Residue of doubt

Residue of doubt

Context

Effects of Glyphosate exposure on humans

What is Glyphosate?

Glyphosate is the most popular herbicide in the world

Since the 1970s, Monsanto has been marketing it to farmers under the trade name Roundup

Glyphosate resistant seeds developed

• While glyphosate was initially welcomed by farmers because it saved them the cost of employing labourers to pluck out weeds, its popularity grew exponentially after Monsanto developed genetically engineered seeds that were resistant to the herbicide.
• Effect: farmers could blanket-spray their fields with Roundup and be rest assured that it wouldn’t harm their cotton or corn

A recent study conducted

• Glyphosate exposure in pregnancy and shortened gestational length: a prospective Indiana birth cohort study
• In the peer-reviewed Environmental Health, proffered evidence for glyphosate in the urine samples of 71 pregnant women in Central Indiana

Key Findings: Shortened gestational lengths

• Of the women, 93% had glyphosate “above the limit of detection” in their urine
• The only way the glyphosate had made its way was through their diet as Indiana is known for heavy cultivation and consumption of genetically modified corn
• No correlations with foetal growth indicators such as birth weight percentile and head circumference
• Higher glyphosate urine levels were significantly correlated with shortened gestational lengths

Conclusion

What makes the study significant is the fact that this is a rare instance of a common crop chemical being detected in people. The Indiana study shouldn’t set alarm bells ringing in India yet, but it certainly merits an equivalent follow-up here.