Glyphosate Dangers: What You Can Do About It?
Scientists now link glyphosate to a number of human health problems, from cancer and neurological diseases to endocrine disruption and birth defects, but the full range of glyphosate’s health effects remains unknown.
Since it first went on the market in 1974, glyphosate has been used for weed control, as an exfoliant to eradicate unwanted vegetation and illegal crops and as a crop desiccant — a chemical applied to crops to dry them out more quickly before harvest
What is glyphosate?
As a non-selective herbicide, it kills most plants. Scientists now link glyphosate to a number of human health problems, from cancer and neurological diseases to endocrine disruption and birth defects. But the full range of glyphosate’s health effects remains unknown.
What is glyphosate used for?
Various formulations of glyphosate-based herbicides, like Monsanto’s Roundup, are used in agriculture and forestry. Since the mid-1990s, global use has risen dramatically, thanks to the introduction of genetically engineered “Roundup Ready” crops like corn, soybeans, cotton and alfalfa that resist damage from the herbicide.
Today, Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides are also frequently used on lawns, gardens, parks and school grounds for weed control.
Where is glyphosate?
The widespread use of glyphosate makes it ubiquitous in the environment. Researchers have found it in our food, soil, air, groundwater, surface waters like lakes and rivers and even in rainwater.
That means glyphosate not only enters our bodies when we come in direct contact with it, but when we breathe, eat and drink.
As worldwide use of glyphosate has increased during the past 25 years or so, human exposures to glyphosate-based herbicides have also risen significantly. A 2017 study found that human glyphosate exposure increased more than 500% in two decades.
Why is glyphosate a health concern?
Recent health studies are prompting calls for more scrutiny of glyphosate toxicity. Research now links glyphosate to health problems including cancer, reproductive problems, neurological diseases like ALS, endocrine disruption and birth defects.
Researchers are also beginning to explore potential impacts of glyphosate on pregnancy. Emerging findings suggest glyphosate could be associated with shorter pregnancies.
Shorter pregnancies can be detrimental to maternal health and increase the risk of infant mortality and learning problems as children develop.
In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen.
However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has long maintained that glyphosate poses no risk for human health when used according to the manufacturer’s instructions — a finding criticized by many scientists.
While most health research on glyphosate to date focuses on cancer, there is much that science doesn’t yet know about its other potential impacts on human health. Much more research is needed to understand the full range of effects, how they may differ in children and adults and the extent of glyphosate’s environmental impacts.
Leading environmental health researchers, including Environmental Health New’s (EHN) chief scientist Pete Myers, have called for more investigation and better monitoring of glyphosate in water, food and human bodies.
In addition, scientists have raised concerns about the other ingredients in glyphosate-based herbicides. While glyphosate is the active ingredient, companies don’t have to publicly disclose other proprietary chemicals in these herbicide formulations.
Consequently, regulators and researchers can’t fully study these “inert” chemicals to determine their health effects — alone and in combination with each other. Some scientists and activists want to reform the regulatory system so that companies can’t keep these chemicals secret.
Why are there so many glyphosate lawsuits right now?
The World Health Organization’s 2015 declaration that glyphosate probably causes cancer opened the floodgates to litigation. The German company Bayer A.G. bought Monsanto in 2018, and tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the company by people claiming that Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides caused their cancer, especially non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Most claimants in these lawsuits worked in jobs like agriculture, maintenance, landscaping and other professions with significant exposure risk, or used the products long-term on their lawns and gardens. They say the companies failed to adequately warn the public about health risks.
In 2021, Bayer announced it would replace glyphosate in all lawn and garden products sold in the U.S. by 2023. The company said the removal of glyphosate from these products is “exclusively to manage litigation risk and not because of any safety concerns,” and indicated it has no plans to remove glyphosate from professional and agricultural market products in the U.S.
One group that’s been largely excluded from glyphosate lawsuits is migrant farmworkers, who are on the front lines when it comes to glyphosate exposure. EHN found that fear of retaliation, and a lack of legal resources and legal immigration status, has diminished migrant farmworkers’ ability to seek justice and compensation.
Where is glyphosate used most?
Glyphosate is the most used pesticide on agricultural crops in the U.S., according to a 2019 analysis by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. The Midwest, California and Texas represent about three-quarters of agricultural glyphosate use in the U.S., with the Midwest alone comprising a full two-thirds of total use.
Glyphosate’s popularity comes in part from the fact that it is effective and relatively cheap. Low-cost versions from China and other countries with relatively lax environmental and health regulations flooded the market as glyphosate patents expired in the 1990s, making it even cheaper.
This helps explain why its use has increased so dramatically in the past two decades. But some local, state and national governments are bucking that trend.
Where is glyphosate banned?
Glyphosate has been or will soon be banned in at least 10 countries, including Mexico, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and at least 15 others have restricted its use, according to Human Rights Watch.
Individual cities and counties, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, Baltimore, Austin and Portland, have taken action to restrict or ban glyphosate, as have some states.
Can glyphosate exposure be avoided?
Unfortunately, glyphosate is hard to avoid. We can’t stop breathing, eating or drinking water.
However, avoiding genetically modified foods and eating more organic foods when possible can help. Choosing non-toxic methods of weed control for your lawn and garden also limits exposure.
Joining with others to ban glyphosate-based products (and other pesticides) in schools, parks, and your community at large are other effective ways to reduce local exposures.
Ways to take action on glyphosate
- EHN has been reporting on glyphosate since we started 20 years ago. Monitoring our coverage of glyphosate legislation, litigation and health research is a great way to stay informed on the latest developments. Check out our extensive story archive: You’ll find dozens of glyphosate stories by EHN as well as other leading news organizations. All of EHN’s stories are free to read, share and republish with attribution.
