Cygwin not converting DOS space to POSIX "\ "

Question

When I start a new cygwin64 tern, the $PATH variable is set to DOS parameters (paths with spaces) which are not properly converted. Does anyone know how to get cygwin to correctly convert the windows paths to POSIX paths?

.bashrc contains "export $PATH"

bash: /cygdrive/c/Program: No such file or directory bash: export: /cygdrive/c/Program': not a valid identifier bash: export:(x86)/AMD': not a valid identifier bash: export: APP/bin/x86_64:/cygdrive/c/Program': not a valid identifier bash: export:(x86)/AMD': not a valid identifier bash: export: APP/bin/x86:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:files/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export: mpi/bin:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:(x86)/nvidia': not a valid identifier bash: export: corporation/physx/common:/cygdrive/c/programdata/oracle/java/javapath:/cygdrive/c/python34:/cygdrive/c/python34/scripts:/cygdrive/c/windows/system32:/cygdrive/c/windows:/cygdrive/c/windows/system32/wbem:/cygdrive/c/windows/system32/windowspowershell/v1.0:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:(x86)/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export: server/100/tools/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:files/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export: server/100/tools/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:files/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export: server/100/dts/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:files/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export: server/120/tools/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:files/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export: server/130/tools/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:(x86)/nodejs:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: (x86)/windows': not a valid identifier bash: export:kits/10/windows': not a valid identifier bash: export: toolkit:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:files/microsoft/web': not a valid identifier bash: export: installer:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:files/dotnet:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: files/mysql/mysql': not a valid identifier bash: export:1.6:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: (x86)/windows': not a valid identifier bash: export:kits/8.1/windows': not a valid identifier bash: export: toolkit:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:(x86)/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export: server/client': not a valid identifier bash: export:sdk/odbc/130/tools/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: (x86)/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export:server/140/tools/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: (x86)/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export:server/140/dts/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: (x86)/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export:server/140/tools/binn/managementstudio:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: (x86)/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export:server/110/dts/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: (x86)/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export:server/120/dts/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: (x86)/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export:server/130/dts/binn:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: (x86)/microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export:manager/1.0:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export: files/git/cmd:/cygdrive/c/program': not a valid identifier bash: export:(x86)/ati': not a valid identifier bash: export: technologies/ati.ace/core-static:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32/wbem:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32/windowspowershell/v1.0:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/System32/OpenSSH:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/System32/LibreSSL:/cygdrive/c/Program': not a valid identifier bash: export:Files/PuTTY:/cygdrive/c/WIndows/system32:/cygdrive/c/Program': not a valid identifier bash: export: (x86)/Pico': not a valid identifier bash: export:Technology/PicoScope6:/cygdrive/c/Program': not a valid identifier bash: export: Files/Java/jdk1.8.0_102/bin:/cygdrive/d/Users/CE/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/cygdrive/c/Program': not a valid identifier bash: export:(x86)/Microsoft': not a valid identifier bash: export: `Code/bin:/cygdrive/d/Users/CE/AppData/Local/atom/bin:/cygdrive/d/Users/CE/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/cygdrive/d/Users/CE/AppData/Local/GitHubDesktop/bin:/usr/bin:/cygdrive/c/esp-idf:/cygdrive/e/Arduino': not a valid identifier