Why is herbicides bad

About million pounds are applied to U. Until now, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate, rather than the mixture of ingredients found in Roundup. The research team suspects that Roundup might cause pregnancy problems by interfering with hormone production, possibly leading to abnormal fetal development, low birth weights or miscarriages.

Hundreds of studies over the past 35 years have addressed the safety of glyphosate. There's been a great deal of study on Roundup, and we're very proud of its performance.

The EPA classifies glyphosate as a Group E chemical, which means there is strong evidence that it does not cause cancer in humans. In addition, the EPA and the U. The EPA has concluded that it is not dangerous to public health or the environment. The French team, led by Gilles-Eric Seralini , a University of Caen molecular biologist, said its results highlight the need for health agencies to reconsider the safety of Roundup.

Scientists there also linked genetic malformations in amphibians to glysophate. In addition, last year in Sweden, a scientific team found that exposure is a risk factor for people developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Inert ingredients are often less scrutinized than active pest-killing ingredients. Although Monsanto is the largest manufacturer of glyphosate-based herbicides, several other manufacturers sell similar herbicides with different inert ingredients.

Kemery said the EPA takes into account the inert ingredients and how the product is used, whenever a pesticide is approved for use.

But some inert ingredients have been found to potentially affect human health. Many amplify the effects of active ingredients by helping them penetrate clothing, protective equipment and cell membranes, or by increasing their toxicity.

For example, a Croatian team recently found that an herbicide formulation containing atrazine caused DNA damage, which can lead to cancer, while atrazine alone did not. The great increase in the use of pesticides occurred with the development of new organic chemicals following World Wars I and II.

In addition to chemicals for the control of fungi and insects, new developments were nematocides, herbicides, rodenticides, avicides, defoliants, wood preservatives, etc. The use of chemicals helped increase productivity, but caused great concern about their effect on human health and safety.

On the other hand, chemicals did help tremendously from the standpoint of protecting against diseases that were carried by insects, especially mosquitoes. Pesticides now must go through rigorous testing by the U.

This has led to many herbicides that possess little or no mammalian toxicity and are less harmful than many everyday household products Table 1. Surprisingly, household chemicals that many of us store under the kitchen sink pose more risk to the handler than herbicides.

A common way to document toxicity is by oral LD 50 values. LD 50 is measured in mg of chemical administered per kg of body weight. Therefore, an oral LD 50 of means that mg of chemical was needed to obtain lethality in a 1 kg subject rabbit. The lower the LD 50 value, the less chemical that is required to reach lethality.

Table 1 demonstrates that herbicides often have higher LD 50 values than many commonly used or consumed products. Why is this? Why are chemicals that are so effective on plant species not equally harmful to humans? The reason is two-fold. First, herbicides target highly specific biological or biochemical processes within plants, such as photosynthesis and production of branch-chain amino acids.

However, mammals humans included do not photosynthesize or produce branch-chain amino acids. Therefore, herbicides that target photosynthesis or branch-chain amino acid production have no place to bind in our bodies and have very little impact.

Secondly, since these herbicides do not bind in our bodies, they are often excreted in urine within 24 hours of the dose. This flushing of the herbicide does not allow concentrations to build up to toxic levels within the body. This in no way means that it is safe to intentionally ingest herbicides, but the fact is that our bodies are well equipped to safely dispose of accidental exposure to many common herbicides.