Articles include: mystery chemicals found in pregnant women; Europe’s plastic boom and US fracking; US Chemical Safety Board & trump; Paraquat poisoning; Florida’s lead poisoning problem; pesticides in US streams; Study paper released last week on Florida manatees exposed to weed killer adds glyphosate; microbes & PFAS; Rat Study published in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology: chemicals pass through to offspring; coal plant next door.
Tag: Glyphosate
Study: Glyphosate weed killer releases a banned pesticide into islands’ waters through soil erosion
C&EN: Glyphosate weed killer releases a banned pesticide into islands’ waters through soil erosion. Use of the herbicide on banana plantations explains chlordecone pollution off the coasts of Guadeloupe and Martinique.
The toxic pesticide chlordecone was used on banana plantations in the French West Indies until 1993 but continued to pollute the waters surrounding the islands long afterwards. This pollution puzzled researchers, who expected the hydrophobic chemical to adhere to contaminated soil and not enter the watershed. A new study finds that use of the herbicide glyphosate, which began in 1997, caused the chlordecone release by accelerating soil erosion (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2021, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c05207).
6 articles on chemicals and our health
The Guardian: Monsanto owner and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban. Internal government emails show actions similar to those by Bayer and lobbyists to kill a proposed ban in Thailand in 2019. Internal government emails reveal Monsanto owner Bayer AG and industry lobbyist CropLife America have been working closely with US officials to pressure Mexico into abandoning its intended ban on glyphosate, a pesticide linked to cancer that is the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkillers.
The Guardian: Am I going to regret it?’: forever chemicals dilemma for breastfeeding mothers. Many health experts and advocates say breastfeeding is the best choice for babies but the threat of passing on contamination from PFAS is prompting new questions.
Undark: A New Strategy to Reduce Suicide by Pesticide Poisoning. To address suicide rates in many developing countries, a WHO study urges national bans on hazardous pesticides. Globally, an estimated 110,000 to 168,000 lives are lost to this act every year, accounting for about 14 to 20 percent of overall suicides, according to a 2017 assessment in the Journal of Affective Disorders. A WHO-funded study published in December in The Lancet Global Health found that enacting such bans in 14 mostly developing countries could reduce suicide deaths by 28,000 people per year.
PennLive: PA American Water sues manufacturers of toxic PFAS ‘forever chemicals’. One of Pennsylvania’s largest water utilities has sued 3M, DuPont and a host of other companies, alleging they knew — or should have known — that so-called “forever chemicals” they manufactured and distributed posed a hazard to the public.
New York Times: Annie’s Pledges to Purge a Class of Chemicals from its Mac and Cheese. The move comes nearly four years after a study showed that chemicals believed to cause health problems in children and reproductive issues in adults were found in mass-market macaroni and cheese packets. The 2017 study, which was funded by environmental advocacy groups and was not published in a peer-reviewed journal, discovered the chemicals in all 10 of the mac and cheese varieties it tested, though the brands were not identified. [No study link provided.]
CNN: Chemicals in plastics damage babies’ brains and must be banned immediately, expert group says. Synthetic chemicals called phthalates are damaging children’s brain development and therefore must be immediately banned from consumer products, according to a group of scientists and health professionals from Project TENDR.
Bayer sets up huge fund to fend off future Roundup lawsuits
DW: Bayer sets up huge fund to fend off future Roundup lawsuits. German chemical company Bayer has struck a $2 billion deal to resolve future lawsuits over claims that its Roundup weed killer causes cancer. The deal would also provide future claimants up to $200,000 in compensation.
German pharmaceutical giant Bayer has reached a $2 billion (nearly € 1.7 billion) deal to resolve future legal claims that its Roundup weed killer causes cancer.
The settlement, announced on Wednesday, would cover future claims brought by people who have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a type of cancer — and were exposed to the controversial weed killer before their diagnosis.
It would also provide scope for compensation for people exposed to the popular product who then develop cancer in the future.
Under the proposed plan, Bayer would provide the $2 billion over a four-year period as compensation and to cover costs of outreach and diagnostic assistance.
It also includes the creation of a scientific advisory panel whose findings would not be legally binding.
War of the weedkiller: why environmentalists are concerned about moves to ban Roundup
The guardian discusses War of the weedkiller: why environmentalists are concerned about moves to ban Roundup. Many say herbicide is an essential tool in preserving biodiversity but others say it’s a ‘delusion’ to think weed control is only possible with ‘poison’.
Glyphosate – the weedkiller better known by its most-famous brand name Roundup – does not have the best of public profiles.
The subject of multibillion dollar payouts over claims it causes cancer, the world’s most-popular herbicide developed by Monsanto is not known for having too many friends among environmentalists.
But away from lawsuits and petitions, there are concerns among some opponents of Australia’s invasive weeds that glyphosate – a key tool in their armoury – could be taken away from them.
Next week the Invasive Species Council will begin posting and emailing copies of a new report that looks to defend the chemical from what the council fears is a trend towards restricting its use, and even banning it entirely.
