Monsanto's Roundup herbicide disrupts hormones - even with glyphosate exposures below regulation limits

September 3, 2015, by: Ethan A. Huff, Staff Writer

(NaturalNews) Scientists out of Europe have conducted a thorough review of the safety profile of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, determining that the chemical disrupts human hormones at levels well below what the government considers "safe" for weed-control and agricultural desiccation purposes.

Glyphosate-based herbicides (GlyBH), they found, are erroneously regarded as a non-issue by many government bodies who have established safety regulations based solely on industry-backed studies, nearly all of which are favorable towards glyphosate. Meanwhile, independent reviews such as those considered by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which found that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic" to humans, are being ignored.

Hailing from the University of Caen in France, the research team looked at a cohort of scientific studies on glyphosate's toxicity. They evaluated the chemical's teratogenicity (potential to cause birth defects), tumorigenicity (potential to cause tumors), hepatotoxicity (potential to cause liver damage), carcinogenicity (potential to cause cancer) and more, as demonstrated amongst the whole of scientific research into glyphosate.

Perhaps most shockingly, they discovered that glyphosate is immensely toxic at levels well within established safety ranges, which is deeply concerning in light of independent tests showing glyphosate residues in food, drinking water, and even rain water.

This is particularly concerning when it comes to the endocrine system, which is what regulates human hormone production. Dr. Robin Mesnage and her team discovered that even low-dose exposure to glyphosate can trigger severe endocrine damage. Endocrine disruption can lead to a host of other health problems including cancer.

"We reveal a coherent body of evidence indicating that GlyBH could be toxic below the regulatory lowest observed adverse effect level for chronic toxic effects. It includes teratogenic, tumorigenic and hepatorenal effects," the team wrote.

"They could be explained by endocrine disruption and oxidative stress, causing metabolic alterations, depending on dose and exposure time. Some effects were detected in the range of the recommended acceptable daily intake."

Neither glyphosate nor the complete Roundup formula have ever been safety tested over an entire lifespan
Believe it or not, the U.S. Congress actually ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct an investigation into endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) like glyphosate nearly 20 years ago. However, to this day, the EPA has yet to follow through with this legal mandate, instead allowing glyphosate use to increase.

Regulatory authorities in the European Union have similarly betrayed their constituents, failing to take seriously the threat of EDCs. Former EU chief scientific advisor Anne Glover reportedly helped delay legislation that would have reined in the use of EDCs, which continue to wreak havoc on public health.

It isn't just glyphosate that poses a problem. The Roundup formula contains a number of other pesticides that the University of Caen paper, which was published in the Elsevier journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, refers to as "adjuvants" that actually amplify the harm caused by exposure to glyphosate.

Large-scale, long-term safety studies on the complete Roundup formula have never been conducted. Even the effects of exposure to glyphosate by itself have never been tested over the entire lifespan of either animals or humans. Just like with genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), industry studies on glyphosate focus solely on young animals exposed to the chemical for a very short period of time, after which these animals are terminated early in order to hide the long-term effects of glyphosate exposure.

"Toxic effects of commercial formulations can also be explained by GlyBH adjuvants, which have their own toxicity, but also enhance glyphosate toxicity," the paper explains. "These challenge the assumption of safety of GlyBH at the levels at which they contaminate food and the environment, albeit these levels may fall below regulatory thresholds."

Sources for this article include:

GMWatch.org

ScienceDirect.com

FoodAndWaterWatch.org

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