(Organic Slant) The US EPA is proposing to hike the allowed residue limits — yet again — of the herbicide glyphosate in various food and feed crops. The allowed level in teff animal feed will be 100 parts per million (ppm); and in oilseed crops, 40 ppm. Allowed levels in some fruits and vegetables eaten by humans will also rise.
As a comparison, malformations in frog and chicken embryos were documented by Prof Andres Carrasco’s team at 2.03 ppm glyphosate, when injected into the embryos.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx1001749
EPA is accepting comments on its latest move until 1 July.
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-05-01/pdf/2013-10316.pdf
The EPA’s move comes shortly after the release of a study showing that glyphosate inhibits the growth of beneficial gut bacteria and leads to the overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria. Glyphosate concentrations at 0.1 mg/ml were found to inhibit growth of E. faecalis bacteria. E faecalis suppresses a bacterium called C. botulinum, which is responsible for botulism in cattle. The same concentration of glyphosate did not inhibit growth of C. botulinum. Some poultry and cattle feed samples in Germany were found to have 0.4–0.9 mg glyphosate/kg.
The findings suggest that glyphosate residues in feed may explain the increase in botulism seen in cattle in recent years.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1075996413000188
The broad spectrum herbicide glyphosate is widely used in agriculture worldwide. There has been ongoing controversy regarding the possible adverse effects of glyphosate on the environment and on human health.
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