Can you imagine a world in which autism is so rare that most people have never heard of it? Or a world in which there are no “gluten-free” foods in the supermarket, or one where the chronic disease rate in those between age five and 25 is not 1 in 3?

That is the world in which I grew up. The rise in these health issues began in the late 1990s. So were there environmental changes which began in the 1990s that could be contributing to these issues?

When my son was diagnosed with mild autism, I embarked on years of research, incorporating scientific studies and doctors’ analyses. Through this research, I came across an article from Channa Jayasumana and colleagues that examined an epidemic among rice paddy farmers in Sri Lanka that began in the 1990s, baffling scientists. This article, released over a decade ago, found 400,000 affected and 20,000 dead from a chronic kidney disease. The water there was high in minerals, but people were drinking the water before the 1990s without a problem. The environment change was that the farmers began spraying glyphosate (the herbicide in Roundup) on their crops at this time.

The article theorizes that glyphosate’s connection with a protein called metallothionein, or MT protein, is causing the problem. One function of MT proteins is to attach to toxic minerals and usher them out of the body. They hypothesized that glyphosate, since it is similar in structure to MT proteins, may be attaching to these minerals, and instead of getting rid of them, they are escorting them to the kidneys, where they get stuck, causing kidney disease.

This hypothesis resonates, but doesn’t explain other health issues many encounter, such as autism and gluten intolerance. But it started me thinking about MT proteins. I then found a study showing that glyphosate disrupts the synthesis of proteins high in cysteine, an amino acid critical for MT protein formation. So, if the synthesis of MT proteins in us is being disrupted by glyphosate, could it be causing these recent health issues?

Dr. William Walsh’s book, “Nutrient Power,” lists 15 MT protein functions, all relating to health issues we suddenly began seeing in the late 1990s.

First, as I mentioned, they help detox heavy metals, which could explain why the farmers suddenly couldn’t detox the hard water.

Second, they are the main protection at the blood/brain barrier to keep toxic metals from entering the brain. This could explain why aluminum from vaccines or toxins from other sources are able to enter the brain of a young child and cause autism.

Third, they protect the enzymes that digest gluten. As I mentioned, there were no “gluten-free” foods in the supermarket when I was growing up.

Walsh also mentions that with low MT protein activity, there are fewer T cells in the body, which protect us from autoimmune disease and cancer.

That relates to another health issue we’ve heard about a lot, as tens of thousands have sued Monsanto in recent years after contracting non-Hodgkin lymphoma. An additional function of MT proteins is the regulation of transcription factors. Transcription factors are proteins that control the transcription of DNA into RNA. According to an article by J O’Neil and A T Look, “[D]eregulated transcription and its consequent effects on key developmental pathways play a major role in the molecular pathogenesis of lymphoid malignancy.” In other words, with fewer MT proteins to regulate transcription, there is a greater chance of developing a lymphoid malignancy, such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

In the early 1990s, Michael Taylor, a former lobbyist for Monsanto, was appointed deputy commissioner for policy for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). During this time, GMOs became available in food. Meanwhile, Phil Angell, Monsanto’s director of corporate communications, said: “Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.”

In 2017, a federal judge in California unsealed documents revealing emails between Monsanto and federal regulators. The files were unsealed by Judge Vince Chhabria, who was presiding over lawsuits by people claiming to have developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma because of exposure to glyphosate. They showed that Jess Rowland, a deputy division director at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who was supposed to be policing Monsanto, instead used ghostwritten articles by Monsanto employees and signed by independent scientists to affirm glyphosate’s safety. Yet in the 2026 Supreme Court ruling, Monsanto v. Durnell, favoring Monsanto/Bayer and their glyphosate, the court claims, “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has repeatedly evaluated glyphosate and concluded it is not likely to cause cancer, and as a result, EPA has not required a cancer warning on Roundup’s label.”

The sudden rise in autism and chronic disease has baffled doctors and scientists for decades, and it’s important to question what environmental factors may have caused this surge. The EPA and the Department of Health and Human Services are currently reviewing their assessment of glyphosate’s safety, as federal law requires periodically. The disruption of MT proteins from the glyphosate we’re consuming is one theory that calls for due diligence and scientific research.   

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This article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal.

Image credit: Unsplash