies glyphosates as being carcinogenic, (link and link) and in 2019 researchers and the University of Washington concluded that the use of glyphosates increases the risk of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma by 41%. (link)  It is shown that Glyphosates are able to get into your DNA, which is likely the reason why it causes cancer or is associated with cancer. (link)

There have been a number of successful multi-million dollar and even billion dollar lawsuits against Monsanto and Bayer for cancer that Roundup glyphosates has caused, where Robert F. Kennedy jr. was involved with bringing the lawsuits.  See this video in another section of this article for more information.

A study of elementary age children shows that they had a high level of pesticides in their urine when they were fed a conventional diet, and when they were switched to an organic diet the detected pesticides decreased significantly. (link)

Glyphosates are now shown to cause people to have a “leaky-gut” without any other reasons, (link) it preferentially kills “friendly” bacteria in our bodies while leaving “bad” bacteria alive, (link) and it kills bacteria that is turned into serotonin which is the “feel-good hormone.”  It also interferes with mitochondrial functioning, which makes energy for us. (link)






What is harm that is specifically caused by GMO crops?


The adoption of GMO crops have been responsible for a massive increase in the use of pesticides in U.S. agriculture. (link)

The use of GMO herbicide-resistant crops is resulting in the emergence of herbicide-immune weeds, which requires increasingly more herbicides to be sprayed onto them. (link)

GMO crops have caused farmers billions of dollars in losses due to the contamination of their crops from adjacent GMO fields, where Monsanto sues such farmers despite it not being their fault. (link)







WHAT CROPS ARE GMO, AND WHAT CROPS ARE SPRAYED WITH GLYPHOSATES?



How much corn is genetically modified?


Almost all “field corn” that is grown in the U.S. is GMO, and sweet corn is increasingly being grown as GMO as well.

“Field corn” is a type that is primarily used as animal feed and fuel for cars.  However field corn is also used to make foods that people consume such as corn flakes, corn chips, tortillas, high-fructose corn syrup, corn oil, liquor, and many types of processed foods such as cookies, mayonnaise, and margarine.


This article that was written in 2022 says the following about sweet corn increasingly being GMO:



An August 6, 2012 article explains that Walmart had announced that it will start selling Monsanto’s GMO sweet corn, and the corn won’t be labeled as such.  It also explains that the corn also contains toxins engineered into every cell of the plant that is meant to act as an insecticide, where Monsanto is claiming that doing so “cuts down on pollution” because less insecticide needs to be sprayed on the plants.

[Note: It is depressing to hear that so much sweet corn is genetically modified.  I was previously under the impression that most of it is not genetically modified.]


This article explains Monsanto introducing GMO sweet corn in 2011:


… The above article also says that 99% of the corn grown in the U.S. is field corn, and 83% of the corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified (most of it being the field corn.)


This article that was written in 2012 (when sweet corn was still mostly non-GMO) gives more details about the situation with Dow Agrichemical and Monsanto:





What crops are usually the most contaminated with herbicides, and which are the least contaminated?


See a list of the “dirty dozen” crops that are usually the most contaminated with herbicides, and a list of the “clean 15” crops.







WHAT ARE THE LAWS ABOUT LABELING GMO AND GLYPHOSATE FOODS IN THE U.S.?



What are regulations about labeling GMO foods in the U.S.?


In 2016 during the Trump administration, legislation was passed to require labeling of food as being GMO (or “BE” as it is now called.)  The legislation went into effect in in 2022, however it has many issues, as following:

— It exempts “very small food manufacturers” who have annual receipts of less than $2,500,000.  [Note: What reason would there be for an exemption for “small” food manufacturers?  It would be just as easy for them to label their food as it would for anyone else.  Obviously that exempts many local farmers from labeling their food as GMO, where well-meaning people go out of their way to “buy local” thinking that it means the food is more natural and healthy.]

— The regulations only allow the term “Bioengineered” to be used rather than the term GMO, despite the fact that the term GMO has previously been used for decades.

— The USDA rules actually PROHIBIT grocers from providing more and better GMO labeling, in violation of their First Amendment rights.

— The regulations don’t apply to highly processed foods with GE ingredients, such as sodas and oils, unless the GMO material is “detectable.”

— The statute invalidates state GMO seed labeling laws and it prohibits future GMO seed labeling laws in violation of states’ rights to regulate in the absence of federal regulation.

