Glyphosate (Roundup) - What is It and Why You Should Limit Your Exposure to It

Monsanto's Poisoning of God's Creation

Glyphosate is an organophosphorus herbicide brought to the market by Monsanto in the 1970s as Roundup. Glyphosate is the most used herbicide on farms throughout the United States and is frequently used for commercial applications and by homeowners. Monsanto, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), and the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) all claim that glyphosate is one hundred percent safe when used “properly”. During the 1990s, Monsanto produced ads that Roundup was “safer than table salt” and “practically nontoxic” to mammals. Years later the Attorney General of New York, Dennis C. Vacco, ordered the ads to be removed. Monsanto later claimed that the phrases in question were permissible under the EPA guidelines and that the use of glyphosate is safe. So is glyphosate safe for humans and what is the evidence, and controversies surrounding the herbicide?[1] [2] [3] [4]

Glyphosate is absorbed mainly by plant foliage and less by its roots. In addition, glyphosate is rapidly inactivated when applied to the soil. Therefore, glyphosate rarely kills plant seeds. Glyphosate inhibits the plant’s synthesis of the amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan in the shikimate pathway by inhibiting the enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSP) causing the plants not to produce proteins that are essential for growth and survival. The shikimate pathway is also used by bacteria, fungi, algae, and some protozoan parasites to biosynthesize folates and aromatic amino acids above. Glyphosate is supposed to be safe for humans because we do not rely on the shikimate pathway to synthesize amino acids. Instead, like most animals, we must consume the above-listed essential amino acids in our diet for survival. Some genetically engineered crops are resistant to glyphosate, and some plants are now becoming resistant to glyphosate as well as developing extra copies of the ESPSS gene, which encodes the EPSP enzyme.[5] [6]

Glyphosate residues are found in our streams, rivers, and lakes from agricultural, commercial, and residential runoff. Glyphosate with surfactants (Aquamaster) is used to treat algae in ponds. Glyphosate does affect marine life and is more toxic to fish and amphibians than mammals. Differing glyphosate amounts are found in the municipal and well water supplies that we are consuming and bathing daily.[7] [8] [9]

We are consistently exposed to glyphosate from differing sources in our modern life. We are exposed to glyphosate from ingesting the standard American non-organic diet, drinking contaminated water, aerial spraying of glyphosate, spraying by our neighbors on their lawn, spraying of glyphosate on our lawns, and farm and commercial runoff. The glyphosate exposure accumulates from all of these different sources, and though some scientific literature may show that the amounts of glyphosate in our food supply are at “safe” levels, that same literature rarely takes into account exposure from all sources.[10] [11] [12]

“The present review documents that there is limited information available about glyphosate levels in the general population, despite the fact that glyphosate is detected in dust, food and water. For example, Curwin et al. detected glyphosate in the dust of both farming and non-farming households, indicating that this exposure extends beyond occupational settings. The EPA completed a glyphosate food risk assessment 10 years ago and evaluated the levels of pesticide residues in food, drinking water, grain based beverages, and residues encountered through non-occupational sources such as in homes, recreational areas, and schools using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey/ What We Eat In America from 2003 to 2008. The residues in food ranged from 100 μg/L in vegetables such as tomatoes and pepper to 200,000 μg/L in peppermint and peppermint oils. However, given the increasing rates of glyphosate usage over the past decade, it is likely that this EPA assessment does not reflect current potential exposure sources and levels. Several European studies have also examined the level of glyphosate found in foods, including produce and grains for human consumption as well as feed for chickens. These studies report measurable levels in many food products, including the muscle and organ tissues of chickens and cows. An FDA review of glyphosate levels in food in the United States found that over 60% of corn and soybean samples analyized had detectable glyphosate residues, and the Environmental Working Group sampled 28 kids’ cereal products and found detectable levels of glyphosate in all of them and levels of glyphosate exceeding 160 μg/L in 26 of them. Glyphosate and AMPA have also been detected in water. In the EPA’s Dietary Exposure Analysis in Support of Registration, which utilized monitoring data from the USGS, the agency estimated the worst-case scenario for a chronic dietary assessment as 75 μg/L in water; similar results have been observed in studies conducted in Europe.”[13]