{"id":11693,"date":"2020-04-07T10:46:11","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T17:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nebulous-oyster.flywheelsites.com\/?p=11693"},"modified":"2023-08-15T06:26:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T13:26:30","slug":"glyphosate-and-covid-19-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/glyphosate-and-covid-19-connection\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecting the Dots: Glyphosate and COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Is

Is there a connection between glyphosate and COVID-19? Photo of a woman wearing a mask courtesy of Arya Pratama via Unsplash.<\/p><\/div>\n

Are glyphosate and COVID-19 connected?<\/h3>\n

Glyphosate, one of the most toxic chemicals in the world, may be the key to why some people get severely ill from COVID-19. An MIT senior research scientist reports:<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D.
\n<\/strong>Special to JenniferMargulis.net<\/a><\/p>\n

The pandemic that we have long been told is coming any day now has unfortunately arrived. A new strain of coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2, causing the new disease called COVID-19<\/a>, has taken the world by storm, practically shutting down the global economy and overwhelming hospital systems.<\/p>\n

I’m a senior research scientist at MIT. I have devoted over 12 years to trying to understand the role of toxic chemicals in the deterioration of human health. I’ve been particularly focused on figuring out what has been driving the skyrocketing rates of autism<\/a> in America and around the world. My research strongly suggests that glyphosate<\/a> (the active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup) is a primary cause of the autism epidemic in the United States. When the COVID-19 pandemic began its march across the world, I started to consider whether glyphosate<\/a> might play a role.<\/p>\n

If there is indeed a connection between glyphosate and COVID-19, understanding why and how could play a critical role in combating this pandemic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coronaviruses are the cause of the common cold, a nuisance for sure, but usually not considered dangerous. Somehow this one is different. It seems to ferociously attack the lungs, causing the immune system to launch a so-called \u201ccytokine storm,\u201d an exaggerated response by the immune system to an infection that can lead to collateral damage to the lung tissues.<\/p>\n

The molecules that are released cause extensive oxidative damage, overwhelming antioxidant defenses. The lungs get destroyed by the body\u2019s own immune system, and the process can terminate either in asphyxiation due to insufficient oxygen, or a complete blood meltdown with massive clot formations throughout the vasculature, often associated with sepsis and\/or multiple organ failure.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all been reading about people who have died<\/a> from respiratory failure due to what, for some, can be a devastating infectious disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But such disastrous outcomes only happens in a small percentage of those who are infected. Others experience only a bad cold, or even a mild cold or, remarkably, no symptoms at all. My colleague\u2019s 20-year-old daughter had a CDC-confirmed case. But she had only two symptoms: fatigue and a loss of a sense of smell.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the difference between the people who rapidly succumb to the virus and tragically die, like this father and teacher in New York<\/a>\u00a0, and people, like my colleague\u2019s daughter, who barely notice they are sick?<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s the difference between the geographical locations where the virus is causing a serious crisis and those that hardly notice a departure from normalcy?<\/p>\n

Innate versus adaptive immunity
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I believe the answer may lie in the state of health of the person\u2019s innate immune system.<\/p>\n

The human immune system consists of an \u201cinnate\u201d component that is always active and normally very competent to clear most infections that come along, and an \u201cadaptive\u201d component which is a second-line defense system called into play when the innate system is overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

The innate <\/strong>component produces a number of different specialized proteins that can hunt down and trap viruses, delivering them to macrophages for clearance.<\/p>\n

The adaptive immune system<\/strong> has basically two branches, one of which produces a \u201ccytokine storm\u201d in an attempt to \u201cshoot\u201d the rapidly proliferating viruses with toxic molecules. The other branch produces antibodies that are specific to the infective agent, but this can lead to autoimmune disease<\/a> down the road through a process called molecular mimicry.<\/p>\n

If the innate immune system is broken, the adaptive system goes into overdrive. When this happens there can be sufficient collateral damage to ultimately kill the host<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why did Robert and Elizabeth Mar both die? A surprising hypothesis about glyphosate and COVID-19<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Robert and Elizabeth Mar were a couple who lived in Seattle. They ran a popular restaurant in the section of the city called Maple Leaf<\/a> [1]. Tragically, they both succumbed to COVID-19 and died within two days of each other.<\/p>\n

The Mars were both in their 70s, so they match the profile of increased susceptibility due to older age. But perhaps a more significant factor was the fact that their restaurant was located just a few blocks from Interstate 5, an 8-lane highway where trucks, buses, and cars passed by all day long, spewing out toxic exhaust fumes.<\/p>\n

Why would the location of their restaurant matter? My hypothesis is that the biofuel industry is inadvertently introducing glyphosate into fuels that power our cars, trucks, buses, airplanes, and ships. While it has long been known that exhaust fumes are toxic to the lungs, there has been a transformation in the fuel industry over the past decade that may have led to a critical increase in the toxicity of the fumes. Specifically, aerosolized glyphosate may be causing damage to the lungs that makes catching what should be a mild cold into a serious health crisis.<\/p>\n

