Differential effects of glyphosate and roundup on human placental cells and aromatase

Journal or Publishing Institution: Environmental Health Perspectives

Author(s): Sophie Richard, Safa Moslemi, Herbert Sipahutar, Nora Benachour, and Gilles-Eric Seralini

Article Type: Peer Reviewed Study

Record ID: 2069

Abstract: Roundup is a glyphosate-based herbicide used worldwide, including on most genetically modified plants that have been designed to tolerate it. Its residues may thus enter the food chain, and glyphosate is found as a contaminant in rivers. Some agricultural workers using glyphosate have pregnancy problems, but its mechanism of action in mammals is questioned. Here we show that glyphosate is toxic to human placental JEG3 cells within 18 hr with concentrations lower than those found with agricultural use, and this effect increases with concentration and time or in the presence of Roundup adjuvants. Surprisingly, Roundup is always more toxic than its active ingredient. We tested the effects of glyphosate and Roundup at lower nontoxic concentrations on aromatase, the enzyme responsible for estrogen synthesis. The glyphosate-based herbicide disrupts aromatase activity and mRNA levels and interacts with the active site of the purified enzyme, but the effects of glyphosate are facilitated by the Roundup formulation in microsomes or in cell culture. We conclude that endocrine and toxic effects of Roundup, not just glyphosate, can be observed in mammals. We suggest that the presence of Roundup adjuvants enhances glyphosate bioavailability and/or bioaccumulation.

Keywords: Horses, Cytochromes, Microsomes, Herbicides, Active Sites, Gene Expression, Viability, Animal Cells, adjuvants, aromatase, endocrine disruption, glyphosate, herbicide, human JEG3 cells, placenta, reductase, Roundup, xenobiotic

Citation: Richard, S., Moslemi, S., Sipahutar, H., Benachour, N. and Seralini, G.E., 2005. Differential effects of glyphosate and roundup on human placental cells and aromatase. Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(6), p.716.