Allergies to Monoculture Food Crops Growing

June 4, 2013

Flickr - Wheat - Dag EndresenCase Adams, Naturopath, Green Med Info
Waking Times

Not so long ago a family farm produced a myriad of crops for the family and local community, including vegetables, corn, squash, cabbage and others. Today’s farms are a different proposition altogether, and monoculture food production is not only proving to be hard on the land and environment, but it is also increasingly causing hay fever and allergies.

Allergy specialists from France’s Nancy University and the Allergy Vigilance Network conducted a large-scale study of children and adults with regard to their sensitivity to the monoculture crops of corn/maize and rapeseed – grown on giant farms in the midst of small towns scattered throughout Europe.

The sixty-nine allergy researchers, members of the Allergy Vigilance Network, conducted a study that included 2,515 children and 2,857 adults. The subjects were tested for either having an allergy or sensitivity to these crops – or having an immune sensitivity that would likely to develop into an allergy.

The research found that among the 5,372 total people tested, 62% suffered from some sort of allergy with symptoms, while 10% had an allergy but no symptoms, and 27% had no allergies. Of those who had symptomatic allergies, 26% were allergic to maize/corn pollen while nearly 12% were allergic to rapeseed pollen. And over 8% were allergic to corn seed.

But among those who lived closer to monoculture farms that planted and harvested these crops, the allergy rates to those crops were much higher. Of symptomatic allergic individuals, nearly 14% of those living near rapeseed crops were allergic to rapeseed, while over 21% of the asymptomatic allergic people were sensitive to rapeseed (compared to 8% among the whole study population).


    • Of those asymptomatic allergy sufferers who lived closer to farms, over 30% were allergic to corn/maize pollen (compared to 19% among the whole study population).

    These statistics reveal not only a growing trend of allergies among Europeans exposed to monoculture crops, but the closer they live to the farms, the more likely their allergies to these crops are.

    The Researchers Concluded

    The incidence of sensitisation to rapeseed and maize pollen is positively correlated to the level of exposure…. The frequency of sensitization confirms the allergenicity of these plants destined for food supply and demonstrates the importance of monitoring for respiratory allergies to these pollens, not only in workers exposed to these types of crops, but also in atopic patients living in regions that contain a high density of rapeseed and maize fields.

    The researchers also correlated other studies that have shown that pollen sensitivities can lead to certain food allergies:

    Cross-reactivities between pollens and seeds could potentially elicit cross-reacting food allergies.

    In the last fifty years, families throughout the world have increasingly given up the production of their own food for their families and communities. Huge populations of people who once homesteaded their land to produce food have moved to the cities, where population density and pollution is making us sicker, more sensitive, and our environment more polluted.

    This trend is spawning the growth of giant monoculture farming companies that typically do not replenish the soil, but use chemical fertilizers and monoculture seed crops – often genetically modified. This monoculture with chemical fertilizers depletes precious soil nutrients – causing massive soil erosion. And the widespread use of chemical fertilizers is wrecking havoc in our oceans and waterways – producing “dead zones” throughout the world with massive sealife die-offs.

    Monoculture has also resulted in the loss of nearly three-quarters of the plant varieties that once gave us an array of phytonutrition.

    Should we continue along this path, the future will not only bear us more limited varieties of blander food tasting the same where ever we go: It may also result in us becoming allergic to many of our foods.

    Learn about natural solutions (besides avoidance) for food allergies.

    About the Author

    Case Adams is a California Naturopath and holds a Ph.D. in Natural Health Sciences. His focus is upon science-based natural health solutions. He is the author of 25 books on natural health and numerous print and internet articles. His work can be found at http://www.caseadams.com.

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