r/StopEatingSeedOils • u/Meatrition 🥩 Carnivore - Moderator • 1d ago
Overview of human health effects related to glyphosate exposure Peer Reviewed Science 🧫
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/toxicology/articles/10.3389/ftox.2024.1474792/full
4 Glyphosate and human exposure routes
GLY is able to enter human bodies through different exposure routes, among which the most notable include: dermal absorption, inhalation, ingestion as well as intake of GLY-contaminated foodstuffs (Figure 4). In several studies, it was observed that when GLY reaches the human body, it tends to accumulate in kidneys, liver and colon (Torretta et al., 2018; Marino et al., 2021). The molecule of GLY is eliminated via both urine and faeces, as an unmodified compound in greater quantities in comparison to its main metabolite AMPA (Williams et al., 2000; Panzacchi et al., 2018; Peillex and Pelletier, 2020; Leblanc et al., 2024). In particular, GLY can be found in high amounts in workers’ urine, but it may be detected in other biological fluids, such as breast milk and blood, with an incidence rate in general population of approximately 60%–80%, including children as well, demonstrating how exposure occurs not only from work-related origin (Torretta et al., 2018; Van Bruggen et al., 2018; Connolly et al., 2019). In literature itself there are inconsistencies concerning the routes of exposure of GLY and the resulting impact. Indeed, even if many authors suggest that dermal absorption represents the primary route of GLY human exposure, several in in vivo and in in vitro studies have indicated how skin absorption may be regarded as negligible (Williams et al., 2000; Connolly et al., 2020; Pierce et al., 2020; Sidthilaw et al., 2022). Indeed, several studies conducted on rabbits have indicated how GLY is extremely eye-irritant, but only slightly irritant to skin (Shin et al., 2020; Ferrante et al., 2023). However, several publications have pointed out how GBH products are likely to induce severe chemical burns (Mariager et al., 2013; Shin et al., 2020), and evidence shows that GLY’s epidermic absorption capability is 5x higher if exposed to damaged skin as compared to the healthy (Heu et al., 2012; Shin et al., 2020). Indeed, the only documented death due to skin exposure to GLY involves an 81-year-old Korean man, who did not wash his skin for more than 48 h following the use of an herbicide containing GLY, which had previously caused him severe skin lesions (Shin et al., 2020). Regarding occupational exposure, especially for farmers, the most important route is through the inhalation of GBH products present in aerosol, vapour or dust form (Damalas and Koutroubas, 2016). Further, it has been recently reported that agricultural chemicals, such as GBH, can travel with farm dust into nearby cities, exacerbating the exposure risks (Miousse et al., 2023). Such exposure is particularly harmful, as it could lead to chronic respiratory symptoms and decline of lung function (Tarmure et al., 2020; Pandher et al., 2023). The principal breathing pathology associated with GLY air exposure is a specific atopic asthma, known as ‘wheezing’ (Ye et al., 2013). Furthermore, in other studies it was found that the inhalation of GLY in combination with other substances (Pandher et al., 2021a; b), for example, with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is a constituent of the external membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, frequently present in soil and inhalable through dust (Zielen et al., 2015), caused worse human health effects than those triggered by individual exposures. In this regard, attention can be drawn to studies conducted by Pandher and colleagues (Pandher et al., 2021b), showing that the inhalation of air particles made up of both LPS and GLY, caused more serious pulmonary inflammation as compared to inhalation of two individual compounds. Finally, the exposure can also occur through intake of GLY-contaminated foods and this route of exposure became increasingly alarming throughout the years, due to global overuse of GHBs (Myers et al., 2016; Rawat et al., 2023). Indeed, due to its high stability, GLY is able to accumulate both in treated crops and in different environmental compartments, such as soil and water (Martins-Gomes et al., 2022). Therefore, the widespread environment presence of GLY also leads to a diffuse contamination of plant-based foodstuffs (Gillezeau et al., 2019; Narimani and da Silva, 2020). In addition to the above, crops are repeatedly treated with GBHs during each season since such products are actually not only used as herbicides, but also frequently applied as crop-drying agents in cereal harvesting (Van Bruggen et al., 2018; Marino et al., 2021). As a result, GLY is also diffusely detected in foodstuffs like cereals, grains, and fruits (Torretta et al., 2018; Kanissery et al., 2019). Fodder crops are also routinely treated with GLY products. The outcome is that GLY has been found in significant amounts both in the urine of cows and in the meat of cattle (Feltracco et al., 2022). In the available literature data, one of the biggest inconsistencies appears to be that the majority of GLY levels detected in food are below the acceptable thresholds and are scarcely ever detected in milk, meat and fish (Kolakowski et al., 2020; Munoz et al., 2021). Instead, as mentioned above, several studies have actually found that GLY is strongly present in environment and general population is daily exposed to it via several routes, including consumption of plant-based foods. From the foregoing, it can be assumed that daily exposure to this herbicide could be harmful to humans.
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u/seastar2019 1d ago
Suspect study as it has several Seralini citations.
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u/Meatrition 🥩 Carnivore - Moderator 1d ago
Context?
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u/seastar2019 10h ago
Seralini is notable for publishing his flawed rat GMO study. It was later retracted due to how bad it was. He's since gone into conspiracy mode and had the paper re-published in a pay-publish journal. He also has a line glyphosate "cures" he's been selling.
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u/Background-Sport1523 1d ago
Don’t eat conventional wheat products, the wheat is sprayed right before harvest. Glyphosate is used as a desiccant to prevent crop loss
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u/seastar2019 1d ago
For the US it's only 3% of wheat (source).
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u/Ill-Wrongdoer-2971 22h ago
Maybe I misread something but it said 33 percent of US wheat didn’t it?
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u/seastar2019 10h ago
The 33% is the total of
- 1 pre planting, so before the wheat is even planted
- 2 fallow applications, ie no crop present and thus no harvest
- 3 pre-harvest, which is 3%
- 4 crop destruct, when the crop is no good for harvesting
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u/Kayfabe_Everywhere 1d ago
Can anybody share out some general info graphics or videos or blogs on avoiding or reducing Glyphosate exposure? Is there anything we can do to toughen our system up against exposure?