Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. Awareness alert on Glyphosate and potential for arrhythmia

This is an Awareness Alert about another exposure factor to consider if you’ve been touched by Afib.
Thus, the title, “Where there’s Smoke, There’s Usually Fire.”

In the General Forum, I posted a book review on glyphosate and that exposure can relate to cardiac problems including arrhythmias, at least in test animals. I hope you will also read in the other forum because glyphosate exposure is linked to many more health ailments in addition to cardiac issues. It’s important for everyone to understand and take steps to avoid exposure.

The science underlying the reasons for the Roundup herbicide (glyphosate) warning is well-studied by MIT scientists. Stephanie Seneff, PhD, has been interviewed numerous times and published frequently on this topic and is highly credentialed.

Stephanie Seneff is a Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. She received the B.S. degree in Biophysics in 1968, the M.S. and E.E. degrees in Electrical Engineering in 1980, and the Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1985, all from MIT.

For over three decades, her research interests have always been at the intersection of biology and computation: developing a computational model for the human auditory system, understanding human language so as to develop algorithms and systems for human computer interactions, as well as applying natural language processing (NLP) techniques to gene predictions. She has published over 170 refereed articles on these subjects, and has been invited to give keynote speeches at several international conferences. She has also supervised numerous Master's and PhD theses at MIT. In 2012, Dr. Seneff was elected Fellow of the International Speech and Communication Association (ISCA).

In recent years, Dr. Seneff has focused her research interests back towards biology. She is concentrating mainly on the relationship between nutrition and health. Since 2011, she has published over two dozen papers in various medical and health-related journals on topics such as modern day diseases (e.g., Alzheimer, autism, cardiovascular diseases), analysis and search of databases of drug side effects using NLP techniques, and the impact of nutritional deficiencies and environmental toxins on human health.

To view what is probably a short list of her extensive papers and research publications… go here: [people.csail.mit.edu]

I’ve had nagging thoughts wondering if the increasing incidence of atrial fibrillation and in younger ages, as well, might be a result of the increasing exposure to the pesticide, glyphosate aka Roundup, as well as the foods genetically engineered to withstand glyphosate – all deeply entwined and resulting in harmful effects. After reading Whitewash, watching various webinars on the topic and reading Dr. Seneff, it certainly could be a connection in some cases. And, something is certainly driving increasing incidence of arrhythmia. Additionally, many reports on the pesticides containing glyphosate such as Roundup® have been linked in studies that show a variety of health issues including cardiovascular. The General Forum post announcing liability litigation in California will be interesting to follow.

Meanwhile, consider these links:

Entropy 2013, 15, 1416-1463; doi:10.3390/e15041416
ISSN 1099-4300 www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy

Review
Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and
Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases
Anthony Samsel 1 and Stephanie Seneff 2,*

Contrary to the current widely-held misconception that glyphosate is relatively harmless to humans,
the available evidence shows that glyphosate may rather be the most important factor in the
development of multiple chronic diseases and conditions that have become prevalent in Westernized
societies. In addition to autism, these include gastrointestinal issues such as inflammatory bowel
disease, chronic diarrhea, colitis and Crohn’s disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease, depression,
cancer, cachexia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and ALS, among others.

While glyphosate is obviously not the only environmental toxin to contribute to these diseases and
conditions, glyphosate’s ability to disrupt the gut bacteria, to impair serum transport of sulfate and
phosphate, and to interfere with CYP enzymes, logically progresses to this multitude of diseased states,
through well-established biological processes. And glyphosate’s disruption of the body’s ability to
detoxify other environmental toxins leads to synergistic enhancement of toxicity. While genetics surely
play a role in susceptibility, genetics may rather influence which of these conditions develops in the
context of glyphosate exposure, rather than whether any of these conditions develops.


Cardiovascular Toxicology
April 2015, Volume 15, Issue 2, pp 117–126 |
Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Potently Affect Cardiovascular System in Mammals: Review of the Literature
Though heart disease had not been studied as extensively as cancers and birth defects in relation to glyphosate, the above study implicates its role in cardiac dysfunction. This is corroborated by the new finding that glyphosate formulations cause abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmia) by interfering with the electrical activity of heart cells in rabbits [68].

