PANUPS: Rethinking Roundup

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Fri, 05 Aug 2005 18:24:12 GMT

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PANUPS: Rethinking Roundup

 

 

Pesticide Action Network

 

 

 

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