Dr. Russell Blaylock is a nationally recognized board-certified neurosurgeon, nutrition researcher, author, and lecturer. Writing in his eponymously titled newsletter The Blaylock Wellness Report, Dr. Blaylock claims that several pesticides and herbicides, such as glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in the world’s best-selling brand of weed killer—Roundup—has been linked to both cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
Roundup is both a herbicide and an FDA-registered pesticide. Some fungicides are also culpable for rising cancer and cognitive disease rates, according to Blaylock. The trio of weed killers, insect killers and fungal assassins have become ubiquitous, contaminating groundwater, lakes, rivers, streams, and have permeated the majority of food crops.
Despite several countries banning certain types of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, these banned compounds continue to contaminate the environment.
Dr. Blaylock says another contributing factor to contamination “is the use of imported foods and beverages coming from countries in which these dangerous chemicals have not been banned or in which the laws are ignored.”
After being exposed to these chemicals, either through the air, water, soil, or through food, these synthetic, toxic chemicals accumulate in fatty tissue of the body. Dr. Blaylock connects rising rates of neurological diseases to these chemicals because the brain has the highest fat content of any part of the body.
Dr. Blaylock characterizes glyphosate as “one of the most abused herbicides in the world,” and points to the myriad lawsuits filed by thousands of people against Monsanto, the now defunct crop sciences monolith that was acquired two years ago for $62 billion by the German pharmaceutical giant, Bayer AG.
Glyphosate exposure has increased 15-fold over the past 25 years or so, due to its widespread use in commercial agriculture as well as around private homes and public areas, says Dr. Blaylock. In addition, Monsanto genetically engineered so-called “Roundup Ready” crop seeds that were designed to withstand glyphosate. Sales of glyphosate boomed after Roundup Ready seeds dominated the market and forced small farmers to purchase these GMO seeds for corn, soy, cotton, etc., every growing season.
According to Dr. Blaylock, approximately 70 percent of people have glyphosate residue in their bodies.
In over 125,000 Roundup lawsuits, plaintiffs allege that glyphosate caused them to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a rare type of cancer that affects the lymph nodes. And while glyphosate is the main active ingredient in Roundup, which is used by landscapers, groundskeepers, farmers, and recreational gardeners, there are other toxic ingredients in Roundup that are potential carcinogens and neurotoxins, says Dr. Blaylock. These ingredients are called adjuvants, which help glyphosate become more active.
In addition to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers, Dr. Blaylock says researchers are concerned that glyphosate exposure may increase the risk of certain liver disorders, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) — which, in turn, can increase the risk of liver cancer. Studies have shown that individuals with NAFLD have much higher levels of glyphosate in their tissues.
Another disturbing health implication associated with glyphosate comes from a study by Washington State University researchers, which found that health-related problems from exposure to glyphosate can be passed on to the next generation.
Dr. Blaylock calls glyphosate “a major health disaster in the making,” and suggests that GMO foods contribute to breast cancer in females and midlife organ failure in males.
