India restricts the use of glyphosate

In an order issued on October 25, 2022, the Indian government restricted the use of the chemical glyphosate in India.

The Center has officially restricted the use of the widely used herbicide, glyphosate, fearing a risk to human and animal health.

Now, glyphosate will only be applied through Pest Control Operators (PPOs).

PCOs are allowed to use deadly chemicals to treat pests such as rodents.

Glyphosate was reportedly mainly used on tea plantations in India. The chemical is also used in uncultivated areas to control unwanted growth.

These include areas around irrigation canals, railway sidings, fallow land, bunds, farm borders, parks, industrial and military premises, airports, power stations, etc.

The restrictive measure taken by the Indian government is timely, however, it has not banned the use of glyphosate.

Glyphosate, a synthetic herbicide patented in 1974 by the Monsanto Corporation and now manufactured and sold by numerous companies in hundreds of products, has been linked to cancer and other health problems. Glyphosate is best known as an active ingredient in Roundup brand herbicides and as a herbicide used with “Roundup Ready” genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Numerous studies have highlighted the dangers of Glyphosate for animal and human health.

In 2015, the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans after reviewing years of published, peer-reviewed scientific studies.” The team of international scientists found that there is a particular association between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

In March 2019, a study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology analyzed data from more than 30,000 farmers and agricultural workers from studies carried out in France, Norway and the United States, and reported links between glyphosate and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

In April 2019, the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry released its draft toxicology profile for glyphosate, which reported an increased risk of cancer from glyphosate exposures.

In March 2021, an article in Frontiers in Endocrinology, “Could glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides be associated with an increase in thyroid disease worldwide?” Researchers found that glyphosate is detected in the urine of both rural and urban residents and that there is a correlation between “farmer exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides and altered thyroid hormone levels or the incidence of thyroid pathologies”.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has awarded two Sri Lankan scientists, Drs. Channa Jayasumana and Sarath Gunatilake, the 2019 Prize for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility for their work “to investigate a possible link between glyphosate and chronic kidney disease in difficult circumstances”. Scientists have reported that glyphosate plays a key role in transporting heavy metals to the kidneys of those who drink contaminated water, leading to high rates of chronic kidney disease in farming communities.

A 2017 study linked chronic, very low-level exposures to glyphosate with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rats. According to the researchers, the results “imply that chronic consumption of extremely low levels of a formulation of GBH (Roundup), at permissible equivalent concentrations of glyphosate, is associated with marked alterations in the proteome and metabolome of the liver,” the researchers said. NAFLD biomarkers.

A 2020 literature review on the effects of glyphosate on the gut microbiome concludes that “glyphosate residues on food could cause dysbiosis, given that opportunistic pathogens are more resistant to glyphosate than commensal bacteria.” The article continues: “Glyphosate may be a critical environmental trigger in the etiology of several disease states associated with dysbiosis, including celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and irritable bowel syndrome. Glyphosate exposure can also have mental health consequences, including anxiety and depression, due to alterations in the gut microbiome.

In July 2021, Monsanto owner Bayer AG said it would remove glyphosate-based herbicides from the US consumer market by 2023 due to litigation. More than 100,000 people are suing Bayer alleging they developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from exposure to the company’s glyphosate-based herbicides, such as Roundup.

The call for a ban on the use of glyphosate continues to rage. India has taken a step in the right direction.