Roundup - a converging pattern of toxicity from farm to clinic to laboratory [View all]

[appal_jack]

Roundup - a converging pattern of toxicity from farm to clinic to laboratory
Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji / ISIS

25th February 2015

Glyphosate, perhaps surprisingly for a chemical so ubiquitously associated with our food, was not first used as an agricultural chemical.

Instead it was first patented as a metal chelator in 1964 by Stauffer Chemical company (US 3160632 A) and used as an industrial pipe cleaner.

(snip)

Glyphosate is teratogenic - according to Monsanto's own data

Monsanto's own toxicology tests submitted to the EU commission showed evidence of teratogenicity (see EU Regulators and Monsanto Exposed for Hiding Glyphosate Toxicity, SiS51). The submitted test reports describe rats and rabbits with skeletal abnormalities including the development of a 13th rib in offspring, as well as cardiac abnormalities.

Scientific studies such as that of the late Professor Andrés Carrasco reporting neural tube birth defects in frog and chick embryos exposed to agricultural concentrations of glyphosate have validated both Monsanto's findings and clinical observations (see also Lab Study Establishes Glyphosate Link to Birth Defects, SiS48).

Probing into the mechanisms underlying the defects, Carrasco discovered that glyphosate disrupted retinoic acid activity, a well-known regulator of developmental processes.

Much, much more in the full article:

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2769439/roundup_a_converging_pattern_of_toxicity_from_farm_to_clinic_to_laboratory.html

The author's organization, ISIS (no, not the Islamist Terrorists... the 'Institute of Science In Society') is often considered controversial, but has also been mighty prescient at times on GMO issues, etc. Posted here for discussion.

My own take thus far is that Glyphosate appears to be considerably less toxic than many other herbicides (Atrazine, 2,4 D, etc.). However, we presently use so much more glyphosate than any other herbicide that caution and further investigations are warranted. I certainly won't use the stuff on my own property, but many of my neighbors do.

-app