Tag: Glyphosate

Glyphosate, Epigenetics and Transgenerational Inheritance of Disease

Assessment of Glyphosate Induced Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance of Pathologies and Sperm Epimutations: Generational Toxicology, 2019

Listen to Dr. Eric Nilsson, Research Assistant Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Washington State University, presenting a recent study investigating exposure to the herbicide glyphosate in rats. The study found that the exposed rats’ subsequent grand-offspring and un-exposed great grand-offspring had higher rates of disease. Reference.

Abstract

Ancestral environmental exposures to a variety of factors and toxicants have been shown to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset disease. One of the most widely used agricultural pesticides worldwide is the herbicide glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine), commonly known as Roundup. There are an increasing number of conflicting reports regarding the direct exposure toxicity (risk) of glyphosate, but no rigorous investigations on the generational actions. The current study using a transient exposure of gestating F0 generation female rats found negligible impacts of glyphosate on the directly exposed F0 generation, or F1 generation offspring pathology. In contrast, dramatic increases in pathologies in the F2 generation grand-offspring, and F3 transgenerational great-grand-offspring were observed. The transgenerational pathologies observed include prostate disease, obesity, kidney disease, ovarian disease, and parturition (birth) abnormalities. Epigenetic analysis of the F1, F2 and F3 generation sperm identified differential DNA methylation regions (DMRs). A number of DMR associated genes were identified and previously shown to be involved in pathologies. Therefore, we propose glyphosate can induce the transgenerational inheritance of disease and germline (e.g. sperm) epimutations. Observations suggest the generational toxicology of glyphosate needs to be considered in the disease etiology of future generations.

Carey Gillam on Monsanto Lawsuit

The legal picture and the bigger picture, MARCH 29, 2019

How much power will we grant profit-driven corporations to determine not just what we’re exposed to, but what we’re permitted to know about it ?

Carey Gillam, longtime journalist, is currently research director at the group US Right to Know, and author of the book Whitewash: The Story of a Weedkiller, Cancer and the Corruption of Science.

Reference.

Astroturfing : les fichiers secrets de Monsanto

Enquête de Laura Aguirre de Carcer, Tristan Waleckx et les équipes d’”Envoyé spécial” diffusée le 16 mai 2019

Nouvelles révélations sur les documents secrets de Monsanto. Après le fichage illégal de journalistes, de chercheurs, de politiques, l’équipe d'”Envoyé spécial” a découvert une autre stratégie : l’astroturfing.

Des agences de communication travaillant pour Monsanto ont créé un “faux mouvement spontané” de défense du glyphosate. Des hôtesses ont ainsi recruté des agriculteurs sans jamais leur dire qu’elles travaillaient pour la firme. L’objectif était de créer un groupe d’influence venant du terrain, en dissimulant cette stratégie aux premiers concernés : les agriculteurs. Référence.

 

Fichage Généralisé Organisé par Monsanto et une Société de Lobbying

Révélations, Le 20Heures France2, 9 May 2019

“Elus, hauts fonctionnaires, journalistes… Ils auraient été fichés et notés en fonction de leur degré de soutien à loMonsanto. Même Ségolène Royal, alors ministre de l’Environnement. Elle est dite “à marginaliser” Référence.

Une fuite de documents confidentiels, qui portent la signature d’une agence de communication travaillant pour Monsanto, a permis aux journalistes de l’Œil du 20 heures de mettre la main sur des documents inédits.

Des pratiques vraisemblablement illégales. Des plaintes ont été déposées.

“Générations Futures” : c’est 20 ans de lutte contre les pesticides !

Ca donne quoi ? Découvrez-le en 4 minutes vidéo !

Alors que la 14e Semaine pour les alternatives aux pesticides se clôture, nous voulions prendre le temps de faire le bilan. L’occasion de se replonger, avec vous, dans les moments les plus marquants de l’histoire de Générations Futures depuis sa création et de partager ensemble ses avancées et ses tournants.

