By Dr. Nancy Swanson
The herbicide glyphosate (active ingredient in Roundup) was introduced in 1974 and its use is accelerating with the advent of herbicide-tolerant, genetically modified (GM) crops. Evidence is mounting that glyphosate interferes with many metabolic processes in plants and animals and glyphosate residues have been detected in both. Glyphosate disrupts the endocrine system, the balance of gut bacteria, it damages DNA and is a driver of mutations that lead to cancer. A huge increase in the incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases has been reported in the United States (US) over the last twenty years. Similar increases have been seen globally.
Seventeen reasons why glyphosate should be banned:
1. Within the last 20 years there has been an exponential increase in the adoption of GM crops along with associated applications of glyphosate to those crops (Benbrook, 2012).
2. Glyphosate and its degradation product, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) have been detected in air (Majewski et al., 2014,Chang et al., 2011), rain (Scribner et al., 2007; Majewski, 2014),groundwater (Scribner, 2007), surface water (Chang, 2011;Scribner, 2007; Coupe et al., 2012), soil (Scribner, 2007) and sea water (Mercurio et al.,2014). These studies show that glyphosate and AMPA persist in the soil and water and the amounts detected are increasing over time with increasing agricultural use.
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