— An issue existed where the regulations allowed for GMO foods to only be labeled with a QR code, (link) but a lawsuit in September of 2022 changed that. (link)


___


This article details GMO labeling legislation state-by-state.

This 2022 article explains issues with the new labeling laws taking effect.






What are regulations about labeling food that is sprayed with glyphosates in the U.S.?


Unfortunately there are no regulations about labeling food that has been sprayed with glyphosates, since the FDA has ruled it to be safe to use.






Why has the USDA changed the term from “GMO” to “BE”?


The USDA (or rather “Big Agra”) has changed the terminology for genetically modified foods to now call it “bioengineered” (BE) rather than “GMO” which was the term people were already familiar with.  Obviously this was done for deceitful purposes.  “B.E.” isn’t a phrase that people will actually say out loud as they do with “GMO”, and also it can’t easily be searched for on internet search engines unless someone actually types the word “bioengineered.”

The USDA was also attempting to mandate food labeling that simply had the word “BE” on it, (link) but after protests they changed the label to specifically say “Bioengineered.” (link)







POLITICAL ISSUES WITH GMOS AND GLYPHOSATES

[Note I generally have libertarian attitudes, but usually not when it comes to agriculture-related issues since decisions made by individual farmers effects everybody.]




Donald Trump’s stances on GMO crops and glyphosates


In Donald Trump’s past administration he eliminated many important rules that would have more appropriately regulated GMO plants and animals.  Let’s hope he makes better decisions this time around.

— In November of 2017, Donald Trump’s administration scrapped new potential USDA rules that would have regulated plants created through gene-editing tools like CRISPR, such as a new type of non-browning GMO mushroom that the Obama administration exempted from regulation.  (link)  (Note also that Obama signed the “Monsanto Protection Act” that created an large extra hurdle blocking CFS and other consumer organizations when suing on behalf of farmers, consumers, and the environment.)

— On January 8, 2018, Trump told a meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation in Nashville, Tennessee, “We are streamlining regulations that have blocked cutting-edge biotechnology, setting free our farmers to innovate, thrive, and to grow.”

— On June 11, 2019, Trump signed an executive order to further remove executive oversight of genetically modified organisms.  His order directed agencies to exempt many GMOs from regulation in order to increase the amount of GMO crops and animals that will not be subject to scientific review by any federal agencies.  It came a week after the USDA issued a proposed rule to sharply limit and weaken regulations of GMOs under its jurisdiction.  The order also enlisted government agencies in a “domestic engagement” propaganda campaign which was intended to further deceive and confuse the public about the true nature of GMOs. (link)

— On May 18, 2020, Trump’s USDA released their official ruling that eliminated many federal regulations of GMO organisms, where it allowed the industry to be able to “self-determine” whether or not their organisms should be subjected to regulatory reviews and undergo environmental risk assessments.  Additionally it exempted new GE seeds from regulatory review if they already contained engineered combinations that have been previously approved, or if they are said to be unlikely to pose a risk. (link)

— On December 3, 2024, a federal district court struck down Trump’s regulations and halted Trump’s GMO crop introductions that don’t have USDA oversight, saying that the agency’s own prior conclusions and are unsupported by science. (link)  [Note: That is good to hear, but it is frightening to think about what has happened in the years that have passed without the oversight.]







RFK jr.’s stances on GMO crops and glyphosates


RFK jr. has been a great advocate warning about the harmful aspects of GMO crops and the use of glyphosates, where he had even been involved with high-profile lawsuits against Monsanto.




In this video Robert F. Kennedy explains many issue with Monsanto and glyphosates, including how he was involved in successful high profile lawsuits against Monsanto, as well as explaining how government agencies have been infiltrated by such companies.

Following is a description of what is said in the video:

Rachel Carlson was a conservationist whose best selling 1962 book “Silent Spring” is credited with creating the environmental movement, where she wrote about problems being caused by synthetic pesticides.  Her book was serialized in the New Yorker Magazine which made it become better known, and it was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies where she was attacked by Monsanto.

Monsanto created phony a PR firm that did everything they could to try to smear Carlson.  They recruited media outlets such as the American Media Association, Time magazine, Sports Illustrated, and the American Garden Club to attack her, where among other slurs they called her a “spinster,” which was a euphemism for “lesbian.”

President Kennedy then stepped in to support her, where he defied his own USDA and Department of Agriculture which was already bought and owned by Monsanto and the food industry even back then.  He got his chief science advisor to put together a panel of scientists who had impeccable credentials to go through every assertion in her book and validate the science, which resulted in her being vindicated.

