Say it ain't so: Glyphosate in German beer?

Tuesday, March 01, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: glyphosate, German beers, herbicide contamination

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(NaturalNews) German beer – as in, beer made in Germany – is almost a food group in and of itself. For beer connoisseurs, German brands are generally at the top of their lists.

But that may be about to change, after new scientific analyses of several German brews found them to contain varying levels of the primary ingredient in Monsanto's main herbicide, Roundup: Glyphosate.

As reported by Sustainable Pulse, the Munich Environmental Institute has recently released the shocking laboratory evidence: 14 of the most widely sold beers in Germany contain glyphosate, the world's most common and most widely used herbicide, which was labeled a potential carcinogen by the World Health Organization last year.

Here are the results of the testing:

Hasseroder Pils – 29,74 µg/l (ppb)
Jever Pils – 23,04 µg/l
Warsteiner Pils – 20,73 µg/l
Radeberger Pilsner – 12,01 µg/l
Veltins Pilsener – 5,78 µg/l
Oettinger Pils – 3,86 µg/l
Konig Pilsener – 3,35 µg/l
Krombacher Pils – 2,99 µg/l
Erdinger Weisbier – 2,92 µg/l
Paulaner Weisbier – 0,66 µg/l
Bitburger Pils – 0,55 µg/l
Beck's Pils – 0,50 µg/l
Franziskaner Weisbier – 0,49 µg/l
Augustiner Helles – 0,46 µg/l

Perhaps predictably, the German Brewers' Association reacted by calling the study "not credible," but went on to admit that low residues of the likely human carcinogen could not be completely prevented from winding up in beers because, "the herbicide is now found virtually everywhere after decades of use in agriculture."

Of the findings, Sustainable Pulse Director Henry Rowlands said, "Stone-Age industry funded science suggested that the higher the dose of a chemical the more dangerous it was, however modern independent science has discovered that many toxic chemicals have as much or more of an influence on our health at low doses–these chemicals are known as hormone hackers (endocrine disruptors).

"A study from March 2015 stated that the health costs to the European Union of hormone hacking chemicals is over $ 150 billion per year," he continued. "The study stated that lower IQ, adult obesity and 5% or more of autism cases are all linked to exposure to endocrine disruptors. Glyphosate is likely to be one of these hormone hacking chemicals according to independent science."

European law bans substances that disrupt hormones, but a number of EU governments don't believe that glyphosate qualifies as one such substance.

One of them is the German government, as the Detox Project notes:

The Glyphosate Task Force (GTF) website, which is run by pesticide companies, cites the German government's view that glyphosate is not an endocrine disruptor.

But this is seriously misleading. On the contrary, studies from the peer-reviewed independent literature show that both glyphosate and the commercial formulations, such as Roundup, are endocrine disruptors.

In fact, the endocrine-disrupting effect of glyphosate and its commercial variations is one of its most dangerous qualities. Also, it's not uncommon that when industry studies are done on the effects of glyphosate, they are conducted "for regulatory purposes" and "use relatively high doses," but are not able to detect such effects.

Among the peer-reviewed findings regarding the ill-effects of glyphosate:

-- It has altered hormone levels in female catfish while decreasing egg viability; this study concluded that herbicide is harmful to catfish reproduction.^[1]

-- Roundup has disrupted production of progesterone, a steroid hormone, in the cells of mice.^[2]

-- Glyphosate was a potent endocrine disruptor in rats, causing disturbances in their reproductive capabilities after exposure during puberty.^[3]

"In an in vitro experiment in human cells, glyphosate herbicides prevented the action of androgens, the masculinizing hormones, at levels up to 800 times lower than glyphosate residue levels allowed in some GM crops used for animal feed in the USA," the Detox Project noted. "DNA damage was found in human cells treated with glyphosate herbicides at these levels."

And now, it seems, legendary German beers have become tainted by glyphosate as well.

Sources:

SustainablePulse.com

DetoxProject.com

Science.NaturalNews.com

[1] Soso AB, Barcellos LJG, Ranzani-Paiva MJ, et al. Chronic exposure to sub-lethal concentration of a glyphosate-based herbicide alters hormone profiles and affects reproduction of female Jundia (Rhamdia quelen). Environ Toxicol Pharmacol. 2007;23:308-313.

[2] Walsh LP, McCormick C, Martin C, Stocco DM. Roundup inhibits steroidogenesis by disrupting steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein expression. Env Health Perspect. 2000;108:769-776.

[3] Romano RM, Romano MA, Bernardi MM, Furtado PV, Oliveira CA. Prepubertal exposure to commercial formulation of the herbicide Glyphosate alters testosterone levels and testicular morphology. Arch Toxicol. 2010;84:309-317.