Rappelez-vous : chaque action, chaque victoire, nous la devons à votre générosité et à votre soutien. Du fond du cœur, merci. Rien n’aurait été et ne sera possible sans vous. Pour nous aider à œuvrer pour un avenir sans pesticides de synthèse, rejoignez-nous, parlez de l’association autour de vous, faites un don. Chaque action compte ! Référence.

Glyphosate could be altering the wildlife and organisms at the base of the food chain

Glyphosate impairs learning in mosquito larvae (Aedes aegypti) at field-realistic doses

Glyphosate-based herbicides are not supposed to harm wildlife. But lab studies – such as this – keep finding otherwise…

What’s the world’s most widely used herbicide doing to tiny critters? asks Environmental Health News. Image Darron Birgenheier.

2019 Study Abstract

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world. In the last years, the number of studies revealing deleterious effects of glyphosate on non-target species has been increasing. We studied the impact of glyphosate at field-realistic doses on learning in mosquito larvae (Aedes aegypti). Larvae of A. aegypti live in small water bodies and perform a stereotyped escape response when a moving object projects its shadow on the water surface. Repeated presentations of an innocuous visual stimulus induce a decrease in response due to habituation, a non-associative form of learning. In this study, different groups of larvae were reared in water containing different concentrations of glyphosate that can be found in the field (50 µg/l, 100 µg/l, 210 µg/l and 2 mg/l). Larvae reared in a glyphosate solution of 2 mg/l could complete their development. However, glyphosate impaired habituation. The higher the dose, the stronger the deleterious effects on learning abilities. This protocol opens new avenues to further studies aiming at understanding how glyphosate affects non-target organisms as insects. Habituation in mosquito larvae could serve as a parameter for testing the impact of pollutants in water bodies.

Pesticide residues found in 98 percent of Canadian honey samples

Determination of glyphosate, AMPA, and glufosinate in honey by online solid-phase extraction-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A new study is the latest evidence that glyphosate herbicides are so pervasive that residues can be found in foods not produced by farmers using glyphosate.

As U.S. regulators continue to dance around the issue of testing foods for residues of glyphosate weed killers, government scientists in Canada have found the pesticide in 197 of 200 samples of honey they examined, Environmental Health News reports, March 22, 2019.

ABSTRACT

A simple method was developed for the simultaneous determination of glyphosate, its main degradation product (aminomethylphosphonic acid), and glufosinate in honey. Aqueous honey solutions were derivatised offline prior to direct analysis of the target analytes using online solid-phase extraction coupled to liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Using the developed procedure, accuracies ranging from 95.2% to 105.3% were observed for all analytes at fortification levels of 5, 50, and 150 μg kg−1 with intra-day precisions ranging from 1.6% to 7.2%. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) was 1 μg kg−1 for each analyte. Two hundred honey samples were analysed for the three analytes with AMPA and glyphosate being most frequently detected (99.0% and 98.5% of samples tested, respectively). The concentrations of glyphosate were found to range from <1 to 49.8 μg kg−1 while those of its degradation product ranged from <1 to 50.1 μg kg−1. The ratio of glyphosate to AMPA was found to vary significantly amongst the samples where both analytes were present above the LOQ. Glufosinate was detected in 125 of 200 samples up to a maximum concentration of 33.0 μg kg−1.

Glyphosate-exposed shows a change in intestinal flora, study

The Ramazzini Institute 13-week pilot study on glyphosate and Roundup administered at human-equivalent dose to Sprague Dawley rats: effects on the microbiome

A study published on May 2018 by an international consortium of researchers, shows a change in intestinal flora in exposed animals, compared to control group. Image credit telegraph.

2019 Study Abstract

Background
Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) are broad-spectrum herbicides that act on the shikimate pathway in bacteria, fungi, and plants. The possible effects of GBHs on human health are the subject of an intense public debate for both its potential carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects, including its effects on microbiome. The present pilot study examines whether exposure to GBHs at doses of glyphosate considered to be “safe” (the US Acceptable Daily Intake – ADI – of 1.75 mg/kg bw/day), starting from in utero, may modify the composition of gut microbiome in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats.