“Earth Day” was established seven years later along with the passage of the Federal Insecticide Act of 1973, and the banning of DDT.  DDT has decimated populations of animals such as the Peregrine falcon.  DDT was the flagship product of Monsanto, and it was the biggest pesticide in the world at that time.

Glyphosate was initially used to remove paint from the inside of metal tanks, but then it was discovered that it killed whatever plants it came in contact with, so the company decided to market it as an herbicide.

In 1994 a weed was discovered that wasn’t killed by the glyphosate, so they took a gene from it and spliced it into corn to make it immune to the herbicide, which changed agriculture.

Genetically modified corn can be detected from the air due to another genetic modification that was spliced into it, which allows Monsanto to sue farmers who grow it without paying them, even when their corn accidentally becomes pollinated by GMO corn from an adjacent farm.

In 2006 it was discovered that Roundup works as a desiccant that dries out crops before they are harvested, which has resulted in 80% of the Roundup that has been used in history being sprayed after that point.  2006 was also when many cases of gluten allergies and Celiac disease started being reported.

Roundup is also associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver cancer, colon cancers, kidney cancers, and with many other health problems.

It is not possible to sue the manufacturer of a chemical for a particular disease until the science showing that it causes harm reaches a certain threshold.  Due to that reason, Kennedy wasn’t able to bring a lawsuit against Monstano until 2015.

The IARC was an agency that was a part of the WHO which was headquartered in France, where every year it examined certain potential associations with cancer, such as with coffee in one year, cellphones in another, and PCBs in another.  Kennedy says it brought in the best scientists in the world in that area, and they would make a determination if it is a definite, probable, or possible carcinogen.  The studies were done with both animals and humans.  For determinations about humans, studies of both animals and humans are necessary.  It takes a lot of science to get the point of IARC saying something is a probable carcinogen.

In 2015 IARC showed an association between glyphosates and Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and it is also likely that it is associated with many other health problems which is backed up by strong science.

Some states in the U.S. and ten countries around the world require the labeling of products to be possibly carcinogenic based on the determinations of IARC.

Judges in the U.S. make their own determination about cancer risks rather than being required to go with what the IARC says.

Kennedy explains that law firms around the U.S. filed suits and began collecting cases against Monsanto in affiliation with him, where they gathered 14,000 cases of people who were afflicted with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, where each had to prove that they previously had long-term exposure to glyphosates.  After about six or seven cases, the company decided to settle.

In the first trial, the plaintiff Dewayne Johnson asked for damages of $300 million, and he was awarded $289 million, which was later reduced to $89 million.  In another trial, two plaintiffs received a billion dollars apiece.

Monsanto strategically sold itself to Bayer for $63 billion at the time when a jury was being picked for Kennedy’s lawsuits.  Bayer’s stock fell about 50% after the lawsuits.  Bayer’s value today is $63 billion, which is the same as the price that they paid to buy Monsanto.

Monsanto previously bought the pharmaceutical company Searle which created the harmful sugar substitute Aspartame.

Monsanto’s mantra is to “feed the world,” despite the fact that it can be done without the use of its harmful chemicals.  Many European countries don’t allow GMOs, where far less pesticides and herbicides are used, resulting in yields that are no worse or even better.

Many species of insects are going extinct due to the chemicals being sprayed on the fields.

It is now understood that glyphosate interferes with the microbiome in the gut of humans, which is one of the largest and most important organs.

[Note here they talk about the soil being a carbon sink that “sequesters carbon,” ect.  However man-caused global warming does not exist, as this article explains.]

During the trials, Kennedy and his team acquired communications that Trump’s administration sent to Monsanto during the trial, where they were told that “he has their back.”  Trump’s administration was previously working hand-in-hand with Monsanto for years, giving the company insider information.  Kennedy says they have reams of information that shows Monsanto was essentially running the EPA, where they were working to hide the cancer links from the public by derailing and discrediting tests.

“Big Ag” and the U.S. government have been colluding to suppress information from the public, where a revolving door relationship exists between Monsanto executives, the EPA, the USDA, and the FDA.  The situation of the government being compromised by Monsanto in such a manner goes back decades.

Monsanto had a man running the pesticide division of the EPA, in order to ensure that Monsanto would not be regulated by the EPA or any other agency of the government.

