A pilot study has found high concentrations of glyphosate in breast milk and urine, demonstrating that, contrary to what has been reported until now, the herbicide accumulates in the human body.
An initial test on the herbicide glyphosate, conducted on a number of American mothers and commissioned by Moms Across America and Sustainable Pulse, found high levels of the substance in 3 out of 10 samples. The levels of glyphosate in breast milk measured in the trial are up to 1,600 times higher than what is permitted under the European directive on drinking water with regard to individual pesticides; they are, however, below the maximum permitted level for glyphosate in the United States, as established by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Multinational manufacturers and regulatory bodies around the world have always considered glyphosate non-bioaccumulative. The results of this pilot study contradict that belief.
Glyphosate-based herbicides are the best-selling in the world, especially where genetically modified organisms are cultivated. It comes as no surprise, then, that the mothers selected for the test had a certain familiarity with biotech foods. The study also analysed 35 urine samples, recording glyphosate levels ten times higher than those found in a similar study carried out in Europe in 2013. According to the promoters of the study, this difference is due to the fact that the United States has a high proportion of agricultural land cultivated with transgenic varieties of soya, maize and cotton, whereas in Europe there is a cautious attitude towards GM crops and therefore exposure to foods contaminated by chemical residues is lower.
The American analysis, carried out by Microbe Inotech Labs, St. Louis, Missouri, is not intended to be a complete scientific study. It was conceived to inspire the launch of in-depth scientific investigations into glyphosate by the bodies responsible for the regulation of chemical substances, and is addressed to independent scientists around the world.
"It has been a colossal mistake by both the US government and the biotech industry to promote and release products without independent long-term studies. What we are now finding with glyphosate is similar to what we faced in the 20th century with PCBs, DDT and Agent Orange," said Henry Rowlands, director of Sustainable Pulse.
"Moms Across America considers breast milk the number one choice for mothers. We urge all mothers to eat organic food and above all to avoid meat, dairy, oils and grains that are sprayed with glyphosate at harvest time as a drying agent. It is truly encouraging to have found that women who ate only organic and non-GMO food for a period of several months showed no detectable levels of glyphosate in their breast milk," said Zen Honeycutt, founder and director of Moms Across America.