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Sorry for the delay- kept having to trim this down to size. The link to see
the whole thing:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/real-reason-for-toxic-wheat-its-not-g
luten/



Real Reason Wheat is Toxic (it’s not the gluten)

by Sarah TheHealthyHomeEconomist

November 13, 2014



The stories became far too frequent to ignore. Emails from folks with
allergic or digestive issues to wheat in the United States experienced no
symptoms whatsoever when they tried eating pasta on vacation in Italy.
Confused parents wondering why wheat consumption sometimes triggered
autoimmune reactions in their children but not at other times.  In my own
home, I’ve long pondered why my husband can eat the wheat I prepare at
home, but he experiences negative digestive effects eating even a single
roll in a restaurant.



There is clearly something going on with wheat that is not well known by the
general public. It goes far and beyond organic versus nonorganic, gluten or
hybridization because even conventional wheat triggers no symptoms for some
who eat wheat in other parts of the world.



What indeed is going on with wheat?  I reasoned that it couldn’t be the
gluten or wheat hybridization. Gluten and wheat hybrids have been consumed
for thousands of years. It just didn’t make sense that this could be the
reason for so many people suddenly having problems with wheat and gluten in
general in the past 5-10 years.



Finally, the answer came over dinner a couple of months ago with a friend
who was well versed in the wheat production process. I started researching

the issue for myself, and was, quite frankly, horrified at what I
discovered.



The good news is that the reason wheat has become so toxic in the United
States is not because it is secretly GMO as I had feared (thank goodness!).



The bad news is that the problem lies with the manner in which wheat is
harvested by conventional wheat farmers.



You’re going to want to sit down for this one.  I’ve had some folks burst
into tears in horror when I passed along this information before.



Standard wheat harvest protocol in the United States is to drench the wheat
fields with Roundup several days before the combine harvesters work through
the fields as withered, dead wheat plants are less taxing on the farm
equipment and allows for an earlier, easier and bigger harvest.  Pre-harvest
application of the herbicide Roundup and other herbicides containing the
deadly active ingredient glyphosate to wheat and barley as a desiccant was
suggested as early as 1980.  It has since become routine over the past 15
years and is used as a drying agent 7-10 days before harvest within the
conventional farming community.



According to Dr. Stephanie Seneff of MIT who has celiac-disease studied the
issue in depth and who I recently saw present on the subject at a
nutritional Conference in Indianapolis, desiccating non-organic wheat crops
with glyphosate just before harvest came into vogue late in the 1990′s with
the result that most of the non-organic wheat in the United States is now
contaminated with it.  Seneff explains that when you expose wheat to a toxic
chemical like glyphosate, it actually releases more seeds resulting in a
slightly greater yield:   “It ‘goes to seed’ as it dies. At its last
gasp, it releases the seed.”



According to the US Department of Agriculture, as of 2012, 99% of durum
wheat, 97% of spring wheat, and 61% of winter wheat has been doused with
Roundup as part of the harvesting process. This is an increase from 88% for
durum wheat, 91% for spring wheat and 47% for winter wheat since 1998.



Here’s what farmer Keith Lewis has to say about the practice: I have been a
wheat farmer for 50 yrs and one wheat production practice that is very
common is applying the herbicide Roundup (glyposate) 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. An interesting aside, malt barley which is made
into beer is not acceptable in the marketplace if it has been sprayed with
preharvest Roundup. Lentils and peas are not accepted in the market place if
it was sprayed with preharvest roundup….. but wheat is ok.. This farming
practice greatly concerns me and it should further concern consumers of
wheat products.



This practice is not just widespread in the United States either.  The Food
Standards Agency in the United Kingdom reports that use of Roundup as a
wheat desiccant results in glyphosate residues regularly showing up in bread
samples. Other European countries are waking up to the danger, however. In
the Netherlands, use of Roundup is completely banned with France likely soon
to follow.



Using Roundup as a dessicant on the wheat fields prior to harvest may save
the farmer money and increase profits, but it is devastating to the health
of the consumer who ultimately consumes those ground up wheat kernels which
have absorbed a significant amount of Roundup!



The currently accepted view is that ghyphosate is not harmful to humans or
any mammals.  This flawed view is so pervasive in the conventional farming
community that Roundup salesmen have been known to foolishly drink it during
presentations!  However, just because Roundup doesn’t kill you immediately
doesn’t make it nontoxic.  In fact, the active ingredient in Roundup
lethally disrupts the all important shikimate pathway found in beneficial
gut microbes which is responsible for synthesis of critical amino acids.
Friendly gut bacteria, also called probiotics, play a critical role in human
health. Gut bacteria aid digestion, prevent permeability of the
gastointestinal tract (which discourages the development of autoimmune
disease), synthesize vitamins and provide the foundation for robust
immunity.  In essence: Roundup significantly disrupts the functioning of
beneficial bacteria in the gut and contributes to permeability of the
intestinal wall and consequent expression of autoimmune disease symptoms.
In synergy with disruption of the biosynthesis of important amino acids via
the shikimate pathway, glyphosate inhibits the cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes
produced by the gut microbiome.  CYP enzymes are critical to human biology
because they detoxify the multitude of foreign chemical compounds,
xenobiotics, that we are exposed to in our modern environment today. As a
result, humans exposed to glyphosate through use of Roundup in their
community or through ingestion of its residues on industrialized food
products become even more vulnerable to the damaging effects of other
chemicals and environmental toxins they encounter!



What’s worse is that the negative impact of glyphosate exposure is slow and
insidious over months and years as inflammation gradually gains a foothold
in the cellular systems of the body.  The consequences of this systemic
inflammation are most of the diseases and conditions associated with the
Western lifestyle: Gastrointestinal disorders, Obesity, Diabetes, Heart
Disease, Depression, Autism, Infertility, Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis,
Alzheimer’s disease.  And the list goes on and on and on …




Visit the Celiac Web Page at Http://www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC