Comment by kevinconroy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kevinconroy | Hacker News Reader

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I wanted to up vote you, but did some research and turns out that both the FDA and the European Food Safety Authority have not found evidence that it is:

"The current assessment concluded that glyphosate does not have oestrogen, androgen, thyroid and steroidogenesis (EATS)‐mediated endocrine disrupting properties based on the facts that no endocrine‐mediated adverse effects were identified in apical studies; the weak evidence seen in a limited number of supplementary in vitro studies was inconsistent with the findings of the acceptable OECD (Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development) tests and it was not expressed in vivo in the OECD Level 4 and 5 studies; and no EATS‐mediated endocrine mode of action was identified. Since the database available to reach this conclusion was quite comprehensive, it was concluded that the data gap identified in the previous EFSA conclusion (EFSA Journal 2015;13(11):4302) was adequately addressed."

Source: https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.2903/j.efsa...

roundup is likely more harmful then glyphosate alone, which has been itself confirmed as harmful in a handful of investigations:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0300483X0...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1257596/ "Surprisingly, Roundup is always more toxic than its active ingredient... We conclude that endocrine and toxic effects of Roundup, not just glyphosate, can be observed in mammals."

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00244-006-0154-8

"The cytotoxic, and potentially endocrine-disrupting effects of Roundup are thus amplified with time. Taken together, these data suggest that Roundup exposure may affect human reproduction and fetal development in case of contamination. Chemical mixtures in formulations appear to be underestimated regarding their toxic or hormonal impact."

This may be the current assessment for mammals, but there is insufficient evidence about the endocrine effects on non-mammals. I know the original link and discussion is in relation to humans, but it's worth noting.

All animals with a nervous system have hormone-secreting structures, analogous to the endocrine system of mammals. Several studies have highlighted serious sub-lethal neurological impacts of glyphosate (not as a formulation) on agriculturally-important arthropods. I'm not aware of any conclusive research, but it seems reasonable to anticipate some of these effects may be related to endocrine signaling. Either way, the toxicity is clearly more severe for non-mammals, and their disease burden has direct and indirect costs to us.

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