GMO Myths and Truths

4.1 Myth: Roundup is a safe herbicide with low toxicity
Truth: Roundup poses major health hazards
Roundup is marketed as a “safe” herbicide, based
on outdated and largely unpublished studies by
manufacturers. 6 But independent toxicological and
epidemiological studies confirm that Roundup and
glyphosate pose serious health hazards, as detailed
below.
4.1.2. People who eat Roundup Ready
crops may be eating toxic residues
The effects on animals and humans of eating
increased amounts of glyphosate herbicide
residues on such crops have not been properly
investigated. On the contrary, regulators have
ignored risks and changed safety rules to allow
higher levels of glyphosate residues into the food
and feed chain.
For example, after the 1996 commercialisation
of GM RR soy, EU regulators raised the allowed
maximum residue limit (MRL) for glyphosate in
imported soy 200-fold, from 0.1 mg/kg to 20 mg/
kg. 7 The UK government claimed that the move
was necessary to accommodate the new farm
practice of using glyphosate as a desiccant to
“burn down” crops before harvest, making grains
or beans easier to gather. 8 But it also conveniently
coincided with the introduction of RR soy.
Indeed, a 1994 report of the Joint FAO/WHO
Meetings on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) indirectly
admitted that GM soy was a factor in the need
for the higher limit. This JMPR meeting appears
to have been the source of the recommendation
for the new higher residue limit. In its report, the
JMPR recommended the higher limit of 20 mg/
kg for soybeans. The JMPR said the change was
needed because of a combination of two factors:
glyphosate’s use as a desiccant before harvest; and to
accommodate “sequential application of glyphosate
in the crop” 9 – a practice that is only possible with
GM RR soy, as it would kill non-GM soy.
In a 1999 press interview, Malcolm Kane, the
then recently-retired head of food safety at UK
supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, confirmed that
the European regulators raised the residue limit to
“satisfy the GM companies” and smooth the path
for GM soy to enter the food and feed market.
Kane added, “One does not need to be an activist
or overtly anti-GM to point out that herbicideresistant
crops come at the price of containing
significant chemical residues of the active chemical
in the commercial weedkiller.” 8
This high residue limit is potentially unsafe,
based on data from independent studies that
EU regulators ignored in setting their claimed
safe daily dose. 10,11,12 Glyphosate, AMPA, and
especially the commercial formulation Roundup
have been found to be toxic, in some cases at
extremely low levels. 13,14,15 Roundup damages
and kills human cells at levels below those
used in agriculture 16 and at residual levels to
be expected in food and feed derived from
Roundup-treated crops. 13 Roundup is a potent
endocrine disruptor (disturbs hormone function)
at concentrations up to 800 times lower than the
highest permitted levels in food and feed. 17 So
people who eat food products from GM RR crops
are eating amounts of these substances that may
have toxic effects.
4.1.3. Studies show toxic effects of
glyphosate and Roundup
Independent studies on human cells and
experimental animals have shown that glyphosate
and Roundup have serious toxic effects, in many
cases at low levels that could be found in the
environment or as residues in food or feed. 13,14,15
The added ingredients (adjuvants) in Roundup
are themselves toxic and increase the toxicity of
glyphosate by enabling it to penetrate human and
animal cells more easily. 13,18,19 Findings include:
● Glyphosate and Roundup caused malformations
in frog and chicken embryos. 3
● Roundup caused skeletal malformations in rat
foetuses. 20
● Industry’s own studies conducted for
regulatory purposes as long ago as the 1980s
show that glyphosate caused birth defects in
rats and rabbits. These effects were seen not
only at high, maternally toxic doses, but also
GMO Myths and Truths 65