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Roundup, Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicide, is causing Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), a serious plant disease, in many fields. Study after study shows that glyphosate is contributing not only to the huge increase in SDS, but also to the outbreak of numerous other diseases.

Glyphosate is the world’s bestselling weed killer; it was patented by Monsanto for use in their Roundup brand, which became more popular when they introduced “Roundup Ready” crops — genetically modified (GM) plants that can withstand applications of normally deadly Roundup.

But the herbicide doesn’t destroy plants directly; instead, it creates a unique perfect storm of conditions that activates disease-causing organisms in the soil, while at the same time wiping out plant defenses against those diseases.

The Institute for Responsible Technology reports:

 “By weakening plants and promoting disease, glyphosate opens the door for lots of problems in the field. According to Don [Huber, a plant pathologist], ‘There are more than 40 diseases of crop plants that are reported to increase with the use of glyphosate  ‘

 Some of the fungi promoted by glyphosate produce dangerous toxins that can end up in food and feed … They’ve ‘been linked to the plague epidemics’ of medieval Europe, ‘large-scale human toxicosis in Eastern Europe,’ esophageal cancer in southern Africa and parts of China, joint diseases in Asia and southern Africa, and a blood disorder in Russia.”

Sources: Institute for Responsible Technology January 14, 2011

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

 More than:

* 75 percent of soybeans     
* 65 percent of cotton     
* 10 percent of corn grown in the United States

      

…contain the genetically modified (GM) Roundup Ready gene, which allows farmers to spray Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide directly onto their fields, killing weeds without harming the crops theoretically. 

However, this convenience comes at a steep price, as evidence shows that Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, is actually devastating crops and human and animal health around the world, even when the exposure is restricted to residues leftover in the soil.