© Mal Langsdon / Reuters
Dr. Stephanie Seneff, som kom med disse udtalelser under en panelpræsentation i Groton, MA i sidste uge, nævnte specifikt Monsantos sprøjtegift, Roundup, som skurken i det stigende antal tilfælde af autisme og andre neurologiske sygdomme. Roundup, som blev introduceret i 1970'erne, indeholder det kemiske stof glyfosat, som er fokuspunktet for Seneffs bekymringer. Brugen af Roundup var oprindeligt indskrænket som ukrudtsmiddel, da glyfosat dræber ukrudtsplanter. Imidlertid bruges Roundup nu sammen med afgrøder. Med indførslen af GMO'er blev planter som soya og majs genmanipuleret til at tolerere glyfosat, og brugen af det er øget kraftigt. Fra 2001 til 2007, blev forbruget af glyfosat fordoblet og nåede i 2007 mellem 82 og 84 millioner kg alene i USA.
Hvis man ikke spiser majs på kolbe eller ristede soyabønner, er man alligevel næppe undtaget fra de mulige virkninger ved at indtage glyfosat. Hvede sprøjtes nu med Roundup lige før det høstes, hvilket gør indtagelsen af ikke organisk hvedebrød en sikker kilde til indtagelse af stoffet. Yderligere indeholder alle produkter med majssirup, så som sodavand, også glyfosat.
Kommentar: Delvist oversat af sott.net fra Senior scientist at MIT declares 'half of all children will be autistic by 2025' thanks to Monsanto
Nedenunder citeres Seneff for de forbindelser, der er mellem glyfosats virkning på menneskers tarmbakterier og sygdom, ligesom Monsantos begrundelse for at glyfosat skulle være ufarligt også præsenteres.
According to studies cited by Seneff, glyphosate engages "gut bacteria" in a process known as the shikimate pathway. This enables the chemical to interfere with the biochemistry of bacteria in our GI tract, resulting in the depletion of essential amino acids .
Monsanto has maintained that glyphosate is safe for human consumption, as humans do not have the shikimate pathway. Bacteria, however, does—including the flora that constitutes "gut bacteria."
It is this ability to affect gut bacteria that Seneff claims is the link which allows the chemical to get on board and wreak further damage. The connection between intestinal flora and neurological functioning is an ongoing topic of research. According to a number of studies, glyphosate depletes the amino acids tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine, which can then contribute to obesity, depression, autism, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Monsanto disagrees. The food and chemical giant has constructed a webpage with links to scientific studies pronouncing the safety of glyphosate.
Other science writers have also taken up the Monsanto banner, scoffing at the scientific studies that prompted Seneff to make her claims. "They made it up!" pronounced Huffpost science writer Tamar Haspel, in an article thin on analysis but heavy on declarative prose.
Others, such as Skeptoid writer and PhD physicist Eric Hall, take a more measured approach, and instead focus on the studies which prompted the glyphosate concerns. According to Hall, Seneff is making an error known as the "correlation/causation error," in which causality is inaccurately concluded when there exists only the fact that two separate items—in this case, the increased use of glyphosate and the increased incidence of autism—may be observed but are not, in fact, directly related.
Seneff's pronouncements focus specifically on the glyphosate issue. As we know, there are other potential tributaries which may be feeding the rise in autism and also causing age-related neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer's. These may include contents of vaccines, aluminum cooking ware as well as other potential sources for chemical consumption.
Some individuals, such as M.D. and radio host Rima Laibow have speculated on the intentionality behind this ostensible chemical siege against our gray matter. Laibow believes that the impetus may be to create an entire class of autistic individuals who will be suited only for certain types of work.
This harks back, eerily, to Aldous Huxley's classic Brave New World, in which individuals were preprogrammed from "conception" for eventual placement in one of five groups, designated as Alpha, Beta, and so on down to Epsilon, based on their programmed brain power. In Huxley's dystopian world, this class delineation by intellectual ability enabled society to function more smoothly.
Whatever may driving the autistic/Alzheimer's diesel train, one thing is for certain: the spectre of half of our children coming into the world with significant brain damage constitutes a massive and undeniable wound to humanity. The rate of autism has skyrocketed from roughly one in every two thousand in the 1970's to the current rate of one in every sixty eight. Alzheimer's has become almost universal in the elderly. Seneff's predictions can only be ignored at grave risk to the human race.
Janet C. Phelan, investigative journalist and human rights defender that has traveled pretty extensively over the Asian region, an author of a tell-all book EXILE, exclusively for the online magazine "New Eastern Outlook
Kommentar: Also see: Monsanto: The complete history of the world's most evil corporation