Roundup effects last for generations

Q: It seems like all of the farms around us are now planting Roundup-ready GMO corn and soybeans. Is my family at any health risk from this pesticide? A: The pesticide glyphosate, or Roundup, is the world’s most popular weed killer. It lays waste to anything that isn’t genetically engineered to tolerate it. It’s used in GMO agriculture to stifle weeds and is sprayed on wheat, barley, oats and beans that are not genetically engineered, killing and drying out crops for an early harvest. It is also commonly used on lawns, and there are applications for clearing weeds from industrial yards and train, pipeline and power line throughways.

Does it harm human health? Well, in 2015 the World Health Organization labeled it as a “probable carcinogen,” and recent studies from the University of Washington have linked its use to a 41% risk increase for non-Hodgkin lymphoma and have found that people who lived close to areas treated with glyphosate saw their risk of an early death from Parkinson’s disease increase by 33%.

One groundskeeper in California was awarded $80 million when a jury agreed that Roundup played a big part in his diagnosis of nonHodgkin lymphoma, and by last February, one news outlet estimated that more than 11,200 plaintiffs around the country have filed lawsuits against Roundup’s parent company, Bayer AG.

There’s one more scary thing: again at Washington State University, researchers found that while glyphosate exposure in lab rats produced no apparent ill effects on either the parents or the first-generation offspring, second- and third-generation offspring had significant increases in testis, prostate, ovary and mammary gland diseases, obesity and kidney disease. The term used to describe the epigenetic changes from glyphosate exposure was “generational toxicology.”

Glyphosate is widespread throughout our food chain, and it just makes sense for you to eat organic when you can. Keep everyone at a safe distance when Roundup is sprayed over nearby lawns. Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Medical Officer at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. Submit your health questions at www.doctoroz.com.