“Agency capture” is pervasive between administrations, where lobbyist and government committees write the budgets for the agencies.  They work hard to ensure that they control the chairmen of Congressional committees that have oversight over the agencies.  The chairmen of the committees are always the biggest receivers of chemical and Big Ag money from companies such as Cargill, Smithfield, and Monsanto.

After most people work for the government for 20 years, their pension matures and they receive a 50% to 100% pension for the rest of their lives, after which they often go to work in their related industries where they collect two salaries.  The industry pays such people huge bonuses, and they are the people who run the divisions within the regulatory agencies.  In such a manner everybody who is involved in the process becomes schooled in the nature of the situation, and whistleblowers get weeded out and sent to locations where they can’t cause any problems.

Kennedy says that the Democracy of the U.S. has been devolving into a corporate kleptocracy and ultimately a plutocracy, which is what Eisenhower warned the U.S. about in 1960.

For 40 years a systematic attack has been waged on institutions of government such as regulatory agencies and the American middle class.

A law was written in 1907 that made it illegal for corporations to give political campaign donations to federal officials.  The 1880’s and 1890’s were known as the “Guilded Age” in the U.S., where the country essentially ceased to be a Democracy but rather it was run by the large monopolistic corporations such as the oil, steel, and railroad industries.

A populist movement happened in the agricultural areas where journalists at the time exposed the issue of the monopolistic corporations, and Teddy Roosevelt stood up to the corporations, where in the first ten years of the 1900’s the Sherman Anti-Trust Act supplied a tool to reduce the power of corporations, a graduated income tax was implemented, minimum wage laws were passed, child labor laws were passed, women were given the right to vote, and legislation was passed that specified Senators would be voted for by the public rather than being appointed.

In 2008 the Supreme Court was once again taken over by Corporatists who threw out the 1907 law, saying “money is speech.”  Their ruling said that the First Amendment prohibits the government from telling people where they can’t contribute their money, which gives Constitutional sanctions to legalized bribery.

Additionally the Fairness Doctrine was repealed, where it previously required broadcasters to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest, and to air contrasting views regarding those matters.

[Note: I don’t agree with some aspects of what Kennedy says in his closing statements as follows, where he mostly puts the blame for the problems in the U.S. on out-of-control corporations.  While there certainly are issues with corporations as he has been explaining, the most significant cause of the problems is the secretive global elite who operate at levels above the corporations, as explained in the information in this article.  However Kennedy should be credited for at least mentioning the role of bankers in his statements rather than only corporations.]

From the beginning of our national history, our most visionary political leaders were warning that the biggest threats to democracy, human rights, and civil rights come from corporate power.  Thomas Jefferson wanted to make corporate charters illegal because he thought “entities shouldn’t be created that don’t have a soul and no sense of right and wrong.”  Andrew Jackson fought against the banks; Teddy Roosevelt said that America will be destroyed by malefactors of great wealth who would erode it from within; Eisenhower warned the public about the Military Industrial Complex; Abraham Lincoln said that he feared the bankers more than the troops of the South; FDR said during WWII that the domination of government is “the essence of fascism”; and Benito Mussolini said fascism should be called “corporatism” instead.

The domination of business by government is called Communism, and the domination of government by business is called Fascism.  Our job is to keep both Big Government and Big Business at bay, and the only way to do that is to have an informed public that can recognize all of the milestones of tyranny, which comes from an informed and independent press that speaks truth to power.  [Note: I disagree with his description of fascism however, where I think it should instead be thought of as being an extreme leftist movement that has similarities with Communism, as is explained in this documentary.

Nonetheless I strongly agree with what he is saying about the harm that corporations can cause when people associated with them infiltrate the government.]






Joe Biden’s previous stances on GMO crops and glyphosates


It should be no surprise that Joe Biden’s agendas were reprehensible as well.

— On September 12, 2022, Joe Biden issued an executive order which was claimed to promote biotechnology by “streamlining regulations” even more, however such regulations were already essentially eliminated by Trump’s previous orders. (link)

— On August 27, 2024, President Joe Biden’s Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said U.S. farmers could grow a GMO wheat variety that is genetically engineered to soak up glufosinate, a pesticide that is 5 times more toxic than glyphosate and has been banned in the European Union since 2013.  Glufosinate exposure is associated with low-birth-weight babies. (link)

— In December of 2024, the United States won a lawsuit against Mexico to allow flooding the country with cheap GMO corn, where the U.S. argued that Mexico is obligated to take the corn because of prior NAFTA agreements.  Mexico was attempting to keep GMO corn out of the country. (link and link)