Describe Glyphosate:
Glyphosate is an herbicide. It is applied to the leaves of plants to kill both broadleaf plants and grasses. The sodium salt form of Glyphosate is used to regulate plant growth and ripen specific crops. Glyphosate was first registered for use in the U.S. in 1974. Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States.
Where is Glyphosate used?
Glyphosate is one of the world’s most common herbicides. It’s the active ingredient in popular weed-control products like Roundup, Rodeo, and Pondmaster. Many farmers use it during food production.
It’s often used on:
Fruit and vegetable crops
Glyphosate-resistant crops like canola, corn, cotton, soybeans, sugar beets, and wheat
Plantings, lawns, greenhouses, aquatic plants, and forest plantings.
How does Glyphosate work?
Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide, meaning it will kill most plants. It prevents the plants from making certain proteins that are needed for plant growth. This stops a specific enzyme pathway, the shikimic acid pathway. The shikimic acid pathway is necessary for plants and some microorganisms.
Is it in organic foods?
To limit your exposure, buy organic products. Glyphosate is banned in organic farming. But that doesn’t eliminate it. The World Health Organization reports one-third of organic oat products tested had traces of Glyphosate. But they were below levels associated with risk.
Glyphosate may drift over from nearby fields with conventional-grown crops or during cross-contamination at processing facilities that handle non-organic crops.
What are the signs and symptoms of a brief exposure to Glyphosate?
Pure herbicide is low in toxicity, but products usually contain other ingredients that help the Glyphosate get into the plants in the product can make the product more toxic. Products containing these herbicides may cause eye or skin irritation. People who breathed in spray mist from products containing Glyphosate felt irritation in the nose and throat. Swallowing products with Glyphosate can cause increased saliva, burns in the mouth and throat, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Pets may be at risk if they touch or eat plants that are still wet with spray from products containing these herbicides. Animals exposed to products with Glyphosate may drool, vomit have diarrhea, lose their appetite, or seem sleepy.
Risks for pregnant women and children:
Some scientists are concerned that pregnant women and children may have higher risks because children and developing fetuses may be more susceptible to carcinogens. But the EPA says there’s no evidence that Glyphosate is a developmental or reproductive toxin, so they don’t feel that they are at any higher risk. I am a medical student. I read Glyphosate.
