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EU’s Re-approval of Glyphosate: The Role of Science and the Competence of Member States
Published in Stefania Negri, Environmental Health in International and EU Law, 2019
Glyphosate is an active substance used in many PPPs to combat weeds that compete with cultivated crops or present problems for other reasons. To date, glyphosate-based compounds are the most frequently used herbicide in the world.21
Bias, Conflict of Interest, Ignorance, and Uncertainty
Published in Ted W. Simon, Environmental Risk Assessment, 2019
This is not the end of the story, however. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer published a monograph linking glyphosate to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The rationale was the occurrence of oxidative stress and genotoxicity observed in in vitro studies. The monograph indicates there is limited evidence for the carcinogenicity of glyphosate in humans. Based on these findings, IARC declared that glyphosate was classified in Group 2a—probably carcinogenic to humans.212
Institutional Approaches to Healthful Eating
Published in Emily Crews Splane, Neil E. Rowland, Anaya Mitra, Psychology of Eating, 2019
Emily Crews Splane, Neil E. Rowland, Anaya Mitra
Exposure to these agrochemicals, be it acute or chronic, has sometimes resulted in serious adverse outcomes for humans and animals. GM technology for the most part has resulted in reductions in the need for these agrochemicals, which is seen as an advantage of GM technology. An example of this is a reduction in the wide-spectrum application of insecticides in plants like potatoes, corn, and cotton after they were genetically modified to carry a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. This bacterium produces a natural insecticide called Bt toxin which is toxic to many insects (Niederhuber, 2015). The GM crops (called BT crops) now produce this toxin, making them toxic to insects. However, in the case of the herbicide glyphosate, the reverse situation has occurred in some instances. Glyphosate is a herbicide and crops which are resistant to glyphosate will not die when sprayed with this chemical. However, neighboring weeds will die, which is why glyphosate resistance was developed in crops. Some farmers growing glyphosate resistant crops began to over-treat their crops with glyphosate, resulting in the development of weeds that are resistant to the effects of glyphosate (Brookes & Barfoot, 2013).
Toxicity of the herbicides used on herbicide-tolerant crops, and societal consequences of their use in France
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2022
The continuous overuse of a single herbicide multiple times in a growing season is leading to a ‘naturally’ acquired resistance to this herbicide. As for the ALS gene, point mutations making the enzyme, and consequently the plant, resistant to ALS-inhibiting herbicides are known and detailed not only in many weeds but also in crops (Kolkman et al.2004; Shimizu et al. 2005; Powles and Yu 2010). In 2014, 404 unique cases of herbicide resistant weeds were known. ALS inhibitor-resistant weeds accounted for about a third of all cases (Heap 2014). Ian Heap has established the most extensive database in the world displaying the herbicide-resistant weeds to ALS-inhibiting herbicides that can be consulted in weedscience.org. Ironically, these herbicides are used as an alternative to glyphosate in crops where weeds have become resistant to Roundup. Sunflowers made resistant to these herbicides were created by chemical mutagenesis and first patented by Du Pont De Nemours (Gabard and Huby 2001). Sunflower, rapeseed, soy, wheat, rice, and maize resistant to these herbicides are now marketed and planted (Tan et al.2005).
Nutrition Provides the Essential Foundation for Optimizing Mental Health
Published in Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2021
Julia J. Rucklidge, Jeanette M. Johnstone, Bonnie J. Kaplan
Another possible contributor to nutrient depletion of crops is the heavy use of glyphosate, an herbicide and principal ingredient of Roundup®. Glyphosate, initially patented in the United States in 1964 as a descaling agent to get rid of mineral deposits in pipes and boilers, is now applied to crops to kill weeds. A 2019 study showed that glyphosate disturbs the human blood-brain barrier, making it more permeable (Martinez & Al-Ahmad, 2019). Permeability means that some molecules that the blood-brain barrier intended to exclude might be able to pass through, causing adverse effects in the brain. It is also relevant that while there is still debate on the topic, concerns have been raised about whether glyphosate can make dietary minerals like iron, manganese, and nickel less available for the body to absorb (Zobiole et al., 2010) as well as decreasing soil health (Kanissery et al., 2019), factors that could also affect plant nutrient density.
Increased severity associated with tallowamine in acute glyphosate poisoning
Published in Clinical Toxicology, 2020
Jerome Langrand, Ingrid Blanc-Brisset, Denis Boucaud-Maitre, Emmanuel Puskarczyk, Patrick Nisse, Robert Garnier, Corine Pulce
Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world. Significant concern about the acute toxicity of glyphosate-based products (GBF) has been raised during the past decades [1,2]. More recently, during the re-approval process of glyphosate in Europe, it was mentioned that GBPs were more toxic than glyphosate alone. This phenomenon was attributed to the surfactants and among them, polyethoxylated tallowamine (POEA) has been suspected to significantly contribute to the toxicity of glyphosate products [3]. Furthermore, a report from the European Chemical Agency concluded there is “strong evidence that co-formulants, may either enhance the toxicity of glyphosate or exhibit independent toxic properties” [4]. However, there is no data comparing acute human poisoning with tallowamine-containing GBF (TA), with acute human poisoning with non-tallowamine-containing GBF (NTA). The aim of this study was to compare the severity of poisoning between TA and NTA cases, reported to the French Poison Control Centres (PCC) over 7 years.