Food for thought: Are Herbicides a Factor for the Increase in Allergies and Autism?

Abstract

Over the last 30 years autism, allergies, Type 2 diabetes, and autoimmune disorders have significantly increased. A possible contributing risk fact is the ingestion of residual herbicides and pesticides in foods in our diet. Presently, more than 95% of all grain, corn, and soy aregenetically modified to be tolerant to Monsanto-produced herbicide Roundup® (glyphosate). Almost all human and animal food now contains low levels of glyphosate and its inert but poisonous additional ingredients. The increased glyphosate use over the last 25 years correlates nearly perfectly with the increased incidence of autism, diabetes, and celiac disease. Glyphosate selectively disrupts gut bacteria balance, acts as an endocrine disrupter, and is toxic to human beings. To optimize health and neural development, adopt a precautionary principle and avoid eating glyphosate and other types of herbicide- and pesticide-contaminated foods.

Full text

NeuroRegulation
! ! ! !
162!|!www.neuroregulation.org Vol. 2(4):162–167 2015 doi:10.15540/nr.2.4.162
Food for Thought: Are Herbicides a Factor for the Increase
in Allergies and Autism?
Erik Peper, PhD
San Francisco State University, California, USA
Abstract
Over the last 30 years autism, allergies, Type 2 diabetes, and autoimmune disorders have significantly increased.
A possible contributing risk fact is the ingestion of residual herbicides and pesticides in foods in our diet.
Presently, more than 95% of all grain, corn, and soy are genetically modified to be tolerant to Monsanto-produced
herbicide Roundup® (glyphosate). Almost all human and animal food now contains low levels of glyphosate and
its inert but poisonous additional ingredients. The increased glyphosate use over the last 25 years correlates
nearly perfectly with the increased incidence of autism, diabetes, and celiac disease. Glyphosate selectively
disrupts gut bacteria balance, acts as an endocrine disrupter, and is toxic to human beings. To optimize health
and neural development, adopt a precautionary principle and avoid eating glyphosate and other types of
herbicide- and pesticide-contaminated foods.
Keywords: diet; glyphosate autism; diabetes; allergies
Citation: Peper, E. (2015). Food for thought: Are herbicides a factor for the increase in allergies and Autism? NeuroRegulation, 2(4), 162–
167. http://dx.doi.org/10.15540/nr.2.4.162
*Address correspondence to: Erik Peper, PhD, Institute for Holistic
Health Studies/Department of Health Education, San Francisco State
University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA.
Email: epeper@sfsu.edu
Copyright: © 2015. Peper. This is an Open Access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-
BY).
Edited by:
Rex Cannon, PhD, Neural Potential, Boynton Beach, Florida, USA
Reviewed by:
Sarah Prinsloo, PhD, The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer
Center, Houston, Texas, USA
Randall Lyle, PhD, Mount Mercy University, Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
USA
A couple of customers reported that they could
eat our baguette even though they were gluten
intolerant.
—Clerk at bakery that sells organic baguettes
When I was a little boy, allergies almost never
occurred. I remember only one boy in our class
of 38 who had asthma and allergies.
—71-year-old male
Fruit flies fed on organic raisins, bananas, soy,
and potatoes lived significantly longer, had much
higher fertility, and survived longer after
starvation than those fed non-organic foods
(Chhabra, Kolli, & Bauer, 2013).
After a year of practicing stress management
and changing to a totally organic food diet, to my
own surprise my nut allergy totally disappeared.
—25-year-old woman who reversed cervical
dysplasia and rid herself of HPV (Peper, 2015).
Many people report being allergic to gluten, nuts, cat
hair, etc., or have hay fever or some form of
autoimmune disorder. In our 2014 survey, 36% of
264 students at an urban university (average age
24.5 years) reported having allergies (Peper & Del
Dosso, 2015). Over the last 40 years more and
more people are reporting allergies. Allergies are
often dismissed because they are not serious—just
uncomfortable and may limit what you eat or where
you visit (e.g., “I can’t eat a morning bun” or “I can’t
visit my aunt because she has a cat”). In rare cases
it may trigger life-threatening allergic reactions
(anaphylaxis), which can be usually resolved by
injecting a single dose of epinephrine into the outer
thigh with an EpiPen®.
Allergies, autoimmune illnesses, and Type 2
diabetes have become so common that we forget
that they may be markers of immune incompetence
that may affect the ability of the body to optimize
health. The increase in allergies is an early indicator
that something harmful is affecting the body. People
who have allergies, autoimmune illnesses, diabetes,

Peper NeuroRegulation! !
!
163!|!www.neuroregulation.org Vol. 2(4):162–167 2015 doi:10.15540/nr.2.4.162!
or other disorders are possibly the “canaries in the
mine” for the rest of the population. In earlier times
before carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases
could be measured with instruments, miners used a
canary as a poisonous gas meter. If the canary
died, the miners would exit the mine before they
would die of the poisonous gases.
There are many factors that contribute to the radical
increase in asthma, rhinitis, allergies, Type 2
diabetes, and autoimmune disorders such as
excessive hygiene; lack of breast feeding and
introducing foreign foods too early in the first year of
a baby’s life; ingestion of acetaminophen (Tylenol)
by a pregnant mother during the first year of
a baby's life; low Omega-3 levels during
pregnancy; increased exposure to plastics and other
endocrine disruptors; stress, etc. Many of these
factors are outside of our control. However, diet and
the ingestion of residual herbicides and pesticides in
food appear to be a major risk factor.
In the last 30 years there has been a radical change
in our diet. The food may look and even taste the
same, but it is totally different. Almost all grains,
corn, soy, cotton, processed foods, and meats
contain low levels of Monsanto-produced herbicide
Roundup® and other herbicides and pesticides, and
are genetically modified to be herbicide tolerant to
Roundup®. Roundup® was first introduced in 1974
by Monsanto and is the most widely used herbicide
for farm and urban use. The active ingredient is
glyphosate with numerous other inert ingredients.
The inert ingredients may not inhibit the growth of
weeds; however, they may be harmful to humans.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as
of 2012, 99% of durum wheat and 97% of spring
wheat have been treated with herbicides as more
and more crops are genetically modified to be
herbicide tolerant. It is now used on grain crops,
rice, seeds, alfalfa, dried beans, peas, sugar cane,
and sweet potatoes (Swanson et al., 2014). As
Roundup® and equivalent herbicides are used, more
and more illnesses—including food allergies such as
gluten intolerance—have increased as shown in
Figure 1.
Figure 1. Correlation between increase in celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and increase in use of the
herbicide glyphosate (Roundup®) on genetically modified grain (Samsel &Seneff, 2013).

Peper NeuroRegulation! !
!
164!|!www.neuroregulation.org Vol. 2(4):162–167 2015 doi:10.15540/nr.2.4.162!
In addition, the common wheat harvest protocol in
the United States is to drench the wheat fields with
Roundup® several days to allow crops to dry down
for a uniformity of plant material at harvest before
the combine harvesters work through the fields, as
the practice allows for an earlier, easier, and bigger
harvest (Sarah, 2014; Swanson et al., 2014). This
means that almost all of the grain and grain products
contain residue of Roundup®. Presently, more than
95% of all grain, corn, and soy are genetically
modified to be herbicide tolerant to Roundup® as
shown in Figure 2.
!
Figure!2.!Adoption!of!genetically!engineered!(GE)!crops!in!U.S.!(Swanson!et!al.,!2014).
In the USA glyphosate is the most widely used
herbicide, with about 250 million pounds applied to
U.S. farms and even lawns every year. Glyphosate
and many other herbicides and pesticides are in our
food, animal fodder, and thus in the meat, clothing,
water supply, and even air. Almost all human and
animal food now contains low levels of glyphosate
and its inert but poisonous additional ingredients.
When plotting the increased application of
glyphosate with the occurrence of chronic diseases
over the last 35 years, Swanson et al. (2014)
showed that the correlation is greater than 0.9 and
highly significant for obesity (R = 0.96), diabetes (R
= 0.98), end stage renal disease death (R = 0.97),
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (R = 0.94),
death due to intestinal infection (R = 0.97), autism in
children (6–21 years; R = 0.99), deaths from senile
dementia (R = 0.99), and death from Alzheimer’s (R
= 0.93). Figures 3 and 4 shows the correlation of
diabetes and autism and increased application of
glyphosate.

