Chronic Kidney Disease: CKDu

     CKD stands for Chronic Kidney Disease. The "u" designates cause unknown. An epidemic of this disease has been unleashed in central America, India and Sri Lanka. El Salvador has the highest mortality from kidney disease in the world. More men die from kidney disease in El Salvador and Nicaragua than die from AIDS, diabetes and leukemia. So many men have died in one rural patch of Nicaragua that the area is known as "The Island of the Widows." Over 20,000 people in Sri Lanka have died from CKDu over two decades.
     Dr. Channa Jayasumana and his associates from Sri Lanka have put forward the hypothesis that the culprit is glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. The chemical was originally patented as a chelating agent. The theory is that glyphosate binds toxic metals like arsenic and cadmium. The glyphosate coat acts like a Trojan horse allowing the toxic metals to escape detection by the liver. They then enter the blood stream and are released in the acid environment of the kidney, destroying the kidney.
     El Salvador banned glyphosate in 2013 and Sri Lanka banned the product in 2014. The US government has threatened to withhold almost 300 million in aid for El Salvador unless they buy glyphosate resistant GMO seed from Monsanto.
     Half of Monsanto's yearly profit comes from sales of either Roundup or GMO seeds designed to be Roundup resistant. The US government is heavily influenced by Monsanto and pushes genetically modified foods at every opportunity.
     The researchers in Sri Lanka found an association between hardness of ground water, arsenic and kidney disease. Eighty-five percent of the cases of this new disease were middle aged male farmers. Almost all victims were drinking well water. The higher the mineral content of the water the greater the number of cases of the disease. Victims of the disease displayed an abnormal spotty pigmentation of the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. You can click the link below for a PowerPoint presentation on the problem with photographs of this spotty pigmentation part way through the document. Very high levels of arsenic were found in the urine and hair of individuals suffering with CKDu.
     The arsenic was found in rice coming from the area where the disease was found. Arsenic was also found in drinking water and soils. The researchers found that the arsenic was a contaminant in 50% of pesticides used on crops and was also present in super phosphate fertilizers. The researchers suggested that cadmium toxicity could also be involved.Reference:
http://www.alternet.org/environment/monsantos-linked-fatal-kidney-disease-epidemic-could-it-topple-company
Click here for link showing spotty pigmentation.