Glyphosate Use Rises: Be Careful How You Test for It

This article was previously published June 12, 2019, and has been updated with new information.

According to polls, the No. 1 reason people choose organic food is to avoid pesticide exposure.¹ Not only do these chemicals threaten the environment, but they also pose a very clear and direct risk to human health.

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide — identified as a probable human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)^2,3 in 2015 — is the most heavily used agricultural chemical in history.⁴

A 2016 study⁵ published in Environmental Sciences Europe revealed use of glyphosate rose nearly fifteenfold between 1996 (when Roundup Ready crops were introduced) and 2014. Between 1974 and 2014, 1.8 million tons of glyphosate were applied to U.S. fields. The global total for that timeframe was 9.4 million tons.

Mounting evidence shows the weed killer is nowhere near as effective as it used to be, thanks to mounting resistance, and there are more than 13,000 pending lawsuits⁶ charging Monsanto's (now Bayer's^7,8) herbicide Roundup caused the plaintiffs' Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Despite that, a recent data analysis⁹ by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting shows usage hasn't dropped off. On the contrary, glyphosate use has dramatically increased across the Midwest in recent years.

Glyphosate Use Shows No Signs of Decline in Midwest

Writing for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, Christopher Walljasper and Ramiro Ferrando point out that "Nationwide, the use of glyphosate on crops increased from 13.9 million pounds in 1992 to 287 million pounds in 2016, according to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey."¹⁰

In 2016, Midwest farmers used an estimated 188.7 million pounds of glyphosate, a fortyfold increase from 1992, and the Midwest accounts for 65% of the total glyphosate usage in the U.S. Some states have seen an even greater increase.

In Nebraska, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa, glyphosate usage was about 80 times greater in 2016 than in 1992, and 15 times higher than in 2000. According to an August 2022 glyphosate market report, the global glyphosate market is also predicted to continue growing, from $4.44 billion in 2020 to $5.24 billion by 2027.¹¹

While this seems like a huge increase, actually it's substantially lower than the $8.8 billion predicted only five months earlier, in March 2022. The decrease is due to what Reuters called "off the charts" shortages of the chemical.¹²

GMOs Have Been a Primary Driver of Toxic Weed Killer Use

Despite a slower rise in sales, one of the reasons for any increase is that genetically engineered corn and soybeans dominate this agricultural area, and glyphosate is routinely used on these crops as they are designed to survive direct application. Walljasper and Ferrando write:¹³

"Once thought of as a miracle product, overreliance on glyphosate has caused weeds to grow resistant to the chemical and led to diminished research and development for new weed management solutions, according to Bill Curran, president-elect of the Weed Science Society of America and emeritus professor of weed science at Penn State University.

'We're way overreliant on roundup,' Curran said. 'Nobody thought we were going to be dealing with the problems we are dealing with today' … James Benham has been farming in Southeast Indiana for nearly 50 years. Benham said, as resistance grew, Roundup went from a cure-all to a crutch. 'Sometimes if you timed it just right, you could get away with just one spraying. Now we're spraying as often as three or four times a year,' he said.

Benham said farmers continue to spend more on seed and chemicals but aren't seeing more profit. 'That puts the farmer in that much more of a crisis mode. Can't do without it, can't hardly live with it,' he said. As glyphosate became less effective, farmers also turned to even more pesticides to try and grow successful crops each year."

Be Very Careful How You Measure Your Glyphosate Levels

There are only a few companies that test not only for glyphosate but its breakdown product AMPA. I have had many tests for glyphosate from HRI Labs. It is my absolute most preferred lab to use for this toxin. They use state of the art mass spectroscopy and have incredibly accurate results.

In every HRI test I have done, both glyphosate levels were either undetectable or were trace. HRI is in the process of doing hair testing for glyphosate, which is a better test for long-term exposure. I was surprised when mine came back higher than trace as I eat only organic.

But the really important point of this section is to warn you that if you use a lab other than HRI, you need to be really careful. Just for grins, I sent a sample to a popular lab for glyphosate and was shocked when I received my results in the absolutely nonstandard cryptic units of micrograms/gram of creatinine.

What was even more surprising was that it was seriously higher than any test I had done at HRI. So, I dug deeper and called the owner of the lab and conference called in with the director of the HRI lab and we found out the problem. They are using a vastly inferior RIA test for glyphosate. The test is very accurate in water, but when testing for glyphosate in urine like they do, it comes back falsely high.

So, the bottom line is be careful out there. If you are using a lab other than HRI for testing for glyphosate, look at the units that your test results are reported in. It needs to be in parts per billion (ppb). If it is in micrograms/gram of creatinine, please realize that your results are seriously misleading. I have encouraged the owner of the lab to switch but, sadly, he refused. So, your best approach right now is to avoid using labs that don't measure in ppb.

Will Billions in Legal Damages Taper Glyphosate Sales?

As noted by Walljasper and Ferrando, a number of lawsuits against Monsanto/Bayer have resulted in high damages, but while Bayer's stock price dropped by more than 44% after its takeover of Monsanto in 2018,¹⁴ there wasn't a noticeable slowdown in Roundup sales until mid-2022, when the COVID pandemic created supply-chain issues.¹⁵

Not surprisingly, since IARC linked glyphosate to an increased risk for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2015,^16,17 the number of cancer victims suing for damages has skyrocketed, and the link between glyphosate and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma has only grown stronger.

More recently, a meta-analysis^18,19,20,21 of six epidemiological studies published between 2001 and 2018 found glyphosate increases the risk of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma by 41% in highly exposed subjects. Of the six studies included in this new analysis, five showed a positive correlation.

One of the studies, known as the Agricultural Health Study,²² published in 2018, found no effect. However, the researchers point out that results were watered down in that study due to the inclusion of people with very low exposure. It's only when you look at high-exposure groups independently that a clear link between exposure and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma emerges. The following are three examples:

The first case against Monsanto to go to court resulted in 46-year-old Dewayne Johnson, who is terminally ill with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, being awarded $289 million in damages. The judge reduced the total award to $78 million.^23,24,25 and then again to just $20.5 million on an appeal by Monsanto/Bayer. The case is now closed.²⁶

In the second case to be heard, the jury awarded 70-year-old plaintiff Edwin Hardeman $80 million in damages.^27,28 Although Monsanto/Bayer appealed Hardeman's award all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the court denied to hear the appeal in June 2022.²⁹ In a summary of the case, AgriPulse noted that the ag company had settled more than 100,000 cases so far, with 30,000 still waiting.³⁰

The third case, brought before the Alameda County Superior Court of California, involved a married couple, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, both of whom claimed they developed Non-Hodgkin lymphoma after regular, long-term use of Roundup.

As in the previous two court cases, the jury found Monsanto acted with negligence as they chose not to warn consumers about cancer risks, and the Pilliods were awarded $2.055 billion in combined damages.^31,32,33

Monsanto/Bayer appealed in this case, too, and a judge reduced the verdict to $86.7 million, a number which stayed after the ag company lost in a District Court of Appeal in San Francisco in 2021.³⁴ These three cases have all involved patients with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but glyphosate-based herbicides have also been linked to several other types of lymphatic cancers and blood cancers.³⁵

As reported by Bloomberg,³⁶ a class-action lawsuit filed against Monsanto February 13, 2019, specifically focuses on glyphosate's effect on gut bacteria, which we now know play vital roles in human health and can influence everything from mood to chronic diseases of all kinds.

According to this lawsuit, Roundup's label falsely assures consumers that the product works by targeting an enzyme not found in people or animals. Research has proven this false, as this enzyme does exist in human and some animal gut bacteria.³⁷

As mentioned, as of August 2022, more than 100,000 individuals harmed by Roundup had settled with the company, to the tune of $11 billion, with tens of thousands more cases pending.³⁸

The Many Ways in Which Glyphosate Harms Your Health

Were the full ramifications of glyphosate fully understood, there's no doubt it would be banned. The question is, just how much evidence do we need? There's already ample research showing glyphosate can harm health in a wide variety of ways. For example:

Testing Reveals Widespread Contamination of Food Supply

All of this evidence raises serious questions about the safety of glyphosate-contaminated foods. Testing has revealed more than 70% of Americans have detectable levels of glyphosate in their bodies,⁵¹ and food testing shows surprisingly widespread contamination of the food supply. For example:

Why Such Widespread Contamination?

