Health & Fitness

In this short video, Pan Deng, Ph.D., researcher at the University of Kentucky (UK), describes some of the newest dietary recommendations from the university’s Superfund Research Center to help prevent damage from environmental toxins.¹

After environmental disasters such as Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York in the 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency established the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.² The act is also called Superfund and gives the EPA the financial ability and political authority to address contamination.

The research center at UK hopes to reduce the impact of contamination through two branches of research. The first is environmental to look for means of detection and cleanup of chlorinated organic compounds. The second arm is a biomedical examination of nutritional avenues to reduce the impact on human health.

Deng initially focused her research on cardiovascular disease. She has since moved into investigating disruption in metabolism that affects heart disease that is triggered by chemical toxins.

Heart disease has been the No. 1 cause of death in men and women globally for more than 15 years.³ In the U.S., from 2014 to 2015, the financial burden of this killer disease, when you count both direct and indirect expenses such as job limitations and actual health care expenditures, was $351.2 billion.⁴

The statistics were based on the total number of cardiovascular diseases in the U.S. including people with stroke, peripheral artery disease, high blood pressure and venous conditions.

The American Heart Association has identified several behaviors and risk factors that increase the potential that you'll experience cardiovascular disease. These include smoking, physical inactivity, poor nutrition, high blood pressure and metabolic syndrome.

Fiber May Reduce Pollution-Induced Heart Disease

Deng finds dietary fiber may also provide a means of offsetting air pollution damage to your cardiovascular system. As she discusses in the video above, the research team has used metabolomics to evaluate how cells respond to external stress.⁵ Specifically, the team is evaluating exposure from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

These chemicals were banned 40 years ago but were once used in commercial applications. Currently, they have the potential to leak out of hazardous waste sites like the designated Superfund sites. According to a UK news release, there are 13 active Superfund sites in Kentucky that may include improperly managed manufacturing plants, landfills or mining sites.

Deng has built her research on an association a past scientist from the same lab found between PCBs and heart disease. Her study determined fiber could reduce the damage in several organ systems, including the gut and blood vessels, both related to heart disease. She said:⁶

“Using animal models, we found that eating a high-fiber diet can prevent pollutant-induced cardiovascular disease. This finding may lead to nutritional and therapeutic interventions in people who are exposed to PCBs.”

The characteristics of PCBs increase their ability to bioaccumulate in the food chain.⁷ While most people are exposed through food, airborne PCBs can be found in contaminated buildings. And, in contrast to PCBs absorbed through food, inhaled particles are “lower chlorinated, more volatile and subject to metabolic attack.”

Brief Air Pollution Exposure Increases Risk of Heart Attack

One recent study⁸ sought to determine if there was an association between air pollution and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest when the concentrations of particulate matter were lower than the World Health Organization's guidelines.

Particulate matter (PM) is categorized by the diameter of the pollutant. It may be measured at 2.5 micrometers (µm) (PM2.5) or 10 µm (PM10). If you can imagine, there are about 25,000 microns in an inch and PM2.5 is about 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.⁹

The study used data gathered in Japan, as the country has excellent pollution and population monitoring processes in place. For instance, the researchers were able to determine the amount of specific pollutants not only on the day of a cardiac arrest, but on one to three days before the event.

Over a two-year period, the researchers recorded 249,372 cardiac arrests that didn’t happen in a hospital. They found those who were older than 65 years had a greater potential for an event than those who were younger with exposure to PM2.5. 

The researchers also found that more than 90% of the cardiac events happened on days when the air pollution density was lower than 25 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3), the lowest level of safety established by the WHO.¹⁰ The data showed that:¹¹

“Short-term exposure to PM2·5 was associated with an increased risk of OHCA even at relatively low concentrations. Regulatory standards and targets need to incorporate the potential health gains from continual air quality improvement even in locations already meeting WHO standards.”

What Defines an Air Pollutant?

Some experts have expressed concern that many people don’t even know how to define what air pollution is.¹² The WHO¹³ identifies four main man-made sources including fossil fuels, industry, agriculture and waste incineration. These pollutants may be found in chemicals in your home, air fresheners and plastics, to name a few.

Health-related damage can begin before birth and add up over your lifetime. Researchers estimate 3.32% of premature births can be attributed to PM2.5, with a financial burden of $5.09 billion, noting:¹⁴

“Reducing rates of PTB [preterm birth] is important to prevent not only neonatal complications such as respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, and intraventricular hemorrhage, but also adverse psychological, behavioral, and educational outcomes in later life, mostly related to cerebral palsy and neurodevelopmental delay.

In addition, preterm babies are at higher risk of developing systemic hypertension, diabetes, and stroke later in life.”

After it enters your system (primarily through breathing it in) PM2.5 causes chronic inflammation that ultimately increases your risk of heart disease and lung disease. In the search to find how air pollution may affect a growing baby in the womb, researchers analyzed human placentas after birth.¹⁵

They presented evidence at the European Respiratory Society International Congress of carbon in placental macrophages. These cells are part of the body’s immune system and work by enveloping particles. Dr Norrice Liu, one of the researchers, commented:¹⁶

“Our results provide the first evidence that inhaled pollution particles can move from the lungs into the circulation and then to the placenta. We do not know whether the particles we found could also move across into the foetus, but our evidence suggests that this is indeed possible.

We also know that the particles do not need to get into the baby’s body to have an adverse effect, because if they have an effect on the placenta, this will have a direct impact on the foetus.”

This is a stunning finding, especially since we already know that air pollution is responsible for respiratory diseases that kill 543,000 children age 5 and younger each year, according to the WHO.¹⁷ Breathing polluted air also causes asthma in 14% of children around the globe.

While many consider car emissions a major culprit in air pollution, you might be astounded to learn that corn is another. Yes, corn. This crop is used for animal feed, ethanol biofuel and food — and it is another, often-overlooked source of air pollution.

In fact, according to research reported in Nature Sustainability, air pollution that results from growing corn is associated with 4,300 premature deaths per year in the U.S. alone, with associated damages estimated at $14 billion to $64 billion.¹⁸

Rising Rates of Diabetes May Be Influenced by Pollution

One of the factors that may have earned air pollution the description of the¹⁹ "largest environmental cause of disease and premature death in the world today" may be the insidious nature that begins affecting health before birth.

While many acknowledge that air pollution increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes, researchers sought to quantify the number of cases that could be attributed to PM2.5.²⁰

Looking at data taken from a longitudinal study of 1,729,108 U.S. veterans who had no history of diabetes and data from past studies to build a model that might characterize the relationship, they found that, indeed, what you breathe can affect your risk of diabetes, summarizing:²¹ “The global toll of diabetes attributable to PM2.5 air pollution is significant. Reduction in exposure will yield substantial health benefits.”

Commenting to The Sacramento Bee, assistant professor of medicine at Washington University, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, said the overall effects of breathing air pollutants have risks, even at levels lower than accepted by regulatory agencies:²²

"We tell people all the time, if you eat bad stuff, it affects your health. You are what you eat, you are what you drink and, really, you are what you breathe. What you breathe really, really affects your health. What we didn’t really know was the magnitude of the problem. We were shocked by the magnitude. In our studies we observed that risk started to manifest at PM 2.5 concentrations above 2.4 microgram/cubic meter."

What’s more, studies have found compelling evidence to suggest that air pollution may also trigger obesity, a contributing factor in diabetes. Data from one study²³ showed an association between traffic density and higher body mass index, and a second study²⁴ showed those exposed to the most air pollution were 13.6% heavier than those exposed to the least.

One animal study²⁵ also suggested higher levels of pollution may contribute to higher levels of inflammation, which then could be a mechanism for increased weight gain and metabolic disruption.

Air Pollution Has a Neurological Impact

Higher rates of inflammation after exposure to air pollution may also lead to an increased risk of depression and suicide. For example, one study²⁶ suggests air pollution may reduce sleep quality. Subsequently, there are several consequences associated with sleep deprivation and poor-quality sleep, including a bidirectional relationship with depression.²⁷ 

Along that same line, PM2.5 particles are important as they are small enough to be absorbed into the bloodstream after being inhaled.²⁸ Once in your body they may deposit in any organ system, including the brain, meaning these particles may hit you with a double threat to your health because you both breathe them and absorb them.

Some of the regrettable consequences of this exposure have been an increase in psychiatric emergency room visits for children after exposure to higher levels of PM2.5²⁹ and, on the adult end, an associated risk for Alzheimer’s disease³⁰ and other dementias.³¹

Food May Reduce Your Body Pollution

In addition to increasing fiber in your meal plan, there are other foods that may help your body efficiently remove toxins you absorb from your food and the environment. Begin by eating whole food that is ideally locally grown, fresh and organic. Processed and prepackaged foodstuffs are a common source of toxic chemicals.

Nutritionists interviewed by The Times of India³² recommend minimizing the effects of pollution by adding broccoli to your daily diet. The beneficial qualities of mature broccoli are enhanced by cooking it. But there is a fine line between cooking and overcooking. Consider the process outlined in “New Finding: Broccoli Helps Heal Leaky Gut.”

An anti-inflammatory tea from ginger and turmeric may help reduce inflammation in your lungs, the nutritionists added. Ensuring your omega-3 and omega-6 ratio is balanced also helps reduce inflammation. Both fats are essential to good health, but most people get more than enough omega-6 from their food.

Wild-caught Alaskan salmon and sardines are two excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids. My preferred choice for supplementation is krill oil, which you can find more information about in “Your Practical Guide to Omega-3 Benefits and Supplementation.”

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You may have heard about China's social credit system — a dystopian monitoring scheme focused on the moral dimension of human life and behavior — which was conceived in 2014 and rolled out in in earnest in 2018. As reported by Business Insider in October that year:¹

"Like private credit scores, a person's social score can move up and down depending on their behavior. The exact methodology is a secret — but examples of infractions include bad driving, smoking in non-smoking zones, buying too many video games and posting fake news online.

China has already started punishing people by restricting their travel. Nine million people with low scores have been blocked from buying tickets for domestic flights …

They can also clamp down on luxury options — three million people are barred from getting business-class train tickets. The eventual system will punish bad passengers specifically. Potential misdeeds include trying to ride with no ticket, loitering in front of boarding gates, or smoking in no-smoking areas."

Aside from impeding your ability to travel, an individual's punishment for "bad behavior" per the social credit system can also result in slower internet speed, being banned from attending certain schools or getting a higher education, being barred from certain types of employment, confiscation of pets and, of course, public shaming.²

Google Makes Orwellian Surveillance Easy

In the bitchute video above, Truthstream Media details how this kind of public "trustworthiness" scoring can alter the way people behave — indeed their view of reality itself, and the vast data mining required for the system to work. As noted in the video:

"Social credit scores award or remove points based on behavior. It's Big Data meets Big Brother. This will be a world with no more personal experiences, only transactions for the social credit system.

This [the system] knows every person, every bike, every car, every bus. That's because it essentially turns every public interaction into a transaction where points can be earned or lost."

Google, of course, is a perfect fit for this kind of Orwellian surveillance scheme. It is, by far, the largest monopoly the world has ever seen, and its data-siphoning tentacles reach deep into our everyday lives, collecting data on every move you make and conversation you have, whether online or in the real world.

Google actually tracks your movements online even when you're not using their products. Google Analytics tracks everything you do on a website equipped with it, and most websites have it. You have no way of knowing whether a website uses Google Analytics, though, so the surveillance occurs "in the dark," as it were.

A 2015 Wired article³ revealed some of the details of how Google's online empire is built, noting "One of the company's cluster switches provides about 40 terabits per second of bandwidth — the equivalent of 40 million home internet connections," and "Google now sends more information between its data centers than it trades with the internet as a whole."

As highlighted in a January 27, 2020, article⁴ by The Intercept, smart camera networks equipped with facial recognition and video analytic software will advance global surveillance even further, and should be banned to prevent an inevitable slide into invisible yet all-encompassing authoritarianism.

"The rise of all-seeing smart camera networks is an alarming development that threatens civil rights and liberties throughout the world.

Law enforcement agencies have a long history of using surveillance against marginalized communities, and studies show surveillance chills freedom of expression — ill effects that could spread as camera networks grow larger and more sophisticated," The Intercept notes.⁵

Silicon Valley Is Building America's Social Credit System

According to Fast Company,⁶ China's social credit system is not entirely unique. "A parallel system is developing in the United States, in part as the result of Silicon Valley and technology-industry user policies, and in part by surveillance of social media activity by private companies," Fast Company writes.⁷

For example, life insurance companies can now use content shared in social media posts to determine your premium. "That Instagram pic showing you teasing a grizzly bear at Yellowstone with a martini in one hand, a bucket of cheese fries in the other, and a cigarette in your mouth, could cost you," Fast Company notes.⁸

PatronScan is another example. These devices are used by restaurants to identify fake IDs and undesirable customers — people previously removed from an establishment for causing a fight, committing sexual assault, stealing or doing drugs.

The list is shared among PatronScan customers, so getting banned in one bar or restaurant effectively bans you from all bars and restaurants in the U.S., Canada and U.K. for up to one year. For additional examples, see the original Fast Company article.⁹

The Expansion of Public Video Surveillance

The Intercept article¹⁰ cited earlier goes on to detail the rise and expansion of video surveillance, starting with Axis Communications' internet-enabled surveillance camera, launched in the late '90s, to more modern video management systems that organize all this visual data into databases.

By the end of 2021, the marketing firm IHS Markit predicts 1 billion cameras will be watching public movements across the globe. As if that's not enough, cities are also inviting residents and businesses to plug their private surveillance cameras into their police network, which expands the system even further.

According to The Intercept, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, New York City and Atlanta have all deployed these types of "plug-in surveillance networks," and many others are considering it as well. To actually make sense of all this footage, video analytic software and artificial intelligence (AI) are used.

Video analytic capabilities include "fight detection, motion recognition, fall detection, loitering, dog walking, jaywalking, toll fare evasion and even lie detection," The Intercept reports.¹¹

Object recognition and "anomalous or unusual behavior detection" are also used to flag particular incidents that are then reviewed by human eyes. The Intercept recounts how this information can be used by law enforcement to identify potential crime situations:

"In Connecticut, police have used video analytics to identify or monitor known or suspected drug dealers.

Sergeant Johnmichael O'Hare, former Director of the Hartford Real-Time Crime Center, recently demonstrated how BriefCam helped Hartford police reveal 'where people go the most' in the space of 24 hours by viewing footage condensed and summarized in just nine minutes.

Using a feature called 'pathways,' he discovered hundreds of people visiting just two houses on the street and secured a search warrant to verify that they were drug houses."

Is a 'Pre-Crime' Department Next?

Companies are also working on searchable databases that can access and make sense of visual data from a range of different platforms, which will "supercharge the ability to search and surveil public spaces," The Intercept says.¹²

What's more, there are now proposals suggesting all of this data, in combination with AI-enabled analytics systems, could be used for "predictive policing" as illustrated in the 2002 movie "Minority Report," where suspected perpetrators are arrested before actually committing the crime.

Sound too crazy to be true? The Intercept cites a 2018 document¹³ by the data storage firm Western Digital and the consulting company Accenture, "Value of Data: Seeing What Matters — A New Paradigm for Public Safety Powered by Responsible AI," which predicts smart surveillance networks may be deployed "across three tiers of maturity."

The first tier is where we're at now, where law enforcement use CCTV networks to investigate crimes after they've already occurred.

At the second tier level, predicted to be in place by 2025, municipalities will be transformed into fully connected "smart cities," where the cameras of businesses and public institutions are all plugged into a government-run AI-enabled analytics system. The third tier, predicted by 2035, will have predictive capabilities. As reported by The Intercept:¹⁴

"A 'public safety ecosystem' will centralize data 'pulled from disparate databases such as social media, driver's licenses, police databases, and dark data.' An AI-enabled analytics unit will let police assess 'anomalies in real time and interrupt a crime before it is committed.' That is to say, to catch pre-crime."

Google's Ad Network Monopoly

Google's monopoly goes well beyond web search. It also has a potentially dangerous monopoly on online advertising. In 2007, Google bought DoubleClick, which already dominated the digital advertising market. As reported by InfoWorld:¹⁵

"Here's the danger: Google already knows a tremendous amount about the traffic it sends to individual Web sites — where it comes from, what people are looking for, even some basic demographics.

With DoubleClick in the fold, they will also know what ads are being served on any given page. That gives Google unprecedented insight into publishers' business. And remember, those publishers may be partners, but they are also competitors, often trying to woo the same advertisers as Google. 

Web sites live and die based upon ad revenue and on charging advertisers a certain rate based upon the number of pages served and the quality of their readership/user base. I could imagine a not-entirely-paranoid fantasy in which Google can run the numbers, turn around, and offer better rates to advertisers for a similar audience."

To learn more of Google's surveillance of you and those you love, please view my comprehensive interview with Robert Epstein below. Epstein, former editor-in-chief at Psychology Today, is now a senior research psychologist for the American Institute of Behavioral Research and Technology, where for the last decade he has helped expose Google's manipulative and deceptive practices.

Google Goes After Your Health Data

More recently, it's also become apparent Google is going after everyone's health data. Fitbit, which was recently purchased by Google, will provide them with all your physiological information and activity levels, in addition to everything else that Google already has on you.

As discussed in "How Google Is Stealing Your Personal Health Data," Google, Amazon and Microsoft also collect data entered into health and diagnostic sites, which is then shared with hundreds of third parties — and this data is not anonymized, meaning it's tied specifically to you, without your knowledge or consent.

In other words, DoubleClick, Google's ad service, will know which prescriptions you've searched for on Drugs.com, for example, thus providing you with personalized drug ads. "There is a whole system that will seek to take advantage of you because you're in a compromised state," Tim Libert, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University told Financial Times.¹⁶

Google and various tech startups have even been investigating the possibility of assessing mental health problems using a combination of electronic medical records and tracking your internet and social media use.

Undisclosed data mining is also occurring in hospitals. A whistleblower recently revealed Google amassed health data from millions of Americans in 21 states through its Project Nightingale, and patients have not been informed of this data mining.^17,18 As reported by The Guardian:¹⁹

"The secret scheme … involves the transfer to Google of healthcare data held by Ascension, the second-largest healthcare provider in the U.S. The data is being transferred with full personal details including name and medical history and can be accessed by Google staff. Unlike other similar efforts it has not been made anonymous though a process of removing personal information known as de-identification …"

According to Google and Ascension, the data being shared will be used to build a search tool with machine-learning algorithms that will spit out diagnostic recommendations and suggestions for medications that health professionals can then use to guide them in their treatment.

Google claims only a limited number of individuals will have access to the data, but just how trustworthy is Google these days? Since the data includes full personal details, sooner or later, they're likely to find a way to use it.

Google and Mastercard Track Your Purchasing Habits

Your credit card data, which at first glance would appear completely separate from Google, is also being used by the internet giant to customize ads. As reported by Bloomberg²⁰ August 31, 2018, four unnamed insiders, three of whom claim to have been directly involved in the negotiations, claim Google and Mastercard brokered a business alliance that gives Google access to Mastercard users' retail spending.

The two companies never made the agreement public, though. Christine Bannan, counsel with the advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) told Bloomberg:²¹

"People don't expect what they buy physically in a store to be linked to what they are buying online. There's just far too much burden that companies place on consumers and not enough responsibility being taken by companies to inform users what they're doing and what rights they have."

According to Google, Mastercard users can opt out of ad tracking using Google's online Web & App Activity console.²² The question is, how would users know to do that when they were never told such tracking was occurring in the first place?

Google's Store Sales Measurement service also suggests it's not just Mastercard users that are being tracked. As noted by Bloomberg, when Google announced the new sales measurement service in 2017, it claimed it had access to about 70% of U.S. credit and debit card sales.

Goodbye Google

To have any chance of protecting your privacy, you simply must avoid Google products, as they account for the greatest personal data leaks in your life. To that end, Mercola.com is now Google-free. We do not use Google Analytics, Google ads or Google search for internal searches. To boycott Google, be sure to ditch or replace:

Additional Privacy Tips

In my recent interview (above) with Epstein, he also offered the following guidance for those seeking to protect their online privacy:

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Air pollution is insidious. It doesn't respect borders and can travel thousands of miles. In fact, much of the smog experienced on the west coast of the U.S. is the result of pollution produced in Asian countries — at times outpacing whatever decreases the U.S. achieves.¹ The Lancet Commission on air pollution and health found:²

"Pollution is the largest environmental cause of disease and premature death in the world today. Diseases caused by pollution were responsible for an estimated 9 million premature deaths in 2015 — 16% of all deaths worldwide — three times more deaths than from AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined and 15 times more than from all wars and other forms of violence."

The World Health Organization used measurements of outdoor sources of air pollution from transport vehicles, industrial activity and coal-powered plants to determine that 92% of the global population is breathing polluted air.³ Many of the health effects are from fine particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5).

When most people think about the health issues associated with air pollution, respiratory conditions are the first to spring to mind, but your lungs are not the only system affected by air pollution.

And, when you consider the global statistics for air pollution, the total picture is really quite disturbing: Concentrations of PM2.5 exceeded 10 micrometers per meters cubed (µg/m3) for 91% of the world, higher than the annual mean set by WHO.⁴

But, global stats aside, did you know that pollution in your own backyard may be responsible for more health concerns than you’ve imagined?

Living Near Busy Roads Raises Risk of Neurological Diseases

A recent study published in Environmental Health has found a link between living close to a busy road and the development of non-Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson's disease.⁵

The researchers collected data from residents ages 45 to 84 in the Metro area of Vancouver, Canada. Their goal was to evaluate associations between living close to a busy road, exposure to air pollution and the effect of noise and green areas on the development of neurological conditions.

They defined closeness to a busy road as less than 50 meters (164 feet) from a major road, or less than 150 (492 feet) from a highway. According to Weiran Yuchi, one researcher on the study, the data confirmed associations between green space protection and air pollution hazards:⁶

"For the first time, we have confirmed a link between air pollution and traffic proximity with a higher risk of dementia, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and MS at the population level.

The good news is that green spaces appear to have some protective effects in reducing the risk of developing one or more of these disorders. More research is needed, but our findings do suggest that urban planning efforts to increase accessibility to green spaces and to reduce motor vehicle traffic would be beneficial for neurological health."

The researchers used data collected from 1994 to 1998 and from 1999 to 2003, and estimated air pollution exposure based on postal code data. During the follow-up period there were 13,170 people with dementia, 4,201 with Parkinson's, 1,277 with Alzheimer's Disease and 658 with multiple sclerosis. It appeared that those who lived near major roads unfortunately had an increased risk of dementia by 14% and of Parkinson’s disease by 7%.⁷

When the research data included green space like parks, it appeared to have a protective effect on health. Michael Brauer, Ph.D., another study researcher proposed the reason, saying:⁸

"For people who are exposed to a higher level of green space, they are more likely to be physically active and may also have more social interactions. There may even be benefits from just the visual aspects of vegetation."

Incidence of Neurological Diseases on the Rise

The researchers were interested in the connections between air pollution and neurological diseases, as many of these conditions are leading causes of disability in high income countries, and the costs connected with these diseases are rising. Health conditions that fall under this umbrella term are disorders that affect the peripheral and central nervous systems.⁹

An analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 was done to estimate the burden of neurological disorders.¹⁰ The researchers used estimates of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for several neurological diseases, including dementia, Parkinson's disease, stroke and motor neuron diseases.

The data were pulled from 195 countries. After analysis they found "neurological disorders were the leading cause of DALYs (276 million [95% UI 247–308]) and second leading cause of deaths (9.0 million [8.8–9.4])." The researchers’ interpretation of the data was that:¹¹

"Globally, the burden of neurological disorders, as measured by the absolute number of DALYs, continues to increase. As populations are growing and ageing, and the prevalence of major disabling neurological disorders steeply increases with age, governments will face increasing demand for treatment, rehabilitation, and support services for neurological disorders."

The study results were also the subject of a 232-page report by the WHO¹² in which they expanded on estimates and projections and the public health aspects of 10 neurological conditions, including risk factors, gaps in treatment and cost of care. They warn:

“The Global Burden of Disease study, the ongoing international collaborative project between WHO, the World Bank and the Harvard School of Public Health, has produced evidence that pinpoints neurological disorders as one of the greatest threats to public health.

A clear message emerges that unless immediate action is taken globally, the neurological burden is expected to become an even more serious and unmanageable problem in all countries.”

Just How Deadly Is Air Pollution?

Fine particulate matter (PM) from outdoor air pollution can also increase the risk of depression in children. One meta-analysis of 14 studies¹³ discovered that an “increase in ambient PM of 2.5 μm was strongly associated with increased depression risk in the general population,” They also found a “marginal risk of suicide.”

A second review¹⁴ supported these findings and linked depression, anxiety and suicide to PM2.5 exposure. One of the researchers wrote in a press release of the urgency of addressing air pollution:¹⁵

"We already know that air pollution is bad for people's health, with numerous physical health risks ranging from heart and lung disease to stroke and a higher risk of dementia. Here, we're showing that air pollution could be causing substantial harm to our mental health as well, making the case for cleaning up the air we breathe even more urgent.

We found quite consistent results across the studies we reviewed that analysed the relationship between long-term air pollution exposure and depression, even after adjustment for many other factors which could explain the association. The association seems to be similar in magnitude to those that have been found for some physical health impacts of particulate matter, such as all-cause mortality.”

As you might expect, once particulate matter has entered your body it doesn't just affect your mood, but can affect cognitive performance.¹⁶ In a report in PNAS, researchers found that cutting particulate matter in China could increase both verbal and math test scores in men as they age.

They wrote the damage that this kind of pollution causes may create an increased financial burden since seniors require cognitive ability to make decisions important to their future. But still, even though researchers have known there are systemwide effects from breathing air pollution, they admit the mechanism by which this happens is still not well-defined.

One unique, although small, study sought to begin answering this question. The data showed how air pollution may affect your blood vessels and heart muscle. Using human participants and animals, scientists evaluated how inhaled microscopic particles travel throughout the body in the bloodstream.¹⁷ The study method and results were well-described in a press release:¹⁸

“In the new study, 14 healthy volunteers, 12 surgical patients and several mouse models inhaled gold nanoparticles, which have been safely used in medical imaging and drug delivery. Soon after exposure, the nanoparticles were detected in blood and urine. Importantly, the nanoparticles appeared to preferentially accumulate at inflamed vascular sites, including carotid plaques in patients at risk of a stroke.”

The affinity to areas of the vascular system that were damaged or inflamed may help explain past research and data showing exposure to air pollution also increases your risk of vascular disease and heart disease.

Busy Roads Also Contribute to Pedestrian Deaths

The risk of disability and death from living near busy streets is not limited to air pollution. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA)¹⁹ has found the number of deaths from car-pedestrian accidents has grown by 35% from 2008 to 2017.

However, the report also found the number of deaths from other traffic accidents went down 6%. The report links the rising number of fatal pedestrian accidents to such things as:²⁰

• A greater number of light trucks and SUVs on the road
• The number of fatalities involving SUVs rising at a faster rate than those involving passenger cars, which are still involved in more fatalities than other vehicles
• A higher number of nighttime accidents
• An increase in population growth linked to an overall increase in the number of fatalities from one year to the next
• The growth of smartphone use, a source of distraction while walking

The largest number of accidents happened on local streets in 2017. Although smartphones are a distraction to drivers and pedestrians, the GHSA report was unable to make a definitive link between phones and accidents. They wrote that police investigators may not accurately capture distractions by smartphones in their reports.

Walking goes a long way toward reducing your risk of health conditions associated with inactivity. One of the best ways to reduce your risk of injury is to not use any device that distracts you from your surroundings. Here are several more ways to protect your safety:

Walk with reflective clothing at dusk and after	Put reflective strips on your bike — and your pet if they’re with you
Don’t assume a driver sees you; try to make eye contact with the driver	Use crosswalks
Carry ID with your emergency contact information	Let others know where you'll be going and when to expect you back
Stay in well-lit areas	Stay alert to your environment at all times
Walk facing oncoming traffic and stick to sidewalks when available	Keep the volume of your music down to hear traffic noise

Pollution Levels in Your Car May Rise to Dangerous Levels

While living near a busy street raises your chronic exposure to air pollution, driving on busy highways every day can also increase your vulnerability. In a study published in Environmental Science Processes and Impacts,²¹ research revealed how dangerous it is to ride in your car through heavy traffic.

The New York Times reported the average person commuted for 50 hours in 2015.²² To understand what this time in your vehicle means to your health, a study done in England may make it clear. In this study, data on air pollution inside cars was gathered in "a typical English town." Researchers analyzed how changing the ventilation settings in the car air exchange system may change the concentration of PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 inside the vehicle.²³

The cars drove in a loop over 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) during which they passed through 10 intersections. The data suggested car ventilation systems were more efficient at removing larger particulate matter and the amount of PM10 deposited in the lungs when the windows were open was “up to seven times that for pedestrians at the TIs [traffic intersections].” The researchers concluded:²⁴

• The concentration of particulate matter in the car was affected by the rate of air exchange in the car
• The concentrations were up to 40% higher for PM10 and 16% higher for PM2.5 at intersections
• During stop-and-go traffic, the amount of particulate matter in the car was dependent on traffic speed
• During delayed conditions, intersections increased the amount of particulate matter in the car
• The highest reduction in particulate matter happened when the windows were closed, and the fan was switched to the off position

Based on these results, it’s recommended you roll up your windows and set the ventilation to recirculation when you’re in heavy traffic or stopping frequently at red lights. If you do that, though, it’s important to also remember newer cars are more airtight, so you may experience a buildup of carbon dioxide.

This may mean the car begins to feel “stuffy” and may affect cognitive performance while driving. To prevent this from happening, experts recommend you switch the ventilation to bring in air from outside for one to two minutes every 10 to 15 minutes to facilitate air exchange, while still minimizing over exposure to air pollution.²⁵

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When it comes to entertainment, people enjoy seeing bad guys get their punishment more than seeing them be forgiven, a new study reveals. But even though they don't enjoy the forgiveness stories as much, people do find these narratives more meaningful and thought-provoking than ones in which the bad guys receive their just deserts.

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In 2016 and 2017, a surge of mumps cases at Boston-area universities prompted researchers to study mumps virus transmission using genomic data, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and local university health services. As the outbreaks unfolded, the teams analyzed mumps virus genomes collected from patients, revealing new links between cases that first appeared unrelated and other details about how the disease was spreading that weren't apparent from the epidemiological investigation.

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When Jacob’s wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he knew his health needed to take first priority for the sake of their two children.

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Kevin turned to food for comfort as he dealt with the death of his father. He chose a healthier path when his sister was diagnosed with cancer.

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Our ability to feel pain and react to it is both a boon and a curse, simultaneously. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.” This means that pain is highly subjective, and it is informed by a mix of past experiences, our current emotional state, and future expectations. Since pain is an emotional and sensory experience it affects our quality of life immensely, and treatment is complex.

Chronic pain management with opioids is not ideal

Opioids are among the most potent medications used to manage pain. Opioids curb pain by blocking pain signals between the brain and the body. This class of medication also relaxes the brain, providing a sense of calm and euphoria, and there is a high risk of addiction. Opioid misuse is more pronounced in people who have had surgery and been given opioids than in people who have not had surgery. The longer a person uses opioids, the greater risk of their misusing these medications. The ongoing opioid epidemic has led physicians to look for adjunct and nonmedication therapies to help people reduce opioid use and still effectively manage pain.

Mind-body therapies for pain management

Mind-body therapies (MBTs) are integrative practices, and they include breathing exercises and/or body movements aimed at achieving relaxation of mind and body. Some MBTs are Isha yoga, vipassana, mindfulness-based stress reduction, integrative body-mind training, tai chi, guided imagery, cognitive behavioral therapy, and others.

Pain and meditation both alter our senses, thinking, and emotional responses

One MBT is mindfulness meditation, which involves practicing attention control, emotional regulation, and self-awareness. There is increased perception and awareness with mindfulness practices, and meditation addresses both the sensory and emotional components of pain. The interoception center in the brain increases and the amygdala shrinks in size with regular mindfulness practices, which explains better emotional regulation and pain control. The brain’s ability to react to painful stimuli with an emotional response decreases, and a person is more likely to respond calmly to a stimulus instead of having a hasty emotional reaction (hurt, pain, anger, etc.). The increased perception and awareness with regular mediation will make a person feel every sensation, including pain; however, they may choose not to react to it, so practicing meditation can help you better manage pain.

New research on MBTs for pain management and reducing opioid use

A recent paper published in JAMA looked into the use of MBTs as potential tools in addressing the opioid crisis. Researchers reviewed 60 randomized clinical trials with 6,404 participants and found that MBTs had a moderate association with reduction in pain intensity and a small but statistically significant association with reduced opioid dose. These findings suggest that MBTs are an effective nonmedication tool in reducing the experience of pain, and using MBTs may have some benefit in reducing opioid use and misuse. MBTs may also help with cravings for opioids if someone is trying to reduce their dose.

However, a closer look into the analysis reveals that the type of MBT used affects therapeutic efficacy. Often combinations of MBTs are used to treat pain, and it is difficult to be certain which type of MBT is most effective. There is also a lack of conclusive evidence for the benefit of using MBTs in certain clinical scenarios (such as following surgery), due to inconsistent reporting of opioid dosing and durations. Lastly, there is currently a gap in our understanding regarding the right time to implement MBTs, and their effectiveness as an adjunct to opioid-treated pain. All these criticisms do not negate the results of the JAMA study; rather, this work highlights a need for future research to determine what types of MBTs could be most effective in helping with pain and reducing opioids.

Routine mindfulness meditation practices can improve your quality of life

As mentioned, MBTs, particularly meditation, play a huge role in transforming our experience of pain. Meditation allows us to recognize the authenticity of distress and not be overwhelmed by it. Learning and practicing mindfulness-based meditation is a means to deal with pain and the inevitable stresses of life, and to improve your quality of life. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach and no one MBT that works for everyone.

The array of available MBTs means there is flexibility to choose your level of involvement and time spent in these practices. Our personal experience with meditation and its effects on our lives and the well-being of our patients make us strong advocates of MBTs. As always, discuss all medication changes and new lifestyle practices with your doctor.

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While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is supposed to be an independent organization watching out for public health, it has repeatedly demonstrated that it is working on behalf of the drug industry.

Not only does the CDC accept funding from the drug industry,¹ which in and of itself may influence its public health recommendations, it also has front groups that lobby for mandatory vaccinations and seek to suppress information about vaccine risks. 

CDC Front Group Lobbies for Mandatory Vaccinations

One of them is the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO),² an organization whose mission is “focused on being a leader, partner, catalyst and voice for change for local health departments around the nation.”

While its name and mission statement would make you think it’s a member-funded organization, it actually operates primarily on government grants, and the CDC is a primary source.³ Seven of 11 funding priorities for NACCHO programs also come from the CDC.⁴ As revealed by Sott.net, membership dues only amount to about 2% of the organization’s annual revenues.⁵

For example, in July 2011, NACCHO issued a policy statement urging legislators in all states to remove vaccine exemptions for religious, conscientious and philosophical beliefs.⁶

NACCHO also lobbied heavily for SB132⁷ in 2013, an Oregon state bill aimed at eliminating the religious belief vaccine exemption. In 2015, the group also lobbied in Oregon for SB442,⁸ which again sought to eliminate all but medical vaccine exemptions granted by a doctor. In fact, NACCHO was portrayed as a primary supporter of the bill.⁹

The organization has also put its weight behind eliminating personal belief vaccine exemptions in other states. NACCHO policies not only favor mandatory use of vaccines from cradle to grave, but also promote the creation of national electronic registries that monitor the vaccination status of all children and adults.

It’s worth noting that, in addition to the 69 doses of 16 vaccines on the federally recommended childhood vaccination schedule, the CDC recommends dozens of doses of vaccines for adults between the ages of 19 and 65, which includes an annual flu shot.

CDC Webinar Instructs Doctors on How to Boost Vaccine Uptake

In August 2019, NACCHO provided a CDC webinar^10,11 in which doctors were given strategic guidance on how to combat “vaccine misinformation” and deal with vaccine hesitant patients in their practice.

The webinar was based on CDC research with parents and health care professionals, aimed at developing and refining educational messages about vaccines.

As just one example, the CDC found that one of the primary motivations that drive pregnant women to get vaccinated is “the idea of protecting their babies.” They also found that the internet is the primary source of vaccine information during pregnancy.

Parents of infants are primarily motivated by messages mentioning local occurrences of vaccine-preventable diseases, the risk of not vaccinating on schedule, and comparison of risks and benefits of vaccines. Messages that focus on the importance of vaccinating your child in order to avoid making others sick did not have a significant motivating impact, according to the CDC.

Based on the CDC’s findings, NACCHO urged doctors to “Make vaccination decisions before pregnancy, during pregnancy or before the 2-month visit,” as “once parents start vaccinating at 2 months, there is very little change later to delay or refuse” vaccination.

CDC Profits by Undermining Health Freedom

Seeing how NACCHO is primarily funded by the CDC, it seems the CDC is actively undermining vaccine exemptions and civil liberties, including freedom of thought, conscience and religious belief.

This isn’t entirely surprising considering the agency itself, as well as many of its individual employees and committee members, profit financially from mandatory vaccination policies and laws. As reported by Weltchek Mallahan & Weltchek, a Maryland-based law firm specializing in medical malpractice and wrongful death:¹²

“The CDC Immunization Safety Office is responsible for investigating the safety and effectiveness of all new vaccinations; once an investigation is considered complete, a recommendation is then made to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) who then determines whether the new vaccine will be added to the current vaccination schedule.

Members of the ACIP committee include physicians such as Dr. Paul Offit … Offit and other CDC members own numerous patents associated with vaccinations and regularly receive funding for their research work from the very same pharmaceutical companies who manufacturer vaccinations which are ultimately sold to the public ...

This situation creates an obvious conflict of interest, as members of the ACIP committee benefit financially every time a new vaccination is released to the market.”

CDC Buys HALF of All Vaccines in the US

In the June 2019 article,¹³ “Close Ties and Financial Entanglements: The CDC-Guaranteed Vaccine Market,” the organization Children’s Health Defense describes how the CDC is an integral part of the vaccine industry, protecting vaccine profits above public safety. As noted by Children’s Health Defense:

“The CDC is a major player in the vaccine marketplace, buying half of all childhood vaccines in the U.S. and then selling them to contracted public health agencies through the Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program, which pushes free and low-cost vaccines on indigent children.

Over the past three decades, the CDC’s vaccine purchases have increased 15-fold as the average cost of fully vaccinating a child to age 18 rose from $100 to $2192 — while vaccine companies have raked in the profits.

The agency’s involvement with vaccine manufacturers also extends to patents, licensing agreements and collaboration on projects to develop new vaccines. In fact, the CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) profit handsomely from their ownership or co-ownership with private sector partners of vaccine-related patents.

An early 2017 analysis of Google Patents results showed that the CDC held 56 patents¹⁴ pertaining to various aspects of vaccine development, manufacturing, delivery and adjuvants.

By May 2019, the search terms ‘Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccines’ retrieved 143 results¹⁵ in the Google Patents search engine, and a separate legal website displayed 10 screens worth of CDC patents,¹⁶ both vaccine- and non-vaccine-related.”

CDC Also Supports Prominent Vaccine Educators

Prominent medical trade and pro-mandatory vaccination organizations, such as Every Child By Two (ECBT), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC), are acting on behalf of the CDC and the vaccine industry as well.

All three of these organizations, which claim to be independent, receive funding from both vaccine manufacturers and the CDC. (Incidentally, the IAC also provides funding to NACCHO.¹⁷)

As noted by Peter Doshi, associate editor of The BMJ, in his 2017 article¹⁸ “The Unofficial Vaccine Educators: Are CDC Funded Non-Profits Sufficiently Independent?” the ECBT, AAP and IAC “in their advocacy for compulsory vaccination … all have in common a goal that pushes beyond official governmental policy and, in the case of influenza vaccines, the evidence.” Doshi continues:

“Officially, the CDC is neutral on vaccine mandates … But the CDC gives money to non-profits that actively work in this void. Presumably, these activities are funded from non-CDC sources, as U.S. federal law prohibits the use of CDC award money for lobbying, a prohibition that ‘includes grassroots lobbying efforts by award recipients …’ according to CDC policy.”

The question is, is anyone actually ensuring CDC funds are not used for lobbying? Doshi also points out that the IAC’s use of scientific evidence is “questionable,” as they stand by their flu vaccination campaign for health care workers even though “multiple reviews have found insufficient evidence that mandatory influenza vaccination for health care workers has benefits for patients.”

“In broad terms, the CDC and nonprofits share a common goal of increasing vaccination rates,” Doshi writes. And since their primary goals include advocating for mandatory vaccination laws and elimination of vaccine exemptions, that really should not be, considering the CDC is also responsible for ensuring vaccine safety.¹⁹

By focusing on increasing vaccination rates, the agency is unlikely to properly tackle the task of finding out whether all of the vaccines on the childhood and adult vaccination schedules are, in fact, necessary, safe and effective, especially when given in combination.

Voices for Vaccines

Yet another front group for the vaccine industry — and the CDC — is Voices for Vaccinedies, which “advocates for on-time vaccination and the reduction of vaccine-preventable disease.”

Its administrators are portrayed as two concerned mothers, who founded the blog Moms Who Vax. In reality, Voices for Vaccines is an “administrative project” of the Task Force for Global Health, the third largest charity in the U.S.,²⁰ which has deep financial ties to the CDC and the pharmaceutical industry. Voices for Vaccines’ scientific advisory board includes:^21,22

• Merck vaccine developers and mandatory vaccination proponents Paul Offit and Stanley Plotkin.
• Former CDC immunization director Dr. Alan Hinman, an Emory University professor and program director of the Center for Vaccine Equity at the Task Force for Global Health.
• Vanderbilt professor and medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, William Schaffner. In 2018, Schaffner told CNN the influenza vaccine — which had a measly 36% effectiveness rate — was “not perfect,” but that we should “give the vaccine credit for softening the blow” anyway.
• Deborah Wexler, director of the IAC, which is funded by pharmaceutical companies through the CDC Foundation.²³

A former member with financial ties to the industry was Maurice R. Hilleman, a professor of vaccinology and the developer of Merck’s vaccine program. In an interview included in the 2007 film “In Lies We Trust: The CIA Hollywood and Bioterrorism,”²⁴ Hilleman admitted Merck was responsible for unleashing the cancer-causing monkey virus SV40 via its polio vaccine. Hilleman died in 2005.

In 2014, the online blog VacTruth also detailed the many connections between Voices for Vaccines, the Task Force for Global Health, Emory University, the CDC, vaccine makers and other pro-vaccine organizations and promoters, including Offit.²⁵

All of these connections, and others not included here, point to the existence of a vast, undisclosed yet well-documented pharma-driven network that uses every propaganda tactic in the book to squash freedom of thought and speech about vaccination — all in the name of protecting profits — and the CDC is a key player.

CDC Petitioned to Quit Making False Claims

While the CDC has long fostered the perception of independence through the use of disclaimers stating²⁶ it does not accept funding from special interests, in reality, it accepts millions of dollars each year from commercial interests through its government-chartered foundation, the CDC Foundation, which funnels those contributions to the CDC after deducting a fee.²⁷

Several watchdog groups — including the U.S. Right to Know (USRTK), Public Citizen, Knowledge Ecology International, Liberty Coalition and the Project on Government Oversight — are now petitioning²⁸ the CDC to cease making these false disclaimers.²⁹

According to the petition,³⁰ the CDC accepted $79.6 million from drug companies and commercial manufacturers between 2014 and 2018 alone. As reported by the Lown Institute:³¹

“Many of these contributions could be seen as conflicts of interest — for example, a $193,000 donation from Roche, the maker of antiviral drug Tamiflu, to fund a CDC flu prevention campaign.

Despite the significant funding the CDC receives from industry via its foundation, few were aware of these conflicts until Jeanne Lenzer called attention to the foundation in The BMJ³² a few years ago.”

In a November 5, 2019, press release, Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group stated:³³

“That the CDC accepts millions from corporations directly impacted by the agency’s public health programs is indefensible. So, the CDC instead has adopted the strategy of repeatedly denying that it accepts such payments.”

The petition asks the CDC to stop publishing the false and misleading disclaimers, remove all previously published disclaimers from the CDC website and its publications, and to issue corrections, retroactively disclosing the agency’s financial relationships with industry.

“By issuing these false disclaimers, CDC is misleading health professionals, consumers and others both in the United States and around the world,” the petition states.³⁴

“This deception undermines CDC’s credibility and integrity. But the damage here is not merely to the CDC itself. CDC is a national and global leader on medical and public health matters. It is crucial for the CDC to lead by example on matters of ethics, and, at a minimum, to faithfully and truthfully disclose its conflicts of interest.”

The CDC in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services portrays itself as a public health watchdog. It has tremendous credibility within the medical community, and part of this credibility hinges on the idea that it’s free of industry bias and conflicts of interest. Again and again, investigations have shown that funding plays an enormous role in decision-making and in research outcomes.

As noted by Shannon Brownlee, senior vice president for the Lown Institute, government-chartered foundations “exist at least in part because they allow industries to directly fund and thus control the work of agencies that are either supposed to regulate them, or conduct research that can help or hurt their business.”³⁵

When it comes to vaccines, it’s quite clear that the CDC is anything but impartial. It owns vaccine-related patents and employs and defers to “experts” who have deep ties to vaccine makers. It funds pro-vaccine front groups that lobby for mandatory vaccinations, and it receives funds from vaccine makers.

Aside from the groups already mentioned, the CDC also funds state health programs aimed at implementing “no exceptions” mandatory vaccination policies and laws, including mandatory HPV vaccination programs.³⁶

This, despite the fact the HPV vaccine is one of the most dangerous and unnecessary vaccines ever made. There’s also no evidence it actually helps prevent cervical cancer. As noted by Mark Blaxill, Age of Autism’s editor-at-large:³⁷

“Gardasil is perhaps the leading example of a new form of unconstrained government self-dealing, in arrangements whereby [HHS] can transfer technology to pharmaceutical partners, [and] simultaneously both approve and protect their partners’ technology licenses while also taking a cut of the profits.”

Your Help Is Needed!

To help push for greater transparency, please contact the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services today at scheduling@hhs.gov and let them know that you demand the CDC:

1. Cease publication of disclaimers that CDC has “no financial interests or other relationships with the manufacturers of commercial products” and that it “does not accept commercial support.”
2. Remove all such disclaimers from the CDC website, including the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
3. Add corrections to all MMWR articles bearing these disclaimers, explaining that the disclaimers were incorrect and have been removed.
4. Retroactively disclose, in any MMWR article bearing the disclaimers, any corporate contributions to the CDC or CDC Foundation that are relevant to the MMWR article.

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In a major victory that could signal the beginning of the end for the use of glyphosate as a preharvest drying agent, or desiccant, food giant Kellogg has announced they’re phasing out the practice.

In a quiet revelation on their website’s glyphosate Q&A page, Kellogg addressed a question they’ve had from customers, which asks, “I’ve heard that farmers spray Roundup on crops before harvest to dry them out. Does that happen on crops that you use to make cereal?”¹

In response, Kellogg states that while they do not own or operate any farms, they’ve been engaging with their suppliers about pesticide use, including the use of glyphosate as a desiccant, since before 2017. Notably, they state they’re in the process of stopping the controversial practice entirely, with plans of phasing it out by 2025:

“Although this practice is not widespread in our wheat and oat supply chains worldwide and is not an approved practice in the U.S., we are working with our suppliers to phase out using glyphosate as pre-harvest drying agent in our wheat and oat supply chain in our major markets by the end of 2025.”²

Why Is Glyphosate Used as a Desiccant?

About two weeks prior to harvesting grain crops like wheat, oats and barley, glyphosate may be sprayed onto the crop, which accelerates the drying process, allowing for earlier harvest.

This benefits farmers, as it may allow them to complete their harvest before wet weather comes and, by drying out the grain, it may reap them a higher profit, as the greater the moisture content of the grain at sale, the lower the price they get. As Kellogg stated:

“We know that some consumers have questions about the use of the herbicide glyphosate (also known by its brand name Round Up) as a drying agent a few weeks before harvest, particularly with wheat and oats. This practice is done by some farmers in certain circumstances — like harvesting the crop more quickly if weather is challenging.”³

Although it may not be officially approved, the use of glyphosate as a desiccant is widespread enough that it could be driving up human exposures and leading to high levels of glyphosate residues in popular foods.

While media headlines often focus on the use of glyphosate in genetically engineered (GE) crops, such as Roundup Ready varieties, the use of glyphosate as a desiccant may be particularly problematic because it’s sprayed so near to harvest, which could result in higher residue levels and greater exposures to consumers.⁴

Glyphosate as a Desiccant Could Be Driving Up Human Exposures

A revealing study published in JAMA in 2017 tested urine levels of glyphosate and its metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) among 100 people living in Southern California over a period of 23 years — from 1993 to 2016.⁵

At the start of the study, very few of the participants had detectable levels of glyphosate in their urine, but by 2000 30% of them did and this rose to 70% by 2016.⁶ Overall, the prevalence of human exposure to glyphosate increased by 500% during the study period while actual levels of the chemical, in ug/ml, increased by a shocking 1,208%.⁷

Initially, one might suggest that the increases were due to exposure to GE crops, but this remained relatively stable during the study, leading experts to suggest that the preharvest spraying of glyphosate as a desiccant could be to blame.