Organic diets quickly reduce the amount of glyphosate in people’s bodies
Environmental Health News discusses why organic diets quickly reduce the amount of glyphosate in people’s bodies. A new study found levels of the widespread herbicide and its breakdown products reduced, on average, more than 70 percent in both adults and children after just six days of eating organic.
These reductions were achieved after just three days on the organic diet, which is in line with animal studies showing most glyphosate leaves the body after five to seven days, though a smaller amount remains in and is eliminated more slowly from bone and bone marrow.
Published today in Environmental Research, the paper is the most robust examination of glyphosate levels in people after a dietary switch and provides important information about how people can avoid exposure to the herbicide, the main ingredient in Bayer’s weed killer Roundup. The findings are timely as Bayer, which purchased Roundup-maker Monsanto in 2016, recently agreed to a $10 billion payout to tens of thousands of current and potential future lawsuits from groundskeepers and farmers claiming they contracted non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Roundup.
While other studies have tested for glyphosate in cereals and other foods on grocery shelves, few have measured the pesticide in human bodies related to diet.
“Despite glyphosate being in such widespread use in agriculture, in our yards, on school playgrounds and in city parks worldwide…the U.S. government has done so little to understand our exposure,” Kendra Klein, study author and senior staff scientist at Friends of the Earth, told EHN.
Study: Monsanto’s secret funding for weedkiller studies
The Guardian discusses Monsanto’s secret funding for weedkiller studies. The research, used to help avoid a ban, claimed ‘severe impacts’ on farming if glyphosate was outlawed.
Monsanto secretly funded academic studies indicating “very severe impacts” on farming and the environment if its controversial glyphosate weedkiller were banned, an investigation has found.
The research was used by the National Farmers’ Union and others to successfully lobby against a European ban in 2017. As a result of the revelations, the NFU has now amended its glyphosate information to declare the source of the research.
Monsanto was bought by the agri-chemical multinational Bayer in 2018 and Bayer said the studies’ failure to disclose their funding broke its principles. However, the authors of the studies said the funding did not influence their work and the editor of the journal in which they were published said the papers would not be retracted or amended.
Glyphosate is sold by Bayer as Roundup and is the world’s most widely used weedkiller. The World Health Organization’s cancer agency, the IARC, declared that glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans” in 2015 but several international agencies, including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), subsequently came to opposite conclusions.
The new revelations centre on studies published in 2010 and 2014 by researchers at ADAS, an agricultural and environmental consultancy in the UK. The analyses concluded “the loss of glyphosate would cause very severe impacts on UK agriculture and the environment”. They suggested a 20% fall in wheat and rapeseed production. However, other researchers at another consultancy, the Andersons Centre, said: “[We] believe that this may be rather high.”
Science shouldn’t be for sale – we need reform to industry-funded studies to keep people safe
The Guardian opinion piece discusses why science shouldn’t be for sale. We need reform to industry-funded studies to keep people safe. We must be able to trust the integrity of scientific research as we work to protect our families and our planet,
Not again. News out of Europe last week revealed that more than 20 scientific studies submitted to regulators to prove the safety of the popular weedkilling chemical glyphosate came from a large German laboratory that has been accused of fraud and other wrongdoing.
The findings come amid global debate over whether or not glyphosate causes cancer and other health problems and if regulators and chemical companies proclaiming the chemical’s safety actually have credible science on their side.
Hundreds of studies done by US contract laboratories in the 1970s, 80s and 90s were found to be fraudulent, including some tests used by Monsanto in representations to the US Environmental Protection Agency regarding the company’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide.
Kellogg’s to phase out wheat, oat products containing glyphosate
This article discusses Kellogg’s decision to phase out wheat, oat products containing glyphosate.
Food manufacturer Kellogg’s made a commitment to stop using wheat and oat products with glyphosate by 2025, though some in the Texas wheat industry are ensuring it’s safety.
Glyphosate is an herbicide used to control unwanted plants and is used by farmers as a drying agent, according to Kellogg’s. Glyphosate is also the active ingredient in Roundup, the most used herbicide in the U.S. and made by Bayer-Monsanto.
“Although this practice is not widespread in our wheat and oat supply chains, we are working with our suppliers to phase out using glyphosate as pre-harvest drying agent in our wheat and oat supply chain in our major markets, including the US, by the end of 2025,” the company said in a statement.
The statement also said the practice is done only in certain circumstances, such as needing to harvest quickly because of weather challenges.
U.S. EPA unveils new pesticide rules, pleasing farmers but upsetting environmentalists
This Desert Sun article discusses the new pesticide rules issued by the U.S. EPA, pleasing farmers but upsetting environmentalists.
In a move heralded by farmers but panned by environmental groups, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to reapprove the use of neonicotinoids, or “neonics,” pesticides linked to declining populations of bees and other pollinators.
The EPA also published a final interim decision allowing the continued use of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s heavily used Roundup herbicide. Glyphosate use is restricted in many countries over fears of its impacts on human health.
The agriculture industry cheered the announcements last week, saying they would give farmers more tools to protect crops, while environmentalists raised alarms about impacts on human health and wildlife.