- Contact your local government officials and state and national representatives.
- Link up with other concerned residents in your community to share information and take action.
Here are a few links to organizations keeping track of the latest science on glyphosate and working to hold regulators, politicians, corporations and employers accountable for protecting human health:
- Environmental Working Group.
- Pesticide Action Network.
- Center for Food Safety.
- Non Toxic Communities.
- Beyond Pesticides.
- Herbicide-Free Campus.
- Herbicide Awareness and Research Project (University of California, San Diego).
See more here: childrenshealthdefense.org
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George Tomaich
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Please stop featuring articles that are rubbish. Glyphosate has been used for over fifty years with a clean safety record. All governments of the world have studied this herbicide and found it safe. It was a splinter UN group that published a “could be” or “it might be” article that it can cause cancer. The ambulance chaser lawyers were on it like a bear after honey. They extracted billions in settlements on a bogus study. Stop spreading this pernicious lie.
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Terry Shipman
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I like Roundup. I spray it around the base of my trees to keep from having to use a weed eater. Hoisting a spray bottle for me is preferable to hoisting a weed eater.
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Mark Tapley
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And it lasts twice as long as weed eating,
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Wisenox
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The concerns, for me, are the affects on my microbiome and the possible phosphorylation of my AChE.
Researchers found that many glysophate resistant organisms get their protection from a gene that codes for sphingolipids. The lipids encapsulate the cry-toxins.
So, taking myelin sheath and/or phospholipids may help in the gut.
In the brain, the AChE is permanently disabled if phosphorylated. This causes ion channel loading and deterioration of the neural sheaths, which require the choline for replenishment.
For this, we can use Citicoline. The cytidine released during breakdown is a neurotransmitter analog and can fill in for aberrant ACh activity, thereby allowing synapses to depolarize properly.
The choline released protects the neural sheaths by incorporating into the phosphatidylcholine layer.
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Mark Tapley
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I have been using glyphosate for over 45 years and am still kicking. I have used it extensively around seedlings, fence lines and shop and Ag. buildings. I have often used it In windy conditions and sometimes have had to stick my arm down in the full tank to work on suction hose etc. Doesn’t seem to have caused epigenetic problems since the kids seem ok. The old lady is questionable however.
The desiccation issue as to late stage grain ripening may need further study but I doubt that at that stage, since the plants are long past the growth phase that it would present a problem.
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Dev
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Shame the readers here are ‘king idiots.
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Mark Tapley
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Hello Dev: I forgot to mention that as far a I can tell, no one ever said anything about glyphosate until Monsanto’s patent ran out and lots of competitors were making the generic version far cheaper. Then all of a sudden its toxic. All of this reminds me of the big ruckus about the micro amounts of asbestos in the talcum powder. Its like Kary Mullis said about the PCR test. If you crank it up enough you can find the most infinitesimal molecule. Also reminds me of the whole “Green Energy” scam. I can guarantee you that if a product is being wasted or misused it’s going to be done by the government agencies not farmers. If glyphosate were a problem I think we would have known it a long time ago. About 82% of the population in Jewmerica live in urban areas where they depend on 1% of the population to grow their food. Glyphosate saves the ag. producers lots of time and money that can be utilized elsewhere. You might think about that the next time you decide to eat.
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MattH
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No way to speak of yourself Dev. Chin up, son.
Some of the readers can clearly use glyphosate judiciously and safely. The ultimate safety issue is whether glyphosate breaks down to inert molecules in the earth and water which I do not know the answer to.
And the balance can be food production or mass starvation. (said the oracle)
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Moffin
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Talking about toxic molecules becoming inert in soil or water did anybody notice the baby bald eagle in Jerry Krause’s evolution video appear to loose it’s balance and fall on it’s face in order to shoot it’s excrement out of it’s nest. An old saying.
Which begs the question. Why do elephants not lay eggs and nest in trees.
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Doug Harrison
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This article is nonsense from go to whoa.
“Today roundup and other glyphosate products are used on lawns,” Last time I looked lawns were mostly grass. Glyphosate kills almost all grasses immediately or at worst within 10 days. I will admit that in the US there could be grass free lawns using cottula, a low growing plant but I’m sure they would be the exception. I have also been using Roundup for as long as it’s been available and I’m 86 and in pretty robust good health.
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Herb Rose
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Hi Doug,
I’ve been using Roundup for years in my vegetable and flower gardens and as long as you don’t use it on the plants you intend to eat it doesn’t seem to cause any problems. It does not seem to work on Goose Grass however.
Herb
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Herb Rose
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Change that to, it doesn’t work on Nutsedge grass which has tubers, rhizomes, and seeds.
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Wisenox
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“”Glyphosate targets an enzyme called EPSPS in the shikimate pathway. This enzyme is crucial to synthesizing three essential amino acids. Based on the structure of the EPSPS enzyme, we are able to classify 80-90% of microbial species into sensitive or resistant to glyphosate,” says Docent Pere Puigbò, developer of the new bioinformatics tool.
Based on the analyses using the new bioinformatics tool, 54% of the human core gut bacterial species are potentially sensitive to glyphosate.”
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201120095858.htm
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MattH
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‘potentially sensitive to’ glyphosate. My gut bacteria is potentially sensitive to asteroid strike. Potential can mean nothing or everything.
I do appreciate your insightful and educated comments and warnings. I am practicing delinquency.
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L S Melick
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Khazarian Mafia (aka Zionists) – world wide bad guys……
<<https://www.veteranstoday.com/2022/02/25/the-hidden-history-of-the-incredibly-evil-khazarian-mafia/>>
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