Glyphosate found to create 'mutant' offspring when fed to pigs - cranial deformations, missing eyes and transgender organ development

Wednesday, May 25, 2016 by: S. Johnson
Tags: glyphosate, GMOs, birth deformities

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(NaturalNews) The World Health Organization (WHO) deemed glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans last year, but the adverse impact of the herbicide extends beyond a heightened risk for cancer. A study conducted by a team of researchers from Germany and Egypt found that pigs fed glyphosate spawned "mutant" offspring, plagued by malformations, missing eyes and transgender organ development.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup Ready herbicide. In recent years, there has been a rise in glyphosate resistant weeds, largely attributed to increased use of the herbicide. It is the most commonly used weed control for genetically modified (GM) crops, including soybeans, corn, wheat, oats, peas and sugarcane, to name just a few. It's been linked to a spectrum of health problems, including gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and Alzheimer's disease.

Horrific pig malformations

According to the researchers, in the spring of 2013, a Danish farmer approached them with 38 one-day-old piglets with significant malformations.

The piglets exhibited a range of health issues, including ear atrophy, spinal and cranial deformations, holes in their skulls and leg atrophy. The eye of one piglet did not develop, whereas the other eye was larger than normal. Another piglet had a swollen tongue but no trunk, and a female piglet was born with testes.

The researchers noted that the rate of malformations increased to one out of 260 piglets when fed soy containing 0.87–1.13 parts per million (ppm) of glyphosate during the first 40 days of pregnancy. If the soy contained 0.25 ppm glyphosate, the rate of malformations decreased to one out of every 1,432 piglets.

Various organs and tissues from the Danish piglets, including their lungs, livers, kidneys and malformed hearts, were tested for glyphosate using a common laboratory technique known as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA.

Glyphosate residues were found present in the highlighted tissues and organs in varying concentrations; however, these differences were negligible. The highest concentrations were present in the lungs and hearts, whereas the lowest concentrations were present in the muscles. The researchers hypothesize that the piglets were exposed to glyphosate through the placenta of their dams.

Malformations caused by glyphosate extend to humans

The authors of the study also provided a list of reported malformations in children and families who live a few meters from where glyphosate is sprayed. They said the risk of malformation in human embryos is greatest when mothers who are three to eight weeks pregnant are exposed to the noxious contaminant.

The researchers drew a tight correlation between glyphosate concentrations and malformed organs. They concluded that glyphosate causes a range of health problems in mothers and their offspring. Paternal exposure to glyphosate is considered the cause of nerve damage and birth defects.

"The detection of such glyphosate concentrations in these malformed piglets could be an allusion to the cause of these congenital anomalies. Further investigations are urgently needed to prove or exclude the role of glyphosate in malformations in piglets and other animals," wrote the researchers.

Such testing would involve feeding laboratory animals a diet with concentrations of glyphosate on par with those present in the American diet. This would be the smoking gun that proves that glyphosate directly causes malformations.

The Danish farmer said that whenever he fed his herd non-GMO soy, they experienced fewer health issues like diarrhea, ulcers and bloating, produced better milk and had more of an appetite.

Sources include:

GMOEvidence.com

OmicsOnline.org^[PDF]

FoodAndWaterWatch.org

AmericanPregnancy.org

ActivistPost.com

Science.NaturalNews.com