In one of the largest studies on glyphosate contamination in a human population, the world’s most used weedkiller was found in over 99% of the general public in France, with a total of over 6,800 urine samples having been tested.
The study, published Wednesday in Environmental Science and Pollution Research, a top peer-reviewed scientific journal, was carried out on 6,848 people, living in 83 municipalities in France.
These volunteers were recruited via the “Glyphosate Campaign” association, which has launched a legal campaign against the weedkiller classified as a “probable human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
The samples were taken between June 2018 and January 2020, the vast majority under the supervision of third-party lawyers or legal representatives with a view to legal action. They were analyzed during the sampling period by a third-party laboratory in Germany.
Glyphosate was detected in 99.8% of 6,795 exploitable samples, at “an average level of 1.19 µg/L (ppb)”.
The authors of this new study note that the samples taken in spring and summer, the season for glyphosate and other herbicide spraying, showed “significantly higher levels”. Farmers, especially “working in a wine-growing environment”, also had “significantly higher” levels.
Levels were also higher in men and children, people who regularly consume tap or spring water, smokers and drinkers of beer or juice.
People who said they eat “more than 85% organic food”, on the other hand, had lower levels.
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The authors stress that their sample group was not fully representative of the general population, being older, more female and undoubtedly over-representing “citizens aware of the issues of pesticides and a healthy lifestyle”. In fact this means that it is likely for the levels of glyphosate in the general public would be slightly higher.
They added that its size makes the analysis relevant, especially as “our results confirm almost all other international studies”, while being “rather in the upper part” of the levels found, notes Denis Lairon, director of research emeritus at INSERM and one of the authors. However, he said he was “surprised to see an almost systematic contamination”.
The sampling campaign was accompanied by more than 5,800 individual legal complaints by the participants on the basis of the positive results, in particular for “endangering the life of others”.
“This external analysis by scientists helps the case move forward,” concluded Guillaume Tumerelle, a lawyer for the Glyphosate Campaign.
French President Emmanuel Macron had committed in November 2017 for a total ban on glyphosate “at the latest in three years”. Last week however he admitted to having failed with this pledge, while adding that this was due to a “collective” failure by other EU countries.
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a continually uphill battle
If it’s 99% in France it’s at least 1000% here in the great USA!
When will the debate resolve to the fact that it’s the END USER (farmers) who are applying these poisons to the land?
Anyone who believes they can dump hundreds of gallons of poisons onto soil and agricultural produce, without poisoning livestock and persons who consume the end product, is a certifiable IDIOT.
While many people talk of the negative effects of Glyphosate on the human body, it goes deeper.
Glyphosate interferes with the shikimate pathway, which produces the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan in plants and microorganisms.
The shikimate pathway (shikimic acid pathway) is a seven-step metabolic pathway used by bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, some protozoans, and plants for the biosynthesis of folates and aromatic amino acids (tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine).
It is a necessary biological metabolic function.
In interfering with that shikimate pathway the functions of numerous enzymes are interrupted.
Enzymes are another extremely important factor in natural biological functioning.
Microorganisms are a bases of all life.
Microorganisms for a bases of most natural processes, systems and functions.
Many natural vitamins are synthesized by interactions involving microorganisms.
Most all natural antibiotics known to humans are synthesized by interactions involving microorganisms.
Many other beneficial natural compounds are reliant on interactions involving microorganisms.
The human microbiome, and thus natural human functions, are reliant on microorganisms.
Ditto for plants & animals.
But way too many humans are waging war on those microorganisms.
Many of the damages attributed to Glyphosate stem from Glyphosates attack on those microorganisms.
And yet far too many people are left scratching their heads as to why so many different instances of human disease & illness are rapidly increasing.
The saying “you are what you eat” is a truism.
New cells are made up of the molecules and atoms and such of the cells of things consumed.
But it also goes further.
You are not only what you ate, but also what you eat, ate.
There is far too much negligence of the importance of the foundations of the food chain.
An uphill battle indeed, but at least people are starting to know what I’m talking about when I mention Glyphosate and other Agrichemicals. That wasn’t true when I first became aware of it myself nearly ten years ago now. So – progress! As long as we keep on tilting that windmill, change will come.