Glyphosate AKA Roundup, is a staple of the global farming community. It is used to kill weeds throughout the growing season and also used to 'dessicate' crops prior to harvest. This practice forces the unripened crop to bolt before it dies, ultimately increasing yield. However this means that our food is saturated in this poisonous chemical before it goes to market. Glyphosate is also found in meat products because the fodder which is fed to livestock is also doused in the product. The extent of widespread use means that it is found in our water supply and is also finding its way into natural wildlife. Not to mention it has been found in many brands of pet food - yes even our pets aren't safe!

A California judge recently awarded against Bayer/Monsanto the sum of $39M to Dewayne "Lee" Johnson who suffered terminal non-Hodgkins Lymphona cancer as a result of using Glyphosate (Roundup). It is also suspected that Glyphosate is responsible for a rising epidemic of Chronic Gastroenterological diseases across the globe.

Glyphosate is toxic to many of our beneficial gut microbes. It may preferentially kill off species, like lactobacillus while leaving potential pathogens, like clostridia to run wild. Glyphosate also chelates essential minerals, such as manganese, iron, cobalt, molybdenum, and copper so that the gut microbes do not have access to them. This leads to chronic inflammatory states in the gut as well as increased intestinal permeability, a mechanism at the core of many chronic illnesses, including inflammatory bowel disease, depression, and autoimmunity.

I have personally contracted Crohn's disease which took hold at about the time that Glyphosate use accelerated in the UK. Crohn's disease is the inflammation of the digestive system or gut resulting in a compromised gut lining which aside from general nausea and pain also results in malabsorption of vitamins and trace minerals. A compromised gut allows chemicals to leach into the blood stream which has in turn given me Osteoarthritis meaning that I had to have a hip replaced in my early 40's. I generally feel sick most days and have a host of other knock on illnesses to contend with.

The psychological effect of this illness is devastating, I cannot enjoy going to dinner parties, I don't have the confidence to venture on any long walks in case I might get 'caught short'. I get very depressed and have morbid thoughts. It has affected my whole existence. All down to the greed of one of the largest chemical companies in the world. The company that devised Zyklon B, the gas that murdered an estimated one million Jews in Nazi death camps, the company that invented Agent Orange used by GI's in Vietnam to kill tracts of rainforest, (Vietnamese families are still suffering from the effects of this insidious chemical), the company that invented Heroin, the company that produces bee killing insecticides which threaten the future of our planet and the list goes on.

The most poisonous food for me is wheat, but Glyphosate is used in so many other products, it is like Russian Roulette not knowing which foods aren't going to poison me. I hope that this evil chemical will one day be banned, but until then I think we should all be made aware when the food that we and our children eat is produced using Glyphosate.

I strongly suspect that my children will become more susceptible to Glyphosate poisoning as they get older, a number of symptoms have already shown themselves. To have all of this and then the guilt that I might have passed a low tolerance to Glyphosate onto my kids is unbearable. But it's not just me, as the use of this chemical grows many people and animals are suffering chronic illnesses.