Peper NeuroRegulation! !
!
165!|!www.neuroregulation.org Vol. 2(4):162–167 2015 doi:10.15540/nr.2.4.162!
!
Figure!3.!Correlation!between!ageAadjusted!diabetes!prevalence!and!glyphosate!applications!and!
percentage!of!U.S.!corn!and!soy!crops!that!are!genetically!engineered!(Swanson!et!al.,!2014).!
Figure!4.!Correlation!between!children!with!autism!and!glyphosate!applications!(Swanson!et!al.,!
2014).

Peper NeuroRegulation! !
!
166!|!www.neuroregulation.org Vol. 2(4):162–167 2015 doi:10.15540/nr.2.4.162!
Correlations are not proof and similar correlations
could be plotted between increased production of
plastics, high-fructose corn syrup, cell phone use,
and anti-depressant and ADHD medications.
Correlations may suggest a possible relationship,
which should be investigated. It is very difficult to
investigate the correlation because most people
unknowingly have ingested glyphosate. When using
naturalistic observations such as comparing people
who eat only organic versus non-organic foods,
there are many other variables that could account
for the differences.
The hypothesis that Roundup® residues in food is
harmful is clear from a biological perspective. The
purpose of using glyphosate and its inert ingredients
is to act as an herbicide and biocide to suppress
weed growth and act as a drying agent to improve
harvest. As human beings are biological organisms,
glyphosate and its inert ingredients will have similar
effects. It affects our cellular metabolism and
especially our bacteria that live in our gut and are
necessary for our health. As Samsel and Seneff
(2013) point out, “it kills the beneficial bacteria in our
gut, leading to the steep rise in intestinal diseases.”
Specifically, Shehata et al. (2012, p. 350) found that
“highly pathogenic bacteria as Salmonella Entritidis,
Salmonella Gallinarum, Salmonella Typhimurium,
Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium botulinum
are highly resistant to glyphosate. However, most of
beneficial bacteria such as Enterococcus faecalis,
Enterococcus faecium, Bacillus badius,
Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Lacto-bacillus spp.
were found to be moderate to highly susceptible” (as
cited in Swanson et al., 2014, p. 10).
Given the very strong correlations of increased
disease with increased use of Roundup®, the
evidence that glyphosate disrupts gut bacteria
balance and cellular metabolic processes; kills
human embryonic, placental, and umbilical cord
cells; and acts as endocrine disrupters, the recent
decision by the International Agency for Research
on Cancer (IARC; 2015), which is the specialized
cancer agency of the World Health Organization,
that glyphosate is possibly carcinogenic to humans
(Group 2A), I strongly recommend avoiding
glyphosate and other types of herbicide- and
pesticide-contaminated foods. Use the
precautionary principle and eat only organic
foods.
If the radical increase of allergy and immune
incompetence is linked to the increase of chronic
exposure to glyphosate, then avoiding glyphosate
and other pesticide- and herbicide-laced foods may
possibly reverse the allergy and immune
incompetence. Numerous participants have
reported that when they adapt a holistic lifestyle that
included stress management and eating only
organic foods, their immune system became more
competent. Some experienced their food allergy to
disappear. This was reported recently by a 25-year-
old young woman who previously had cervical
dysplagia with HPV. She was able to reverse both
the dysplasia and eliminate the high strains of HPV
(her last Pap test results were normal and the HPV
finally gone), and in addition her nut allergy also
disappeared (Peper, 2015). As she stated, "I was
able to rid myself of a nut allergy that I developed
when I was 19. I frequently had trouble breathing;
therefore, I went to an allergist and they told me I
had a nut allergy to peanuts (4 out of 4) and tree
nuts (2 out of 4). This past July, knowing how truly
healthy I had become and after noticing a little to no
reaction when I accidentally consumed a nut, I
decided to go back to the allergist. I got the test
done, and no signs of a nut allergy came up. I
believe it was due to this lifestyle change."
In summary, eat only organic foods when possible
and follow the wisdom of numerous countries that
have banned the use of Roundup®. This year, the
Netherlands followed Russia, Tasmania, and Mexico
to ban glyphosate-laced herbicide. Starting now
farmers and people in the Netherlands who treat
their gardens and lawns will have to find an
alternative form of pest control since glyphosate—
the main ingredient in Roundup®—is linked to
cancer, infertility, birth defects, nervous system
damage, and kidney disease (Inhabitat, 2014). This
is the path the rest of the world should closely follow.
Author Note
This article is adapted from Peper, E. (2015,
January 11). Are herbicides a cause for allergies,
immune incompetence and ADHD? [Blog post].
Retrieved from http://peperperspective.com/2015/01
/11/are-herbicides-a-cause-for-allergies-immune-
incompetence-and-adhd/
References
Chhabra, R., Kolli, S., & Bauer, J. H. (2013). Organically grown
food provides health benefits to Drosophila melanogaster.
PLoS ONE, 8(1), e52988. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371
/journal.pone.0052988
Inhabitat. (2014, September 29). The Netherlands Says “No” to
Monsanto, Bans RoundUp Herbicide. [Blog post]. Retrieved
from http://inhabitat.com/the-netherlands-says-no-to-
monsanto-bans-roundup-herbicide/
International Agency for Research on Cancer. (2015). Evaluation
of five organophosphate insecticides and herbicides.