Same Title….more detail

Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Potently Affect Cardiovascular System in Mammals: Review of the Literature
Cardiovascular Toxicology
April 2015, Volume 15, Issue 2, pp 117–126
[link.springer.com]

Abstract
In glyphosate (G)-based herbicides (GBHs), the declared active principle G is mixed with several adjuvants that help it to penetrate the plants’ cell membranes and its stabilization and liposolubility. Its utilization is growing with genetically modified organisms engineered to tolerate GBH. Millions of farmers suffer poisoning and death in developing countries, and occupational exposures and suicide make GBH toxicity a worldwide concern. As GBH is found in human plasma, widespread hospital facilities for measuring it should be encouraged. Plasma determination is an essential prerequisite for risk assessment in GBH intoxication. Only when standard ECGs were performed, at least one abnormal ECG was detected in the large majority of cases after intoxication. QTc prolongation and arrhythmias along with first-degree atrioventricular block were observed after GBH intoxication. Thus, life-threatening arrhythmias might be the cause of death in GBH intoxication. Cardiac cellular effects of GBH were reviewed along with few case reports in men and scanty larger studies. We observed in two mammalian species (rats and rabbits) direct cardiac electrophysiological changes, conduction blocks and arrhythmias among GBH-mediated effects. Plasmatic (and urine) level determinations of G and electrocardiographic Holter monitoring seem warranted to ascertain whether cardiovascular risk among agro-alimentary workers might be defined.

68. Gress S1, Lemoine S, Puddu PE, Séralini GE, Rouet R. Cardiotoxic Electrophysiological Effects of the Herbicide Roundup® in Rat and Rabbit Ventricular Myocardium In Vitro. Cardiovasc Toxicol 2014 Dec 2. [Epub ahead of print]
[link.springer.com]


Cardiotoxic Electrophysiological Effects of the Herbicide Roundup® in Rat and Rabbit Ventricular Myocardium In Vitro
University of Caen, France, and Sapienza University of Rome, and published in the journal Cardiovascular Toxicology in December 2014
Abstract
Roundup (R), a glyphosate (G)-based herbicide (GBH), containing unknown adjuvants is widely dispersed around the world. Used principally by farmers, intoxications have increasingly been reported. We have studied R effects (containing 36 % of G) on right ventricular tissues (male Sprague–Dawley rats, up to 20,000 ppm and female New Zealand rabbits, at 25 and 50 ppm), to investigate R cardiac electrophysiological actions in vitro. We tested the reduced Ca++ intracellular uptake mechanism as one potential cause of the electrical abnormalities after GBH superfusion, using the Na+/K+-ATPase inhibitor ouabain or the 1,4-dihydropyridine L-type calcium channel agonist BAY K 8644 which increases I Ca. R concentrations were selected based on human blood ranges found after acute intoxication. The study showed dose-dependent V max, APD50 and APD90 variations during 45 min of R superfusion. At the highest concentrations tested, there was a high incidence of conduction blocks, and 30-min washout with normal Tyrode solution did not restore excitability. We also observed an increased incidence of arrhythmias at different doses of R. Ouabain and BAY K 8644 prevented V max decrease, APD90 increase and the cardiac inexcitability induced by R 50 ppm. Glyphosate alone (18 and 180 ppm) had no significant electrophysiological effects. Thus, the action potential prolonging effect of R pointing to I Ca interference might explain both conduction blocks and proarrhythmia in vitro. These mechanisms may well be causative of QT prolongation, atrioventricular conduction blocks and arrhythmias in man after GBH acute intoxications as reported in retrospective hospital records.

Cardiotoxic Electrophysiological Effects of the Herbicide Roundup® in Rat and...:
[www.researchgate.net] [accessed Mar 06 2018].

Jackie

So my question is and I actually made an issue of this last year locally, What about farms? I am surrounded by a farm that is used for soybean. Their processes include first spraying the acreage to "kill-off" all vegetation. I think they use 2-4-D (prob more dangerous). But anyway if it is round-up or contains glyphosate can that stuff be airborne as they spray etc.

these guys seem to be pretty loose with the process
Tim

Tim - yes, the pesticide drift from farms continues to be a concern. Much written about it.
Hot topic for years in California. [www.google.com]

Jackie

I live in Cotton,Soybean, Corn,Rice country in Northern Louisiana. It is easy to always find negative comments from progressive think tanks. I do realize some of this is true but in the long haul we would starve to death without agriculture. You cannot grow anything in my part of the country without pesticide control. Humid weather, High Temperatures, etc. etc.are a reality.
Heck, I have tried several times to grow a Organic small garden where Ilive and its just not possible.
The nearest “Organic” store is over 100 miles away. It is a Whole Foods and it is small and extremely expensive. I will never pay double or triple the price for something that claims to be Organic.
My Daddy is 85+ years old. He does not even know what Organic means and he could never afford the prices.
Reality, Reality.