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It's a little soon for a summary but there has been some valuable input
already, and some controversy, so I'd like to clarify and amplify:

 

First, my apologies to another listmate who had posted the article
previously- I had missed it.

 

Second- I myself am dubious as to whether glyphosphate is responsible for
intolerance to wheat (note that I added a question mark to the title).  We
all know that gluten peptides are responsible for celiac disease.  People
are looking for a reason for the big uptake in perceived gluten intolerance.
A couple of readers pointed out that snopes jumped right on this article and
pointed out many flaws with it.
http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/roundupwheat.asp  The article is thin on
evidence.

 

But for me the main thing that was news to me was pre-harvest application of
roundup to non-GMO crops.  I had not known about this practice.  In other
words, glyphosphate contamination of food is possible even from non-GMO
crops.  The question that arises now is "How prevalent is it?"  According to
the snopes article, not very. 

 

This article
http://www.realfoodhouston.com/2014/11/14/is-glyphosate-monsantos-roundup-us
ed-on-wheat/  also quotes several farmers saying that they do not employ
roundup in this way.  But another, "Keith Lewis, a wheat farmer, left this
insightful comment about modern wheat growing practices:

 

'I have been a wheat farmer for 50 yrs and one wheat production practice
that is very common is applying the herbicide Roundup (glyposate) [sic] just
prior to harvest. Roundup is licensed for preharvest weed control. Monsanto,
the manufacturer of Roundup claims that application to plants at over 30%
kernel moisture result in roundup uptake by the plant into the kernels.
Farmers like this practice because Roundup kills the wheat plant allowing an
earlier harvest.

 

A wheat field often ripens unevenly, thus applying Roundup preharvest evens
up the greener parts of the field with the more mature. The result is on the
less mature areas Roundup is translocated into the kernels and eventually
harvested as such.

 

This practice is not licensed. Farmers mistakenly call it "dessication."
Consumers eating products made from wheat flour are undoubtedly consuming
minute amounts of Roundup.'"

 

Also, Monsanto provides guidelines for farmers to employ this practice.

 

Hopefully it is not widespread.  However, as this article and another reader
pointed out, it is also used on sugar cane and "in Australia it is sprayed
on potatoes before harvesting so they don't have to deal with green waste
from the plant."  (Late blight takes care of that for me here :-))

 

It's just one more thing to be aware of.


Mary

 

 


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