Methods
Glyphosate alone and Roundup, a commercial brand of GBHs, were administered in drinking water at doses comparable to the US glyphosate ADI (1.75 mg/kg bw/day) to F0 dams starting from the gestational day (GD) 6 up to postnatal day (PND) 125. Animal feces were collected at multiple time points from both F0 dams and F1 pups. The gut microbiota of 433 fecal samples were profiled at V3-V4 region of 16S ribosomal RNA gene and further taxonomically assigned and assessed for diversity analysis. We tested the effect of exposure on overall microbiome diversity using PERMANOVA and on individual taxa by LEfSe analysis.

Results
Microbiome profiling revealed that low-dose exposure to Roundup and glyphosate resulted in significant and distinctive changes in overall bacterial composition in F1 pups only. Specifically, at PND31, corresponding to pre-pubertal age in humans, relative abundance for Bacteriodetes (Prevotella) was increased while the Firmicutes (Lactobacillus) was reduced in both Roundup and glyphosate exposed F1 pups compared to controls.

Conclusions
This study provides initial evidence that exposures to commonly used GBHs, at doses considered safe, are capable of modifying the gut microbiota in early development, particularly before the onset of puberty. These findings warrant future studies on potential health effects of GBHs in early development such as childhood.

Glyphosate suspected to be an endocrine disruptor

The Ramazzini Institute 13-week pilot study glyphosate-based herbicides administered at human-equivalent dose to Sprague Dawley rats: effects on development and endocrine system

A new study, published on March 12 2019 by an international consortium of researchers, adds a new controversy about this product already suspected of being genotoxic or carcinogenic. Image credit republic.ru.

2019 Study Abstract

Background
Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) are broad-spectrum herbicides that act on the shikimate pathway in bacteria, fungi, and plants. The possible effects of GBHs on human health are the subject of an intense public debate for both its potential carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects, including potential effects on the endocrine system The present pilot study examine whether exposure to GBHs at the dose of glyphosate considered to be “safe” (the US Acceptable Daily Intake – ADI – of 1.75 mg/kg bw/day), starting from in utero life, affect the development and endocrine system across different life stages in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats.

Methods
Glyphosate alone and Roundup Bioflow, a commercial brand of GBHs, were administered in drinking water at 1.75 mg/kg bw/day to F0 dams starting from the gestational day (GD) 6 (in utero) up to postnatal day (PND) 120. After weaning, offspring were randomly distributed in two cohorts: 8 M + 8F/group animals belonging to the 6-week cohort were sacrificed after puberty at PND 73 ± 2; 10 M + 10F/group animals belonging to the 13-week cohort were sacrificed at adulthood at PND 125 ± 2. Effects of glyphosate or Roundup exposure were assessed on developmental landmarks and sexual characteristics of pups.

Results
In pups, anogenital distance (AGD) at PND 4 was statistically significantly increased both in Roundup-treated males and females and in glyphosate-treated males. Age at first estrous (FE) was significantly delayed in the Roundup-exposed group and serum testosterone concentration significantly increased in Roundup-treated female offspring from the 13-week cohort compared to control animals. A statistically significant increase in plasma TSH concentration was observed in glyphosate-treated males compared with control animals as well as a statistically significant decrease in DHT and increase in BDNF in Roundup-treated males. Hormonal status imbalances were more pronounced in Roundup-treated rats after prolonged exposure.

Conclusions
The present pilot study demonstrate that GBHs exposure, from prenatal period to adulthood, induced endocrine effects and altered reproductive developmental parameters in male and female SD rats. In particular, it was associated with androgen-like effects, including a statistically significant increase of AGDs in both males and females, delay of FE and increased testosterone in female.

Les liens entre les industries agroalimentaire et pharmaceutique

Interview de Vandana Shiva, Brut, Février 2019

Selon Vandana Shiva, des multinationales s’enrichissent en vendant des médicaments pour soigner des maladies qu’elles ont elles-mêmes provoquées.

L’écologiste Vandana Shiva dénonce le “cartel du poison”, Brut, Février 2019.