A friend brought to my attention a new post by The Healthy Home Economist called The Real Reason Wheat is Toxic. After steam came out of my ears from how upset I was reading this, I took the time to respond, so I hope she approves my comment which is currently awaiting moderation. In case she doesnt, here it is: My name is Sarah and I’m a farm wife and mom of two little boys. We are wheat, canola and yellow pea farmers on >6000 acres in Alberta, Canada and are very proud to be so. I find your article flawed and, quite frankly, offensive saying that what we grow is “toxic” (toxic=poison), and here’s why: - Stephanie Senneff, ia a very well known anti-GMO proponent, whom I’ve read about a lot in the last year. One of the reasons why my red flag goes up when Senneff’s name is behind research is that she’s a senior research scientist at the computer science and artificial intelligence lab at MIT with a biophysics degree also from MIT. She also has an electrical engineering degree from MIT too. So why the research on pesticides from an electrical engineer/computer scientist? From my research and understanding, she concludes her research using algorithms in her computer lab - Nearly everything she has published has been on open source, pay to play, low level journals. What they call a peer review process is anybody’s guess. The journal she publishes in, “Entropy”, is also not related to Agriculture or Genetics or any other remotely related subject. - Here’s some links that ‘debunk’ Dr. Senneff’s work if you care to take a look: appliedmythology.blogspot.ca/.../a-fishy-attempt... alternet.org/.../meet-controversial-mit... examiner/.../does-roundup-cause-celiac... ultimateglutenfree/.../does-glyphosate-cause.../ I could go on and on. I think it’s really important to remember that correlation doesn’t always equal causation. - You say “Roundup lethally disrupts the all important shikimate pathway found in beneficial gut microbes which is responsible for synthesis of critical amino acids.” Humans don’t have a shikimate pathway, Roundup doesn’t affect us. - Dr. Davis (author of “Wheat Belly”) is a cardiologist. His background (like Seneff) is not in agriculture, biotechnology, genetics or even nutrition. His book has also been debunked time and time again and is cherry-picked science at best. - The practice of desiccating wheat with glyphosate is approved for use as long as the farmer is not using that field for seed (saving seeds to plant for next season). You can read more here: www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/.../deptdocs.nsf/all/faq7206... and every farmer has a herbicide book to reference and this is the one we use on our farm: www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/.../8f417f9cb.../$FILE/606-1.pdf and on page 154 regarding glyphosate it is listed for use “pre-harvest control of quackgrass, Canada-thistle, milkweed, toadflax, dandelion, season-long control of perennial sow-thistle, and harvest management.” Maximum residue levels (MRLs) are strictly set and monitored. We don’t just spend money recklessly (herbicides are very expensive) and take great pride in how we grow and harvest our crops. My husband is the true expert of the two of us and I know he’d be happy to answer your questions, you can ask on Twitter @WheatlanderJay. There are guidelines (as with everything we do in agriculture) that is backed by research and science. Can I kindly ask that before you make further allegations and call what we grow “toxic” that you speak with more than one farmer (that you quoted from the Wheat Belly book and I assume you didn’t actually speak with yourself?) that uses these tools and methods to grow crops as their livelihood? We live in an information-rich world and it’s so easy for misinformation to spread so fast, but it’s also easy to connect with real farmers, scientists, researchers and wheat growers and commissions at the click of a few buttons. We would be more than happy to further discuss our practices with you. We love to teach and help to dispel myths that there are in agriculture. I also recently wrote a post about modern wheat: The Skinny on Modern Wheat. nurselovesfarmer/2014/11/the-skinny-on-modern-wheat/ Thanks, Sarah
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 18:46:27 +0000
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