Peper NeuroRegulation! !
!
167!|!www.neuroregulation.org Vol. 2(4):162–167 2015 doi:10.15540/nr.2.4.162!
[Monograph]. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of
Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, 112. http://www.iarc.fr
/en/media-centre/iarcnews/pdf/MonographVolume112.pdf
Peper, E. (2015, March). Thinking out of the box with biofeedback
for the treatment of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures,
vulvodynia, and CIN III carcinoma in situ cervical dysplasia.
Paper presented for the 46th Annual Meeting of the
Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback,
Austin, Texas.
Peper, E., & Del Dosso, A. (2015, unpublished). Skipping
breakfast a risk for blanking out on exams.
Samsel, A., & Seneff, S. (2013). Glyphosate, pathways to modern
diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance.
Interdisciplinary Toxicology, 6(4), 159–184.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/intox-2013-0026
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist. (2014, November 13). The
Real Reason Wheat is Toxic (it's not the gluten). [Blog post].
Retrieved from http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com
/real-reason-for-toxic-wheat-its-not-gluten/
Saw, L., Shumway, J., & Ruckart, P. (2011). Surveillance data on
pesticide and agricultural chemical releases and associated
public health consequences in selected US states, 2003–
2007. Journal of Medical Toxicology, 7(2), 164–171.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13181-011-0152-8
Shehata, A. A., Schrödl, W., Aldin, A. A., Hafez, H. M., & Krüger,
M. (2013). The effect of glyphosate on potential pathogens
and beneficial members of poultry microbiota in vitro. Current
Microbiology, 66(4), 350–358. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007
/s00284-012-0277-2
Swanson, N. L., Leu, A., Abrahamson, J., & Wallet, B. (2014).
Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the
deterioration of health in the United States of America.
Journal of Organic Systems, 9(2), 6–37. http://www.organic-
systems.org/journal/92/JOS_Volume-9_Number-
2_Nov_2014-Swanson-et-al.pdf
Received: October 9, 2015
Accepted: November 20, 2015
Published: December 9, 2015