Marek Cuhra, Terje Traavik og Thomas Bøhn has published a new article.

Clone- and age-dependent toxicity of a glyphosate commercial formulation and its active ingredient in Daphnia magna

Abstract:

By volume and revenue, glyphosate herbicides such as Roundup are globally dominant. It is estimated that 0.6-1.1 million tonnes of these chemicals are applied annually, mainly in agriculture of glyphosate-tolerant crops such as genetically modified “Roundup-ready” soybean.

Based on earlier toxicological tests, glyphosate herbicides have been classified as having relatively low environmental impact and low toxicity in non-target organisms such as invertebrates and mammals.

Long-term testing of glyphosate and Roundup in test series spanning the full life cycle of aquatic invertebrate Daphnia magna showed the chemicals to be significantly more toxic than previously assumed from regulatory documentation.

The results indicate that present environmental concentrations of glyphosate documented from streams and ponds in agriculture areas Worldwide, will provoke abortion of immature eggs and embryos in Daphnia magna mother animals.

Furthermore it is found that even lower concentrations induce significant depression of juvenile growth, leading to smaller newborns in animals exposed to very low concentrations of either glyphosate itself or Roundup.

The herbicides are found to have have significant negative consequences on invertebrate species diversity.

The full research article can be downloaded here.