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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.

 

 

Teenager in a box

yeah, they'll put you underground and no one will care

cover you up with rocks

you were 18, now you're a statistic