Journal or Publishing Institution: Journal of Cellular Medicine and Natural Health
Study: http://www.jcmnh.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/chatterjee-010217.pdf
Author(s): Chatterjee, M., Ivanov, V., and Niedzwiecki, A.
Article Type: Peer Reviewed Study
Abstract:
Glyphosate is the active ingredient of many widely used, broad-spectrum herbicides and is commonly applied as a broadleaf weedicide in commercial agriculture. Created by Monsanto in 1970 and marketed from 1974 as “Roundup”, glyphosate has been used extensively across the world ever since (1). Although the USA remains its biggest consumer, the use of glyphosate has also increased in other countries. As such, from 1999 to 2010 glyphosate use in Germany increased by 100%, now being sprayed on nearly 40% of German farmland each year (2). Due to such extensive use, the genetically modified crop plants called “Roundup Ready” were created, which are resistant to glyphosate. This further increases the use of this herbicide. The majority of soybean, cotton and corn crops grown in the USA today are of this Roundup Ready variety, which is heavily exposed to glyphosate (3). Glyphosate prevents plants from making aromatic amino acids and other organic compounds necessary for life. Since these processes do not occur in animals, glyphosate was considered relatively harmless for large scale use (4). Epidemiological studies also found no causal link between glyphosate and cancer (5). However, contradictory evidence began to appear soon after as more cases of long-term glyphosate exposure to humans became available. Glyphosate was implicated in Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in cases of occupational exposure (6). Experiments also showed that glyphosate and its co-formulations used in Roundup and other herbicides are harmful at doses below the toxic level (7). Therefore, we conducted our own study to evaluate the effects of glyphosate at various doses on cell viability and find out if there are sources of possible protection from the harm caused by this widely used herbicide.
Keywords: glyphosate, Roundup, Roundup Ready, soybean, cotton, corn, cell viability
Citation:
Chatterjee, M., Ivanov, V., and Niedzwiecki, A., 2016. Cell damaging effects of glyphosate. Are we ready for Roundup? Journal of Cellular Medicine and Natural Health.
Category:
- Environmental effects
- Pesticide use
Record ID: 329
