Journal or Publishing Institution: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Study: https://web.archive.org/web/20180718184923/http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/3/264/htm
Author(s): Defarge, N., Takács, E., Lozano, V.L., Mesnage, R., Spiroux de Vendômois, J., Séralini, G.E., and Székács, A.
Article Type: Peer Reviewed Study
Record ID: 468
Abstract: Pesticide formulations contain declared active ingredients and co-formulants presented as inert and confidential compounds. We tested the endocrine disruption of co-formulants in six glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH), the most used pesticides worldwide. All co-formulants and formulations were comparably cytotoxic well below the agricultural dilution of 1% (18–2000 times for co-formulants, 8–141 times for formulations), and not the declared active ingredient glyphosate (G) alone. The endocrine-disrupting effects of all these compounds were measured on aromatase activity, a key enzyme in the balance of sex hormones, below the toxicity threshold. Aromatase activity was decreased both by the co-formulants alone (polyethoxylated tallow amine—POEA and alkyl polyglucoside—APG) and by the formulations, from concentrations 800 times lower than the agricultural dilutions; while G exerted an effect only at 1/3 of the agricultural dilution. It was demonstrated for the first time that endocrine disruption by GBH could not only be due to the declared active ingredient but also to co-formulants. These results could explain numerous in vivo results with GBHs not seen with G alone; moreover, they challenge the relevance of the acceptable daily intake (ADI) value for GBHs exposures, currently calculated from toxicity tests of the declared active ingredient alone.
Keywords: glyphosate-based herbicide; JEG3 cells; endocrine disruption; aromatase; co-formulant; pesticide
Citation: Defarge, N., Takács, E., Lozano, V. L., Mesnage, R., Spiroux de Vendômois, J., Séralini, G.E., and Székács, A., 2016. Co-formulants in glyphosate-based herbicides disrupt aromatase activity in human cells below toxic levels. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(3), 264.
