In this recorded presentation, Dr. David Perlmutter argues that genetically modified (GMO) crops pose a serious health risk because they are engineered to be tolerant of the herbicide glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup). He explains that glyphosate is applied directly to these crops, leading to widespread human exposure. Perlmutter cites research by Dr. Stephanie Seneff showing that glyphosate acts as an antibiotic, disrupting the gut microbiome and impairing the absorption of essential minerals (iron, cobalt, molybdenum, copper) and amino acids (tryptophan, tyrosine) that are precursors to neurotransmitters. He references the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classification of glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen and presents the original glyphosate‑as‑antibiotic patent. To link glyphosate’s antibiotic properties to cancer risk, he cites a 2004 JAMA study of Danish women that found a dose‑response relationship between antibiotic use and breast cancer incidence, attributing the effect to microbiome disruption and altered immune/inflammatory responses. Concluding, Perlmutter urges consumers to “vote with their wallets” by choosing certified non‑GMO foods to avoid glyphosate exposure and protect health.
Chapters
Hi everyone, Dr. David Perlmutter here. You know, it's almost trendy now to talk about GMO foods and avoiding GMO foods, and oftentimes when I lecture and ask that question as to why GMOs are a danger, I don't really get much of an answer. So in today's presentation, I'd like to focus on actually why it is that GMO food really represents a threat to your health. So let's talk about what exactly this is all about. What is the real danger of GMO? And again, is this just to be considered trendy? What is going on when we are consuming GMO foods? And what we've learned is that GMO means that the seeds of the corn and the soy, for example, have been modified so that the farmers can spray these crops with herbicides to kill weeds. And the herbicide that is used is like you find in Roundup. It's called glyphosate. And it turns out that glyphosate is now being used globally to the tune of 1.35 million metric tons and that we are now seeing what are called glyphosate-ready genetically modified crops. So one of the main reasons that GMO seeds exist is to allow farmers to spray the very food that we then eat with a powerful herbicide called glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. Now many of you will recall I recently interviewed Dr. Stephanie Seneff from MIT who's done an amazing amount of work looking at the dangers of glyphosate. This is actually one from one of her reports. And what she has demonstrated is that exposure to glyphosate that is found on many of these GMO crops changes the human microbiome. It also has an effect on vitamin D. It keeps us from binding and absorbing iron, cobalt, molybdenum, copper, and has an effect on amino acids like tryptophan. And tyrosine, which are the precursors for serotonin and dopamine respectively. Mainly though, my concern is the changes in the microbiome, the gut bacteria that happen when we are exposed to glyphosate. How interesting it is that in this recent report appearing in the very highly respected journal The Lancet in March of 2015, that the World Health Organization indicated that yes, glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide that's used in more than 750 different products used in agriculture, forestry, urban, and even around the home. That's what people are spraying on the sidewalks to keep the weeds from growing, but that this glyphosate, according to this working group of the World Health Organization, Is probably cancer-causing to humans. Well, you're probably wondering, how can this be? How does glyphosate work? Let's explore how glyphosate works. We've already talked about the fact that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is in fact damaging to the human microbiome. It does so because glyphosate is an antibiotic. And as a matter of fact, here is the patent, the original patent for glyphosate as an antibiotic. Happened way back in about August of 2003, but ultimately was published in 2010. It is an antibiotic. Well, the question would then be, how does this relate to the World Health Organization calling glyphosate a probable human carcinogen. Could an antibiotic or antibiotics in general be related to cancer risk? Well, for the answer to that question, we turn back to the Journal of the American Medical Association way back in the year 2004 when they talked about the increased risk of breast cancer in women who had been exposed to antibiotics, a fairly large study. study, over 2,000 women in Denmark compared to close to 8,000 random controls. And in Denmark they keep really very strict records about who's taking what and what illnesses people develop, and they were able to determine that over a 7.5-year period of time that there was a significant correlation of breast cancer risk Depending on how many days a woman took an antibiotic. Now, this study indicated that there was a significant relationship between the number of days that a woman took antibiotics and risk for breast cancer, and as they state here, all classes of antibiotics were associated with increased risk. Again, why does this happen? And their conclusion was that antibiotics have effects on the intestinal microflora and on immune and inflammatory responses, which I will indicate are governed by our intestinal bacteria, our intestinal microflora. So this really changes the playing field a little bit in terms of why we should vote with our wallets and avoid genetically modified foods. So again, what we've learned about GMO foods is that they paved the way for our food to be treated with a powerful herbicide called glyphosate. And glyphosate, as you've now seen, is really a significant threat to our health, probably through the changes that it imparts on our microbiome, on our gut bacteria. This is why we want to vote with our wallets and really opt for choices that are non-GMO. We want to look for that certified non-GMO label, and those are the foods that we should be eating. Thanks for joining me. I'm Dr. David Perlmutter.
