Health
Pesticide in food that's 'making America sick again' may get free pass
A bill waiting on the desk of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has drawn criticism from those supporting the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, who claim it would impede lawsuits against pesticide companies.
Georgia SB 144 would “clarify that a manufacturer cannot be held liable for failing to warn consumers of health risks above those required by the United States Environmental Protection Agency with respect to pesticides,” reads the bill.
Emma Post, a spokesperson for MAHA Action based in Los Angeles, told Fox News Digital, “The bill is literally making America sick again.”
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The legislation comes as Bayer Monsanto, producer of the Roundup weed killer, was ordered last week by a Georgia jury to pay nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who says the product caused his cancer, according to reports.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long been a vocal critic of Roundup, working with his legal team in 2018 to award $289 million to a man who alleged the weed killer caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
A proposed Georgia bill would shield pesticide companies from lawsuits, as a Georgia man recently won a lawsuit claiming that a weed killer caused his cancer. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Glyphosate, a pesticide used in products such as Roundup, has been shown to raise cancer risk in studies.
In a study published in the journal Mutation Research, University of Washington researchers found that exposure to the pesticide raises the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma by 41%.
Kelly Ryerson, founder of Glyphosate Facts and owner of the Instagram account @glyphosategirl, told Fox News Digital that her journey researching the herbicide began with her own health struggles.
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Ryerson, who is based in California, previously struggled with chronic illness and autoimmune issues, which she said improved when she stopped eating gluten.
After attending a medical conference at Columbia University’s Celiac Disease Center, Ryerson began to question modern farming practices rather than the gluten itself.
Kelly Ryerson, founder of Glyphosate Facts, experienced chronic illness and autoimmune issues, which she said improved when she stopped eating gluten. (Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
“A lot of times, farmers are spraying Roundup on our grains right before harvest to facilitate an easier harvest,” said Ryerson.
“After that easier harvest, because everything’s dry at the same time, those crops go directly to the mill and may end up in our food supply, at really alarmingly high levels.”
Ryerson said she has been advocating against “pesticide liability shields” such as the bill in Georgia.
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“This is a terrifying thing.” She added, “All of those victims will not be able to sue.”
Amid concerns about fertility, Ryerson said she brought three sperm samples to a lab to be tested, and glyphosate was present.
“The bill is literally making America sick again.”
“It crosses the blood-test barrier. It is also shown to kill sperm,” she cautioned. “So now when you’re eating that every single day, which we all are, because it’s ubiquitous — it’s in the water. It’s in the food, it’s in the air. We can’t avoid it.”
Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals have found that glyphosate can harm sperm quality.
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Farmers Dana and Lauren Cavalea of Freedom Farms in Greene, New York, told Fox News Digital that they don’t use any chemicals in their fields.
“We use the animals to restore and regenerate the land,” said Lauren Cavalea.
Two farmers in New York (not pictured) told Fox News Digital that they don’t use any chemicals in their fields. (iStock)
“[There are] other things that are outside of our control,” Dana Cavalea added. For instance, “if you have folks nearby who are using chemicals … there’s a chance they [will] get into your ground.”
He went on, “You have a lot of people who are financially distressed, trying to keep their farms going. In order to create max production, we have to use these remedies that have been provided to us in order to create mass production.”
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He noted that it is a complicated yet simple system, and that he hopes to see things change amid the MAHA movement.
A spokesperson for Monsanto/Bayer — maker of Roundup — said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the verdict in the recent Georgia case “conflicts with the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and the consensus of regulatory bodies and their scientific assessments worldwide.”
In 2023, the EU Commission re-approved glyphosate for 10 years. (Getty Images)
Following scientific assessments in 2023, the European Union Commission re-approved glyphosate for another 10 years.
“We continue to stand fully behind the safety of Roundup products — critical tools that farmers rely on to produce affordable food and feed the world,” added the Monsanto spokesperson.
Fox News Digital reached out to the EPA and Governor Kemp’s office for comment.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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