In an analysis for Environmental Health News, Richard Jackson, professor at the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA, and Charles Benbrook, a visiting scholar in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, wrote:⁸

“Around 2002, farmers in the U.S. started adopting pre-harvest, desiccation uses of Roundup … Such ‘harvest aid’ uses of glyphosate entail spraying fields about two weeks prior to harvest … But spraying a mature grain or bean crop so close to harvest with a glyphosate-based herbicide results in much higher residues than traditional, spring or early summer applications.

Beginning around 2004 and over about the next decade, incrementally more acres were sprayed to speed up harvest in the U.S. It is nearly certain that residues from these applications were largely responsible for doubling the levels of glyphosate and its metabolite found in the urine of Rancho Bernado residents.”

Governments’ High Glyphosate Residues Allow for Desiccation

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), along with MegaFood, Ben & Jerry’s, Stonyfield Farm, MOM’s Organic Market, Nature’s Path, Happy Family Organics and other consumer groups, has petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce the amount of glyphosate residues allowed in oats from 30 parts per million (ppm) to 0.1 ppm, as well as prohibit the use of glyphosate as a preharvest desiccant.⁹

The 0.1 ppm limit for glyphosate on oats was actually the legal limit in 1993 — it has since been raised 300-fold, in response to a petition from Monsanto around the time farmers began to widely use glyphosate as a desiccant late in the season.¹⁰ Similarly, in the E.U., the maximum residues level (MRL) for glyphosate in barley grain is 20 ppm but rises to 200 ppm for barley straw.

Writing in Frontiers in Environmental Science, researchers explained, “These high MRLs are set to accommodate the use of glyphosate as desiccant in farming of barley.” They added:¹¹

“We find it disturbing that dominant agricultures are developing in such a way that toxins are used rather indiscriminately in order to ease harvesting. This use of herbicides is non-essential and from the perspective of both health of environment, hazardous.

Again, here we see a development which contributes to the increasing total load of pesticides, and glyphosate in particular, into biota, fields and consumer organisms.”

Glyphosate Residues in Popular Children’s Cereal

EWG has commissioned three rounds of glyphosate testing on cereals and other foods sold by Kellogg, General Mills and Quaker, the latest of which took place in 2019 and involved 21 oat-based cereal and snack products.

The chemical was found in all 21 products, with all but four of them coming in higher than EWG’s benchmark for lifetime cancer risk in children, which is 160 parts per billion (ppb).¹²

In response to their testing, which shows concerning levels of glyphosate in popular breakfast foods often marketed to children, more than 310,000 people have signed EWG’s petition calling on the cereal giants to remove the ubiquitous chemical from their products.¹³

EWG was among those who commended Kellogg for taking proactive steps to reduce glyphosate in their products. EWG President Ken Cook said in a news release:¹⁴

“We applaud Kellogg's for working with their suppliers to address the risks posed by glyphosate. It’s no surprise that consumers don’t want a controversial weedkiller in their cereal. Now it’s time for General Mills and Quaker to listen to their customers and fall in behind Kellogg's leadership and do the same – end this use of this notorious weedkiller.”

To be clear, it’s not only oats and cereal products that are impacted by glyphosate residues — it’s prevalent in a number of foods and substances. Glyphosate has been detected in PediaSure Enteral Formula nutritional drink, which is given to infants and children via feeding tubes, for instance.¹⁵

It’s also found in air, rain, municipal water supplies, soil samples, breast milk, urine, organic plant-based protein supplements and even vaccines, including the pneumococcal, Tdap, hepatitis B (which is injected on the day of birth), influenza and MMR.¹⁶

Kellogg’s step to avoid glyphosate as a desiccant for its products is a positive move, but it’s only one of many needed to help reduce exposure to this widespread contaminant.

Roundup Cancer Lawsuits Could Surpass 75,000

Why is it so important to get glyphosate out of our food and water supplies? In the U.S., approximately 42,700 U.S. lawsuits from individuals alleging that glyphosate caused them to develop cancer have already been filed.¹⁷ Bayer, which acquired Monsanto, Roundup’s original maker, in 2018, is in settlement talks to resolve the litigation but continues to deny that the chemical causes cancer.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) identified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen in 2015,¹⁸ however, and research published in Frontiers in Genetics also supports glyphosate’s cancer link, finding that exposure in low concentrations (in parts per trillion) may induce cancer in cells when combined with microRNA-182-5p (miR182-5p).¹⁹

MicroRNA-182-5p is a gene regulatory molecule found in everyone, and overexpression of the molecule has been linked to cancer. Michael Antoniou of King's College London, who peer reviewed the study, stated, "These observations highlight for the first time a possible biomarker of glyphosate activity at the level of gene expression that could be linked with breast cancer formation.”²⁰

Ken Feinber, a court-appointed mediator, stated in January 2020 that Roundup cancer claimants could surpass 75,000.²¹ In the first three cases to go to trial, Bayer has been ordered to pay billions of dollars to the plaintiffs, although the awards were later slashed to the tens of millions range.

Bayer’s latest tactic is trying to circumvent the filing of new Roundup lawsuits by banning plaintiffs' lawyers from advertising for new clients.²²

What Are the Risks of Glyphosate Exposure?

Aside from cancer, significant bioaccumulation of glyphosate has been documented in the kidney, an organ with known susceptibility to glyphosate, and glyphosate-induced kidney toxicity has been associated with disturbances in the expression of genes associated with fibrosis, necrosis and mitochondrial membrane dysfunction.²³

Further, research published in 2015 found that glyphosate in combination with aluminum synergistically induced pineal gland pathology, which in turn was linked to gut dysbiosis and neurological diseases such as autism, depression, dementia, anxiety disorder and Parkinson's disease.²⁴

A number of animal and human diseases have been rising in step with glyphosate usage. This includes conditions such as failure to thrive, congenital heart defects, enlarged right ventricle, liver cancer, and, in newborns, lung problems, metabolic disorders and genitourinary disorders.²⁵

The environmental risks are also immense. Speaking to Politico, Jeroen van der Sluijs, a professor of science and ethics at Norway's Bergen University, explained:²⁶

"It [glyphosate] kills a lot of non-target plants and it leads to an agricultural practice where you have monoculture with no wild plants left in the fields … If you remove all the wild plants from the fields then you only have the crop that flowers and that's only a very short period in the year. The rest of the year there's nothing to forage on.

… We find [glyphosate] everywhere in surface waters, it is indeed toxic for all kinds of aquatic organisms, so of special concern are amphibians like frogs and salamanders."

The take-home message here is that some companies, including Kellogg, are starting to wake up (and/or respond to consumer demand) and are taking steps to get glyphosate out of their food. But in the meantime, it’s important to choose organic or biodynamically grown foods, to filter your home’s water and to avoid using glyphosate around your home and garden.

If you’re interested, the Health Research Institute (HRI) in Iowa developed the glyphosate urine test kit, which will allow you to determine your own exposure to this toxic herbicide. They’re also in the process of doing hair testing for glyphosate, which is a better test for long-term exposure.

If it turns out that you have measurable levels of glyphosate in your body, Stephanie Seneff, a senior research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), shared some tips for detoxing glyphosate here.

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