let's defend our botanical heritage

Today, I look around our burned roads and highways, and frankly, I am in mourning. Over the past 17 years, the use of herbicides (mostly glyphosate-based) has caused a decline in the vitality of many of the wild plants that have served as preventative and curative medicine for generations. Some have disappeared. To teach my classes on medicinal plants, I sometimes have to travel to find healthy patches of plants that have always grown wild and beautiful everywhere:

sage (Pluchea symphytifolia) for pain and inflammation;

sage (Amaranthus spp.) as a nutritional supplement high in amino acids;

sage (Bidens spp.), a superfood used as an aphrodisiac, to regulate the thyroid, strengthen the pancreas, and produce breast milk;

Plantain (Plantago major), known for its action against cancer, stomach ulcers, and various skin conditions;

Plenetaria (Peperomia pellucida), a medicine for the kidneys and bladder and one of the best diuretics, helps regulate blood pressure;

Recao (Erynguim foetidum), an antiviral digestive tonic that relieves menstrual cramps and regulates blood pressure;

Anamú, "the herb that the goat doesn't chew," (Petiveria alliacea), an excellent fungicide, metabolic stimulant, anticancer agent, and hypoglycemic (lowers blood sugar);

Mallow (Malachra capitata), combats constipation, inflammation, and fever; and

the white broom (Sida spp.), recently recognized for its bactericidal action (it even kills impetigo), as an antidepressant, mental stimulant, and blood purifier,

And there are SO MANY other plants that give their lives to improve the quality of our soils and prevent the erosion and landslides that have cost us so much. And we, here, insist on poisoning them with herbicide! 

In solution with other "non-active" chemical compounds, glyphosate is acutely toxic to all our medicinal and food plants, not to mention the fish, birds, beneficial insects, and other organisms that make our soils fertile and healthy. Supposedly, this complex poison only interferes with plant metabolism. But we live thanks to countless beneficial bacteria that account for our ability to assimilate our food and fight disease. When these good bacteria are affected by this type of poison, they produce ammonia and other unhealthy compounds in our blood. These compounds are directly linked to autism, Alzheimer's, birth defects, and several types of cancer. It is no coincidence that these diseases continue to occur more frequently since the use of herbicides has become common in conventional agriculture. Even worse, our water purification systems DO NOT filter this type of contaminant. If we use herbicide, we will drink herbicide. And if we drink herbicide, the most malignant and feared diseases await us. 

Despite so many studies that shed light on the truth about glyphosate, we continue to justify its use for economic reasons. But what is the economics if we destroy our health and that of the environment, which is the foundation of our sustainability? Does all this destruction and disease cost nothing? Today, in front of my house, where there was so much life, food, and joyful medicine, now there are only poisoned plants and dead birds. And so much death that we don't see in the soil. It is my great sadness that motivates me to write to you on a Friday night at Christmas. 

If you google glyphosate: health hazard, you will discover long pages and entire videos about the effects of the most commonly used herbicide in our municipalities. In fact, last year, Bayer/Monsanto lost two lawsuits and had to pay $80 million in both cases, as it was proven that glyphosate had caused lymphoma in the two plaintiffs, who irrigated it without knowing the risks. More than 11,000 cases remain pending. The courts have proven that Monsanto funded commissioned studies to prove the safety of its product, pressured regulatory agencies, and carried out campaigns to defame and discredit scientists who demonstrated the toxicity of glyphosate.

Independent studies (conducted by scientists not paid by the industry) also link this herbicide to liver cancer, breast and thyroid cancer, birth defects, senile dementia (Alzheimer's), Parkinson's, kidney failure, chronic colitis, ADD, chronic depression, hormonal imbalances, erectile dysfunction, infertility, obesity, autism, mineral deficiencies, and the death of bees, fish, and other animals. A study published in the journal Archives of Toxicology (2012) states that there is no safe level of exposure to glyphosate. Mere inhalation can cause changes