Round-up and Rebirth with Dr. Zach Bush
This post is inspired by the work of Dr. Zach Bush, whom I was lucky enough to see during his recent tour: Pathways to Regeneration.
Zach is an internationally recognised educator and thought leader on the microbiome as the basis for planetary and human health. He is a Triple Board certified physician, with specialities in internal medicine, endocrinology and hospice care but beyond his accolades, he is a deeply concerned earthling, striving for a more beautiful version of humanity.
Much of Zach’s work focuses on the root cause of disease. He explores what few people seem to be talking about; the link between the degradation of our planet and our soils and the rapid rise in chronic disease, both of which are happening so quickly that extinction in our lifetimes has become a very real possibility. [1]
On our current trajectory, ~95% of our soils are set to be degraded by 2050 [2] and deserts may cover nearly two-thirds of the world’s surface (up from ~38% today) [3]. Cancer is affecting 1 in 2 people, sperm counts have dropped by up to 60% since the 1970s [4], mental illness, loneliness and a loss of social connection have become epidemic and we are on target to see a diagnosis of autism in 1/3 of children by 2035. [5]
This is highly confronting but when we have a basic understanding of ecosystem function it is not so hard to imagine. Soil is life and we are flushing it down the toilet and with it, the extra strength chemicals that we use to clean the bowl.
At the heart of the issue is the rise of chemical agriculture, in particular the use of glyphosate. The main ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate acts by inhibiting enzymatic activity. By prohibiting the production of the essential amino acids necessary for the growth of plants, fungi and bacteria, glyphosate decimates microbial life.
As nature would have it, the mechanism by which we decimate microbial life in the soil so to undermines microbial populations in our guts. As a result, tight junctions in the gastrointestinal lining begin to lose their integrity (aka Leaky gut) and we begin to lose our natural defences. So heavy has been the use of this water-soluble weed killer come crop desiccant that it has infiltrated the planetary water cycle. This stuff is literally everywhere: in soil, rivers, rain, food, in all water systems including the body of water that is you. [6,7]
Zach explains, “we essentially started drinking Roundup in the 1990s. Within the US, the Mississippi River alone collects more than 80% of the entire country’s Roundup. It’s no surprise that the last 90 miles of the river are called Cancer Alley, seeing the highest cancer rates in the entire developed world.” [8]
When we overlay lifestyle factors, such as the consumption of heavily processed foods, with the toxic exposure we inevitably meet in our environment it is not hard to see why we are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction. Even without all the science, is it so hard to believe that way we use and pollute land, how we extract/consume/discard and how we have separated ourselves from our Mother would be destroying our immune systems?
I feel that many people are starting to see this and we are beginning to witness a rebirth in the midst of the chaos. So many are beginning to break free of the mechanical mindset that isolates us from the natural world. We are beginning to learn that we don’t need to kill things to grow things, a realisation that we do need everything – the bacteria and the fungi, the earthworms and the beavers – all the biodiversity that the Creator placed in our care.
The turning point for our planet is a change of mind, a belief that when we restore the Earth’s garden, we will heal the garden inside us. Let us turn our attention to the soil, place our hands inside the earth, ground ourselves in her infinite wisdom and participate in the creation of life.
References
Dr. Zach Bush, “Virome”, Zach Bush MD, https://zachbushmd.com/knowledge-virome/
Unknown Author, “Saving our soils by all earthly ways possible”, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, July 27, 2022, https://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1599222/
Robert Mcsweeney, “Explainer: ‘Desertification’ and the role of climate change”, Climate Brief, August 6, 2019, https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-desertification-and-the-role-of-climate-change/
Ryan P. Smith, Male fertility is declining – studies show that environmental toxins could be a reason”, The Conversation, August 3, 2021, “https://theconversation.com/male-fertility-is-declining-studies-show-that-environmental-toxins-could-be-a-reason-163795
Dr. Zach Bush, Dr. Peter Cummings, “GMOs: Engineering the Nature out of Humanity”, Zach Mush MD, https://zachbushmd.com/gmo-2/
Kavita Gandhi, Shaila Khan, Mansi Patrikar, Aishwarya Markad, Niraj Kumar, Aaditee Choudhari, Pallavi Sagar, Shreya Indurkar, “Exposure risk and environmental impacts of glyphosate: Highlights on the toxicity of herbicide co-formulants”, Environmental Challenges, Volume 4, 2021, 100149, ISSN 2667-0100, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2021.100149, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010021001281
Unknown Author, “Roundup for Breakfast, Part 2: In New Tests, Weed Killer Found in All Kids’ Cereals”, October 24, 2018, https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2018/10/roundup-breakfast-part-2-new-tests-weed-killer-found-all-kids
Dr. Zach Bush, Dr. Peter Cummings, “GMOs: Engineering the Nature out of Humanity”, Zach Mush MD, https://zachbushmd.com/gmo-2/
See also:
https://agemed.org/wp-content/uploads/BUSH-The-Gut-Brain-Continuum-Revelations-on-Microbiome-in-the-the-Neuroendocrine-System.pdf
