Glyphosate Toxic & Roundup Worse

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7 Mar 2005 16:22:30 -0000

 

Glyphosate Toxic & Roundup Worse

 

press-release

 

 

The Institute of Science in Society Science Society Sustainability

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m.w.ho

 

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ISIS Press Release 07/03/05

 

Glyphosate Toxic & Roundup Worse

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Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Prof. Joe Cummins call for urgent regulatory review

of the most widely used herbicide in the light of new scientific

evidence New research findings are raising serious concerns over the

safety of the most commonly used herbicide, and should be sending

shockwaves through proponents of genetically modified (GM) crops made

tolerant to the herbicide, which now account for 75% of all GM crops

in the world.

 

Worse yet, the most common formulation of the herbicide is even more

toxic than the herbicide by itself, and is made by the same biotech

giant that created the herbicide tolerant GM crops. Broad-spectrum

herbicide glyphosate (N- (phosphonomethyl)glycine), commonly sold in

the commercial formulation Roundup (Monsanto company, St. Louis,

Missouri USA) has been frequently used both on crops and non-crops

areas world wide since it was introduced in the 1970s.

 

Roundup is a combination of glyphosate with other chemicals including

a surfactant (detergent) polyoxyethyleneamine that enhance the

spreading of the spray droplets on the leaves of plants.

 

The use of Roundup has gone up especially in countries growing

Roundup-tolerant GM crops created by Monsanto. Glyphosate kills plants

by inhibiting the enzyme, 5- enolpyruvoyl-shikimate-3-phosphate

synthetase (EPSPS), essential for the formation of aromatic amino

acids such as phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan; which leads onto

vitamins and many secondary metabolites such as folates, ubiquinones

and naphthoquines.

 

It is believed to be rather specific in action and less toxic than

other herbicides, because the shikimate pathway is not present in

mammals and humans. However, glyphosate acts by preventing the binding

of phosphoenol pyruvate to the active site of the enzyme, and

phosphoenol pyruvate is a core metabolite present in all organisms;

thus it has the potential to affect other metabolic pathways.

 

This is borne out by many reports of toxicities associated with the

herbicide reviewed in the Independent Science Panel Report, The Case

for a GM-free Sustainable World [1]. An epidemiological study in the

Ontario farming populations showed that glyphosate exposure nearly

doubled the risk of late spontaneous abortions [2], and Prof.

Eric-Giles Seralini and his research team from Caen University in

France decided to find out more about the effects of the herbicide on

cells from the human placenta.

 

They have now shown that glyphosate is toxic to human placental cells,

killing a large proportion of them after 18 hr of exposure at

concentrations below that in agricultural use [3]. Moreover, Roundup

is always more toxic than its active ingredient, glyphosate; at least

by two-fold. The effect increased with time, and was obtained with

concentrations of Roundup 10 times lower than agricultural use. The

enzyme aromatase is responsible for making the female hormones

estrogens from androgens (the male hormones).

 

Glyphosate interacts with the active site of the enzyme but its effect

on enzyme activity was minimal unless Roundup was present.

Interestingly, Roundup increased enzyme activity after 1 h of

incubation, possibly because of its surfactant effect in making the

androgen substrate more available to the enzyme. But at 18h

incubation, Roundup invariably inhibited enzyme activity; the

inhibition being associated with a decrease in mRNA synthesis,

suggesting that Roundup decreased the rate of gene transcription.

 

Seralini and colleagues suggest that other ingredients in the Roundup

formulation enhance the availability or accumulation of glyphosate in

cells. There is, indeed, direct evidence that glyphosate inhibits RNA

transcription in animals at a concentration well below the level that

is recommended for commercial spray application Transcription was

inhibited and embryonic development delayed in sea urchins following

exposure to low levels of the herbicide and/or the surfactant

polyoxyethyleneamine.

 

The pesticide should be considered a health concern by inhalation

during spraying [4]. New research shows that a brief exposure to

commercial glyphosate caused liver damage in rats, as indicated by the

leakage of intracellular liver enzymes. In this study, glyphosate and

its surfactant in Roundup were also found to act in synergy to

increase damage to the liver [5]. Three recent case-control studies

suggested an association between glyphosate use and the risk of

non-Hodgkin lymphoma [6-8]; while a prospective cohort study in Iowa

and North Carolina that includes more than 54 315 private and

commercial licensed pesticide applicators suggested a link between

glyphosate use and multiple myoeloma [9].

 

Myeloma has been associated with agents that cause either DNA damage

or immune suppression. These studies did not distinguish between

Roundup and glyphosate, and it would be important for that to be done.

 

There is now a wealth of evidence that glyphosate requires worldwide

health warnings and new regulatory review. Meanwhile, its use should

be reduced to a minimum as a matter of prudent precaution.

 

References The Case for a GM-Free Sustainable World, Chapter 7, ISIS &

TWN, London & Penang, 2003.

 

http://www.indsp.org/A%20GM-Free%20Sustainable%20World.pdf Savitz DA,

Arbuckle , Kaczor D, Curtis KM.

 

Male pesticide exposure and pregnancy outcome. Am J Epidemiol 2000,

146, 1025-36. Richard S, Moslemi S, Sipahutar H, Benachour N and

Seralini G-E.

 

Differential effects of glyphosate and Roundup on human placental

cells and aromatases Marc J, Le Breton M, CormierP, Morales J, Belle´R

and Mulner-Lorillo O.

A glyphosate-based pesticide impinges on transcription. Toxicology and

Applied Pharmacology 2005, 203, 1-8. Benedetti AL, de Lourdes Vituri

C, Trentin AG, Dominguesc MAC and Alvarez-Silva M. The effects of

sub-chronic exposure of Wistar rats to the herbicide

Glyphosate-Biocarb. Toxicology Letters 2004, 153, 227–32. De Roos AH,

Zahm SH, Cantor KP, et al. Integrative assessment of multiple

pesticides as risk factors for non- Hodgkin's lymphoma among men.

Occup Environ Med 2003, 60, E11

http://oem.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/60/9/e11 Hardell L,

Eriksson M, Nordstrom M. Exposure to pesticides as risk factor for

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and hairy cell leukemia: pooled analysis of two

Swedish case-control studies. Leuk Lymphoma 2002, 43,1043–1049.

McDuffie HH, Pahwa P, McLaughlin JR, Spinelli JJ, Fincham S, Dosman

JA, et al. 2001. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and specific pesticide

exposures in men: cross-Canada study of pesticides and health. 2001,

Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2001,10,1155–63. De Roos AJ, Blair A,

Rusiecki JA, Hoppin JA, Svec M, Dosemeci M, Sandler DP and Alavanja

MC. Cancer incidence among glyphosate-exposed pesticide applicators in

the agricultural health study. Environ Health Perspect 2005, 113, 49-54.

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