Glyphosate?

Hey everyone, Sarah here. While talking to my friend this week, he informed me about a herbicide known as GLYPHOSATE. Now, if you have been keeping up with our blog, you would have seen that Saskia touched on this in her post, GMOs and Agricultural Productivity.

Glyphosate

https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-03-22-coincidence-monsanto-patented-glyphosate-as-an-antibiotic-weed-killer-medicine.html.

Okay, so glyphosate is a herbicide, but what is its significance?

Glyphosate is a very widely used herbicide because it is broad spectrum (Dill, CaJacob and Padgette, 2008); able to ‘tackle’ all vegetative species. It does this by inhibiting an enzyme known as EPSPS (5-enolpyruvyshikimate 3-phosphate synthase) (Dill et al., 2008). It is an enzyme which is used to catalyze the reaction to produce some amino acids (Shikimate pathway).

Give It A Minute: Glyphosate 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS4iVa3SaIY

In the video above, it indicates that the enzyme is not present in animals or humans, however, according to Samsel and Seneff, 2015 it is indicated that EPSPS is produced by plants and microorganisms. While we may not be microorganisms, we have bacteria in our gut, which are necessary to synthesize essential amino acids.

So, how does glyphosate have anything to do with GM crops?

It has to do with the history of its use. It was always a very common herbicide because it was broad spectrum as said before as well as it was perceived to be non-toxic to humans and the environment (Dill et al., 2008). However, due to this, a number of vegetative crops were lost in the process. To combat this, crops were genetically modified to be Glyphosate-resistant Crops (GRCs) with the gene CP4-EPSPS (Dill et al., 2008). This gene is present in the majority of GM crops; corn, soy, maize, canola, cotton, due to the widespread use of glyphosate today (Dill et al., 2008) (Samsel and Seneff, 2015).

Glyphosate Use vs Glyphosate-resistant Weeds

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/526006431452201103/

Although GM crops, as mentioned in previous posts, reduce the use of agrochemicals as a whole, it still uses herbicides like glyphosate just as in traditional methods of farming but to a lesser extent (Dill et al. 2008). Because of this, a lot of weeds are becoming glyphosate resistant, resulting in increased frequency and concentration of glyphosate used.

While GM crops are resistant to glyphosate, chemical residues remain on the crop and is therefore consumed by the public (Samsel and Seneff, 2015).

But what is the effect of all of this?

Want to know more?

Stay tuned for my next blog post.

S.P

References 

Sources

Dill G.M., CaJacob C.A. and Padgette S.R., 2008. Glyphosate-resistant crops: adoption, use and future considerations. Pest Management Science. Retrieved from http://www.ask-force.org/web/HerbizideTol/Dill-Glyphosate-Resistant-2008.pdf.

Samsel A., Seneff S., 2015. Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases III: Manganese, neurological diseases, and associated pathologies. Surgical Neurology International. Retrieved from http://www.tonu.org/tonu/MyFiles/MF021-Glyphosate-III.pdf.

Images and Videos

Monsanto Company 2015. Give It A Minute. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS4iVa3SaIY.

Glyphosate Use vs Glyphosate- resistant Weeds. Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/526006431452201103/.

Batts, V. 2017. Glyphosate. https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-03-22-coincidence-monsanto-patented-glyphosate-as-an-antibiotic-weed-killer-medicine.html.