Glyphosate<\/a> is the active ingredient in the pervasive herbicide, Roundup. It\u2019s used extensively on GMO and non-GMO crops alike, both to control weeds and as a desiccant at the harvest. The waste products from these crops are the raw components that go into the biofuels.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/p>\n

Figure 1:<\/strong> Map of the area around Queens, New York. Map provided by Google Maps.<\/p>\n

A link to waterways, highways, and airports<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Seattle is a coastal city, situated between Lake Washington and Elliot Bay, with Lake Union to the north. Water comprises 41% of the area of Seattle. Wuhan, China, is the city where the COVID-19 outbreak first started. The Yangtze River slices through Wuhan. The Yangtze River is highly polluted with industrial wastewater discharge, as well as with runoff of fertilizer and pesticides from adjacent agricultural lands.<\/p>\n

The two biggest hot spots in the United States of coronavirus are New York City and New Orleans. New York City is at the mouth of the Hudson River, and New Orleans is at the mouth of the mighty Mississippi. The connection between glyphosate<\/a> and COVID-19 could be seen in locations where dangerous runoff is more prevalent.<\/p>\n

If you look at a map of the hot spots as of March 26, 2020, you see a huge area that tracks the Mississippi down to New Orleans, as well as a series of hot spots in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa that trace the Missouri River, a tributary of the Mississippi.<\/p>\n

There is another cluster of COVID-19 outbreaks between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Chicago, Illinois along the west bank of Lake Michigan. The Hudson River has basically a straight-line course north to south, originating in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York and terminating in New York Harbor. The entire course of the river is buried in hot spots on the map, with a huge hot spot centered over New York City.<\/p>\n

Queens, New York is perhaps the most affected area in all of the United States. A case can certainly be made for New York being vulnerable due to the large number of international visitors as well as excess crowding in a metropolitan area.<\/p>\n

However, as the map below shows, Queens is also nearly surrounded by water, and it has La Guardia International Airport just to the north and JFK to the south. \u00a0It is cut through by three major interstate highways, I-278, I-495, and I-678.<\/p>\n

Aviation biofuels<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The airline industry has been exploring the use of aviation biofuels since at least 2009. United Airlines was the first airline to introduce aviation biofuel in its airplanes, and the first city in the world to offer aviation biofuel was Los Angeles, California.<\/p>\n

Within California, Los Angeles is a COVID-19 hot spot. United offers many flights to the United hub just to the south of New York City, Newark Liberty International.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands has been harder hit than many other countries of Europe. In 2011, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines became the first airline in the world to operate a commercial flight on aviation biofuels<\/a> [2]. The fuels were biokerosene derived from used cooking oil.<\/p>\n

United Airlines, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and Air France, now all power airplanes with a blend of conventional fuel and aviation biofuel. All offer services into and out of New York City<\/a>. Other cities with major airports in the United States, besides New York City and Los Angeles, stand out as hot spots, such as Denver and Salt Lake City in the Mountain West.\"Map<\/p>\n

Figure 2:<\/strong> A map of the hot spots in the United States where COVID-19 infection rates are highest, as of March 26, 2020. At this point in time, the United States had the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among all countries in the world. See this CNBC article<\/a> [3] for details.<\/p>\n

Glyphosate and COVID-19: <\/strong>contaminated biofuels<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Carbon emissions have become a focal issue in the fight to reverse climate change<\/a>. One promising approach has been to convert waste biomass into oil-based fuels to augment diesel fuel<\/a> [4].<\/p>\n

Europe has been a leader in deploying biodiesel fuel derived from food waste vegetable oils, such as olive oil<\/a> [5].<\/p>\n

The United States has seen some successful enterprises launch<\/a>, based on converting \u201cwoody biomass\u201d (waste from the forest industry) and the stalks of corn and wheat post-harvest into biodiesel fuel [6].<\/p>\n

All of these sources can be expected to be contaminated with glyphosate.<\/p>\n

Despite being the world\u2019s biggest producer of biodiesel, Europe still depends significantly on imports to supply its demand for biodiesel<\/a> [7]. Imports increased by two-fold between 2016 and 2017, and again by 3-fold between 2017 and 2018. In 2018, Europe imported nearly one billion gallons of biodiesel. Much of this came from Argentina. Argentina, in turn, exports nearly half of its production to places around the world, and the source of its biodiesel is GMO Roundup-Ready soybeans.<\/p>\n

Italy has developed a technology that involves gathering used olive oil from restaurants and converting it into biodiesel fuel. While Italy does not allow GMO crops, the country routinely uses glyphosate to control the weeds growing around olive trees.<\/p>\n

Lombardy, Italy has been a hot spot for COVID-19 even before the epidemic emerged in the U.S. Lombardy has a serious issue with air pollution<\/a>, particularly with respect to diesel fuel [8].<\/p>\n

The three leading cities<\/a> in the United States in utilizing biodiesel both in vehicles and as heating oil for homes are:<\/p>\n