One of the reasons so many processed foods are contaminated with glyphosate has to do with the fact that most contain GMO ingredients. Roundup Ready GMO crops are designed to survive direct dousing of Roundup, which gets incorporated into every cell of the plant. Since the glyphosate cannot be washed off, and every part of the final grain is contaminated, it ends up in the final food product as well.

However, it has now become clear that the problem is not restricted to GMO ingredients. Farmers are also using glyphosate as a desiccant or drying agent to speed up harvesting and increase yield of non-GMO grains and legumes.^62,63 This is why we find glyphosate even in non-GMO products.

It's still unclear how the chemical is ending up in some organic products. Possible causes include drift from nearby conventional and/or GE crop fields, contamination during processing, and fraud (where a nonorganic crop is sold as organic).

While glyphosate is commonly used as a preharvest drying agent,^64,65 it's not a registered (i.e., approved) desiccant.⁶⁶ Farmers who use glyphosate anyway, and douse their crops at the wrong time, can cause their crop to be heavily contaminated.

As explained in "Clarification of Preharvest Uses of Glyphosate,"⁶⁷ if glyphosate is applied too early (while the grain has a moisture rate higher than 30%), the glyphosate is absorbed through the leaves and stems and translocates throughout the plant.

How Much Glyphosate Do You Have in Your Body?

Considering how pervasive glyphosate is in the U.S. food supply, chances are you and your children have been exposed. The only way to determine to what degree your diet is exposing you to this toxic contaminant is to get tested. HRI Labs has developed home test kits for both water and urine, available in my online store. I do not make a profit from the sale of these kits. I only provide them as a service of convenience.

If your glyphosate levels are high, you would be wise to address your diet and consider buying more organic foods. Studies^68,69,70,71 have demonstrated organic foods significantly lower your exposure to toxic pesticides and lower your overall toxic burden.

The most recent of these studies^72,73 was published in the journal Environmental Research, February 12, 2019, showing just how rapidly you can lower your pesticide load by switching to organic.

On average, pesticide and pesticide metabolite level for neonicotinoids, organophosphate pesticides, pyrethroid, 2,4-D and others (14 compounds in all, representing about 40 different pesticides) were reduced by more than 60%, on average, in just six days of eating an all-organic diet. As a group, organophosphate pesticides (such as glyphosate) were reduced the most, dropping by 70% overall.

Many studies^{74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81} also show organic foods contain higher amounts of valuable nutrients, so going organic makes for a more nutritious diet overall. You may also want to consider some form of detoxification protocol, and take steps to repair the damage to your gut caused by glyphosate and other agrochemicals.

Chances are, if your glyphosate levels are high, you probably have a number of other pesticides in your system as well. Fermented foods, particularly kimchi, are potent chelators of these kinds of chemicals. Taking activated charcoal after a questionable meal can help bind and excrete chemicals as well. Remember to stay well-hydrated to facilitate the removal of toxins through your liver, kidneys and skin.

Glycine is an important detox aid for glyphosate in particular. Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, recognized as an international authority on metal toxicity and its connection with chronic infections, recommends taking 1 teaspoon (4 grams) of glycine powder twice a day for a few weeks and then lower the dose to one-fourth teaspoon (1 gram) twice a day.

The least expensive way to do this is purchase glycine bulk powder,⁸² which is very inexpensive. This forces the glyphosate out of your system, allowing it to be eliminated through your urine. Using a sauna on a regular basis is also recommended to help eliminate both pesticides and heavy metals you may have accumulated.

Organic Food Resources

While most people tend to think of organics only in terms of produce (fruits and vegetables), it's important to remember to buy organic, grass fed beef, poultry and dairy, as well, as conventionally raised animals are routinely fed a diet of genetically engineered grains that are loaded with glyphosate and other potentially hazardous ingredients. If you live in the U.S., the following organizations can help you locate farm-fresh foods: