I usually like to post positive messages but I am angry right now - at the use of glyphosate (market name Roundup®) in agriculture and landscaping.
A mysterious "bump" came up on my little dog Nunzi's foot and I thought that it was a fox tail burr imbedded in his foot as he is a short little fellow and he picks up things wherever we take walks. However when I took him to the vet, she told me that it looked suspiciously like a mast cell tumor, which I had never heard of. She took a biopsy and sent it to the lab and it came back as a malignant mast cell tumor which had not spread to any other organ yet but was in his lymph node. He is an older dog but normally pretty healthy so I started researching what the cause of the tumor could be. I found a site discussing the use of the chemical glyphosate (market name Roundup®) in the environment and its correlation to cancer in dogs. I knew that Bayer who bought Monsanto the chemical's creator was recently hit with a $2 billion verdict losing their third straight Roundup® trial in relation to cancer in humans, but I did not know about dogs. A lab at The University of California San Francisco reports that, in their testing, a whopping 93% of humans today have glyphosate in their systems, with children having the highest levels particularly in agricultural areas.
Studies have found that dogs can have up to 5,000% more glyphosate than humans and it makes sense. They are lower to the ground, they sometimes eat the grass that has been sprayed and they roll in it. A national laboratory was offering to test a pet's urine for glyphosate so I sent in a sample of Nunzi's urine.
A mysterious "bump" came up on my little dog Nunzi's foot and I thought that it was a fox tail burr imbedded in his foot as he is a short little fellow and he picks up things wherever we take walks. However when I took him to the vet, she told me that it looked suspiciously like a mast cell tumor, which I had never heard of. She took a biopsy and sent it to the lab and it came back as a malignant mast cell tumor which had not spread to any other organ yet but was in his lymph node. He is an older dog but normally pretty healthy so I started researching what the cause of the tumor could be. I found a site discussing the use of the chemical glyphosate (market name Roundup®) in the environment and its correlation to cancer in dogs. I knew that Bayer who bought Monsanto the chemical's creator was recently hit with a $2 billion verdict losing their third straight Roundup® trial in relation to cancer in humans, but I did not know about dogs. A lab at The University of California San Francisco reports that, in their testing, a whopping 93% of humans today have glyphosate in their systems, with children having the highest levels particularly in agricultural areas.
Studies have found that dogs can have up to 5,000% more glyphosate than humans and it makes sense. They are lower to the ground, they sometimes eat the grass that has been sprayed and they roll in it. A national laboratory was offering to test a pet's urine for glyphosate so I sent in a sample of Nunzi's urine.
 After about a week I received the lab results and Nunzi had a effective glyphosate level of 35.7 ppb (ng/mL.) more than twice the average of other samples received by the lab. I was appalled and I called the laboratory to find out more about glyphosate and cancer. I was told that glyphosate, because of vast agricultural and landscape spraying, is everywhere. I knew that I had to research further. What I found made me sick and mad. Many crops and food products for both animals and people are heavily contaminated. There is a list online of common and popular animal and human foods known to have glyphosate contamination. Our large commercial farms, particularly with GMO crops, are being sprayed with Roundup® because it is the easiest weed killer. It is now leaching into our food, our water and our environment. Looking at the list of dog foods, Nunzi did not eat any of the dog foods listed so that took me back to the spraying of the environment where we live. I discovered that our neighborhood HOA had contracted with a landscape maintenance company that was spraying Roundup® on a regular basis. It stays in the soil for a very long time and toxins are generally metabolized more slowly in animals, the fetus, small children and the elderly. Our community has all of those mentioned. I have demanded that the HOA discontinue the practice of using Roundup®. Many countries throughout the world and communities across the U.S. have already done so and it is time to join them. What am I doing for Nunzi? Our naturopathic vet has him on an immune building diet of supplements and a specially made food for dogs with cancer. We are treating his tumor with laser "zapping" and.working hard to outrace and stop the cancer... and we are giving him lots of love. He seems to feel fine and loves his food with all the supplements mixed in it. Please keep him and other such glyphosate affected animals in your thoughts; be aware of the dangers of Roundup®; research the foods contaminated and try to avoid them; eat organic when you can and join me in trying to rid us of this horrible chemical. Photographed above is our yard sign as a Certified Wildlife Habitat for an organically fertilized garden that is safe for animals and birds. There is an alternative to Roundup® readily available. |
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