[FoodWThrow]

I agree with your post, this is just a small nit:

> organic wheat does not come in contact with glyphosate

Organic crops do have pesticides in them, just in lower quantities. You cannot reverse half a century of pesticide abuse simply by rotating to organic farming in a few isolated places. It's everywhere, including the soil. Even if the farmer doesn't spray glyphosate, it still exists in the environment.

Wheat is also notorious for the amount of pesticide that can be found in it. Glyphosate is just 1 part of the equation, but that is another discussion.

[Ekaros]

But why then only wheat? Why not all vegetable or even meat? Surely if it propagates that well it is in everything edible...

[FoodWThrow]

Vegetables do have it, and other pesticides too. But depending on the crop, the application is different, and often stopped (or nearly stopped) by the skin. Leafy vegetables have no such protection, hence why they are almost universally "dirty." Depending on the type and amount, pesticides can and do penetrate the skin, like that of an Apple.

Wheat is a little more special, because it is the most important crop of humankind, full stop. It is also protected by a shell, which gives the false sense of safety. Nuts too contain impressive amounts of pesticides because of the ubiquitous application, and the same perceived sense of safety. However, both nuts, wheat, and other grains hold on to pesticide very well.

If you were asking about gluten allergy specifically, I don't think that's about pesticides at all. At least I just don't see a convincing evidence. Though that doesn't mean pesticides can't interfere with the mechanism. Like practically all things with our food, we simply don't know the answer.

> even meat?

Pesticides are present in meat, though they are in lesser quantities iirc. We have laws against antibiotic use in farming for a reason, they too contaminate meat very easily. Though, at least with antibiotics, if you cook the meat for 45 minutes, their bactericide effect is almost completely broken down. I say almost, because that, we also don't know. The best research that I know was conducted by Iran, so take that with a grain of salt.

[nonethewiser]

Well maybe it’s not only wheat. Alleged gluten allergies are mostly self reported. And it usually takes people years to figure it out. Very plausible that other things cause the same problems sometimes.

[scq]

Glyphosate is not a persistent organic pollutant. Depending on the conditions, half-life in the environment could be as short as a few days.

[FoodWThrow]

This is a bit misleading, though my original post was a bit misleading too, now that I read it again (I was speaking more general, rather than just wheat, but may have misspoke regardless).

Glyphosate famously breaks down after two weeks, but those are for the perfect conditions, and the advice is to increase water to disperse the chemical. Textbook half-life is between 3 days and 19 weeks, though under what conditions, they are a bit hazy. Still, I would be inclined to believe that number when it comes to wheat.

Glyphosate on other crops, particularly trees for example, can take much, much longer to disappear, if at all. Trees that were sprayed 12 years prior can still have glyphosate in their tissues (Canadian study). Root plants are particularly good at retaining and accumulating it.