What is Glyphosate?
At first glance, glyphosate and forest fires may seem unrelated to your pet’s health. But look at the bigger picture. Decisions about agriculture, land management, and environmental stewardship carry far-reaching consequences. They affect ecosystems, wildlife, and ultimately the health of people and pets. You don’t need to be a chemist, a farmer, or a forester to understand why glyphosate matters. You simply need to understand one basic principle: everything we introduce into nature has consequences.
Glyphosate is a chemical compound (C₃H₈NO₅P) that has been used for more than 50 years and is best known as the active ingredient in Roundup® herbicide. It was developed as a powerful herbicide to kill unwanted vegetation, and it has become one of the most widely used and toxic agricultural chemicals worldwide.
But glyphosate is not just a weed killer. From a holistic perspective, the effects of glyphosate represent a much larger issue. It requires us to look beyond the plant being sprayed and consider the entire ecosystem: the soil, microorganisms, insects, wildlife, animals, and ultimately the health of everything connected to that system.
So, why is it used so much?
Like many industries, the chemical industry has worked closely with government agencies to promote the widespread use of its products. For decades, glyphosate was presented as a safe and revolutionary solution for controlling unwanted plants. However, it kills everything it touches.
Glyphosate has been used in some forest management programs, including efforts to reduce grasses, brush, and competing vegetation around commercially valuable trees. While the goal may be to improve tree growth and forest productivity, we must also consider the unintended consequences of destroying natural ecosystems.
When we remove one part of a complex biological system, we cannot assume there will be no downstream effects. Nature is interconnected, and understanding the effects of glyphosate requires looking at the entire system, not just the immediate outcome.
Even so, dead plant material remains an essential part of nature’s recycling system. Bacteria, fungi, insects, and countless other organisms gradually break it down, returning nutrients to the soil while reducing the amount of combustible material over time. This natural cycle has existed for thousands of years and plays an important role in maintaining healthy, resilient ecosystems.
Understanding a Healthy Forest
Every forest naturally contains dead trees, fallen branches, grasses, and brush that can become fuel during wildfire season. During periods of drought, this material becomes drier and more likely to ignite from lightning strikes or human activity.
Even so, dead plant material remains an essential part of nature’s recycling system. Bacteria, fungi, insects, and countless other organisms gradually break it down, returning nutrients to the soil while reducing the amount of combustible material over time. This natural cycle has existed for thousands of years and plays an important role in maintaining healthy, resilient ecosystems.
Glyphosate in the Environment
The effects of glyphosate should concern everyone because it targets living plants. It is a toxic chemical, not simply a weed killer, and its effects extend far beyond the vegetation it means to eliminate. Once introduced into an ecosystem, glyphosate affects plants, soil biology, microorganisms, wildlife, and the natural processes that keep forests and other landscapes healthy.
Some farmers also use glyphosate as a desiccant before harvest, intentionally drying certain crops to make harvesting more efficient. By removing moisture from plant tissue, it leaves vegetation significantly drier than it would be under natural conditions.
When this same process occurs in forests or other natural areas, the consequences extend beyond killing unwanted vegetation. Dead plant material becomes drier, making it more susceptible to burning. At the same time, glyphosate disrupts the soil microbes, bacteria, fungi, and other organisms responsible for breaking down dead vegetation. Instead of decomposing naturally back into the ecosystem, dry plant material can remain in place longer, increasing the amount of available fuel.
Rather than viewing forests as isolated collections of trees, we should recognize them as living ecosystems where plants, animals, insects, fungi, soil microbes, and nutrient cycling all depend on one another. When glyphosate enters the environment, it destroys these natural relationships. Understanding the effects of glyphosate means recognizing that its impacts extend far beyond the plants it was designed to kill. This, in turn, influences the health and resilience of the entire ecosystem.
Looking at the Bigger Picture
The recent Canadian forest fires, along with many others across the US, have sparked endless debate about drought, climate, weather patterns, and forest management. From my perspective, many of these conversations miss the bigger picture.
Nature has managed forests successfully for thousands of years without synthetic herbicides. Healthy ecosystems rely on grazing animals, insects, fungi, soil microbes, and naturally occurring low-intensity fires to recycle nutrients, control undergrowth, and maintain balance. These systems have worked remarkably well long before modern forestry practices existed.
Instead of working with nature, we’ve increasingly tried to control it. Chemical herbicides such as glyphosate are used to eliminate competing vegetation. Many forests are managed in ways that interrupt the natural cycles that once kept them healthy. These decisions have contributed to unhealthy forests that are more vulnerable to catastrophic fires.
A regenerative approach recognizes that forests don’t need more chemicals, they need functioning ecosystems. Allowing deer, goats, pigs, and other grazing animals to naturally reduce brush and young saplings, combined with well-managed controlled burns, can help remove excess fuel while supporting healthier forests. These approaches require more planning and effort, but they work with nature instead of against it.
This is the same principle I apply to veterinary medicine. Whether we’re talking about a forest or a pet, lasting health comes from restoring natural systems, not overriding them with quick fixes.
Why Does This Matter to a Holistic Veterinarian?
People often ask why an independent holistic veterinarian spends time discussing forests, agriculture, and environmental policy.
The answer is simple.
In holistic medicine, symptoms rarely appear without underlying causes. The same principle applies to environmental health. Whether we’re looking at chronic disease in pets or challenges within natural ecosystems, it’s important to examine the broader influences rather than focusing only on the final outcome.
Environmental exposures, nutrition, lifestyle, and the quality of the ecosystems around us all contribute to the health of animals. Understanding the effects of glyphosate is one example of taking a broader view of the factors that may influence long-term wellness.
This is just one of many examples of how a seemingly unprovoked acute traumatic “illness” (the fire in the forest) is not a random accident but the inevitable result of Big Corporate influence on uninformed stewards of forest health. These are the same principles that affect human health and pet health.
As a conventionally trained veterinarian who now practices from an independent holistic perspective, I’ve learned that asking bigger questions often leads to a deeper understanding of why so many pets struggle with chronic illness. Looking beyond symptoms allows us to consider the environmental, nutritional, and lifestyle factors that may contribute to overall health.
If you’re looking beyond symptom management and want to better understand how environmental factors may affect your pet’s health, schedule a consultation with Dr. Matt Parker. Together, we can take a holistic approach to supporting your pet’s long-term health and well-being.
