Rethinking Roundup
August 5, 2005
A recent study of Roundup presents new evidence that the
glyphosate-based herbicide is far more toxic than the active
ingredient alone. The study, published in the June 2005 issue of
Environmental Health Perspectives, reports glyphosate
toxicity to human placental cells within hours of exposure, at
levels ten times lower than those found in agricultural use. The
researchers also tested glyphosate and Roundup at lower
concentrations for effects on sexual hormones, reporting effects
at very low levels. This suggests that dilution with other
ingredients in Roundup may, in fact, facilitate glyphosate's
hormonal impacts.
Roundup, produced by Monsanto, is a mixture of
glyphosate and other chemicals (commonly referred to as
"inerts") designed to increase the herbicide's penetration into
the target and its toxic effect. Since inerts are not listed as
"active ingredients" the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA)does not assess their health or environmental impacts,
despite the fact that more than 300 chemicals on EPA's list of
pesticide inert ingredients are or were once registered as
pesticide active ingredients, and that inert ingredients often
account for more than 50% of the pesticide product by volume.
The evidence presented in the recent study is supported
by earlier laboratory studies connecting glyphosate with
reproductive harm, including damaged DNA in mice and abnormal
chromosomes in human blood. Evidence from epidemiological
studies has also linked exposure to the herbicide with increased
risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and laboratory studies have now
begun to hone in on the mechanism by which the chemical acts on
cell division to cause cancer. A Canadian study has linked
glyphosate exposure in the three months before conception with
increased risk for miscarriage and a 2002 study in Minnesota
connected glyphosate exposure in farm families with increased
incidence of attention deficit disorder.
Studies have also documented glyphosate's toxicity to
wildlife and especially to amphibians. Recently, studies
conducted in small ponds with a variety of aquatic populations
have presented evidence that levels of glyphosate currently
applied can be highly lethal to many species of amphibians.
Glyphosate is the world's most commonly used
agricultural pesticide, and the second most-applied residential
pesticide in the U.S. Recent evidence notwithstanding,
glyphosate is considered less hazardous than other herbicides,
an attitude that has increased the pesticide's use and
desensitized policymakers to its impacts. The spraying program
in Colombia to eradicate coca and opium poppy-the raw materials
for cocaine and heroin-is one example. A mixture of glyphosate
and several inerts has been sprayed aerially over more than 1.3
million acres of farm, range and forest lands in that
biologically diverse nation for five years. The U.S. Drug Czar
recently noted that despite the spraying, which is funded by the
U.S. government, the number of hectares in coca production has
remained essentially unchanged. A report on the impacts of the
spraying produced for the Organization of American States has
been sharply criticized by AIDA, an environmental organization,
because the analysis failed to assess the impacts of
deforestation resulting from movement of illicit crops into
previously forested areas, adverse effects on endangered and
endemic species, substantial collateral loss of food crops,
livestock and fish, and human health effects. Authorization of
next year's funding for the spray program is now underway in the
U.S. Congress, where the Senate Appropriations Committee
complained in a non-binding narrative report, "The Committee is
increasingly concerned ... that the aerial eradication program
is falling far short of predictions and that coca cultivation is
shifting to new locations."
The herbicide is used in forestry in North America to
reduce grasses, shrubs and trees that compete with commercial
timber trees. Glyphosate is also widely introduced into the
environment and the human food chain through cultivation of
transgenic, or genetically engineered crops that are tolerant to
the herbicide and contain glyphosate residues. "Roundup Ready"
crops have been responsible for increased use of the herbicide
in recent years. Monsanto's sales of glyphosate have expanded
approximately 20% each year through the 1990s, accounting for
67% of the company's total sales as of 200l. EPA estimates
glyphosate use in the U.S. is 103-113 million pounds annually.
Sources: Sophie Richard, Safa Moslemi,
Herbert Sipahutar, Nora Benachour, and Gilles-Eric Seralini,
Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 113, No. 6 June
2005, http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2005/7728/7728.html;
Glyphosate Herbicide Fact Sheet, Journal of Pesticide
Reform, Winter 2004, Vol. 24, No. 4, Northwest Coalition
for Alternatives to Pesticides NCAP, http://www.pesticide.org; Rethinking Plan
Colombia, New Science on Roundup: Threats to Human Health land
Wildlife, Las Lianas, June 2005, http://www.laslianas.org/Colombia/RoundupFactSheet--June2005.doc;
Critical Omissions in the CICAD Environmental and Health
Assessment of the Aerial Eradication Program in Colombia,
Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA); The
Center for International Policy's Colombia program, Relevant
Text from the Bills So Far, the 2006 Aid Request, http://ciponline.org/colombia/aid06.htm#Senate;
PANNA, Monsanto Corporate Fact Sheet; PANNA, Global
Pesticide Campaigner, Inert Ingredients in Pesticides,
Sept. 1998.
Contact: PANNA
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