(NaturalNews) New research out of Sri Lanka has demonstrated a toxicological aspect of glyphosate that many scientists and laymen alike have overlooked or never even investigated. Besides its inherent toxicity, glyphosate, the primary herbicide chemical used in Monsanto's Roundup formula, actually makes other toxins and heavy metals more damaging to the body than they otherwise would be on their own.

During the same year that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena announced a ban on the import and use of glyphosate due to its nephrotoxicity, researchers from Rajarata University and California State University Long Beach determined that glyphosate amplifies the way heavy metals pollute and disrupt normal bodily functions, including the normal function of the kidneys.

C. Jayasumana and his team, who conducted previous research on glyphosate, are trying to get to the bottom of an epidemic of SAN, or Sri Lankan Agricultural Nephropathy, that has been affecting Sri Lankan paddy farmers at an ever-increasing rate since 1994, which is right around the time glyphosate was introduced. Earlier research pegged both arsenic and cadmium exposure as factors in this deadly endemic disease, which manifests as tubulo-interstitial type nephropathy.

For their study, the team collected urine samples from patients with SAN living in the Padavi-Sripura region of the country, one of the locations where SAN rates have reached epic proportions. They then compared these samples to those collected from two sets of control groups, one with healthy participants from the same region, and another with participants living in another part of the country.

After analyzing all the samples for 19 different heavy metals as well as the presence of glyphosate, the team learned that heavy metal contamination was particularly problematic in the endemic region and specifically amplified in those who were also exposed to glyphosate. In other words, participants with glyphosate in their systems also had higher-than-normal levels of heavy metals.

"People in disease endemic areas [are] exposed to multiple heavy metals and glyphosate," the study reports. "Results are supportive of toxicological origin of SAN that is confined to specific geographical areas ... multiple heavy metals and glyphosates may play a role in the pathogenesis."

"Heavy metals excessively present in the urine samples of patients with SAN are capable of causing damage to kidneys. Synergistic effects of multiple heavy metals and agrochemicals may be nephrotoxic."

Glyphosate directly associated with kidney damage, as evidenced by higher creatinine levels

Levels of creatinine, the waste product left over from the production and use of creatine in muscle metabolism, were also found to be substantially higher in participants exposed to glyphosate. Creatinine levels in the body generally level out at around two percent under healthy circumstances, but in the participants who were contaminated with glyphosate and heavy metals, creatinine levels were much higher.

Elevated levels of creatinine are indicative of impaired kidney function or kidney disease, which suggests that glyphosate, heavy metals, or more likely a combination of both are causative factors in impaired kidney function and kidney disease, as demonstrated in the study.

"Epidemiological studies have shown a strong association between exposure to heavy metals and the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD)," the authors explain in their paper, which was published in the journal BMC Nephrology.

"We measured glyphosate in urine because two authors ... have formulated a hypothesis that incriminates glyphosate and heavy metal complexes as a causative factor for SAN."

Dr. Stephanie Seneff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has conducted her own research on this subject and reached similar conclusions. Be sure to check out her findings and solutions at the following link.

Sources for this article include:

BioMedCentral.com

GMWatch.org

GMWatch

MedicineNet.com

LewRockwell.com