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