Monsanto’s Roundup to cause birth defects?

The herbicide used on genetically modified soy could cause brain, and intestinal and heart defects in fetuses, according to the results of a scientific investigation which has recently been released. Although the study used amphibian embryos, the results are comparable to what would happen in the development of a human embryo, according to one of the study’s authors, embryology professor Andres Carrasco. He notes that it is noteworthy that there are no studies of embryos on the world level and none where glyphosate is injected into embryos. The researcher with the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research and director of the Molecular Embryology Laboratory states that the doses of herbicide used in the study were much lower than the levels used in the fumigations, which makes the situation much more serious that the study suggests because glyphosate does not degrade. Prof. Carrasco emphasises that the research found that pure glyphosate in doses lower than those used in fumigation causes defects. 

Prof. Carrasco mentions Ituzaingo, a district where 5,000 people live, where about 300 cases of cancer associated with fumigations with pesticides have turned up over the past eight years. Soy is Argentina’s main crop, and Argentina is the world’s third-largest exporter of soy, Latin American Herald Tribune reports. Farmers use between 180 and 200 million litres of glyphosate each year, which was developed by Monsanto and is sold under the brand name Roundup in the USA.
 

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