BACKGROUND Although animal studies have shown that exposure to glyphosate (a commonly used herbicide) does not result in glyphosate bioaccumulation in tissues, to our knowledge there are no published data on whether it is detectable in human milk and therefore consumed by breastfed infants. OBJECTIVE We sought to determine whether glyphosate and its metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA...

Endogenous shikimic acid determinations are routinely used to assess the efficacy of glyphosate in plants. Numerous analytical methods exist in the public domain for the detection of shikimic acid, yet the most commonly cited comprise spectrophotometric and high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods. This paper compares an HPLC and two spectrophotometric methods (Spec 1 and Spec 2) and ...

Abstract Glyphosate, an herbicidal derivative of the amino acid glycine, was introduced to agriculture in the 1970s. Glyphosate targets and blocks a plant metabolic pathway not found in animals, the shikimate pathway, required for the synthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants. After almost forty years of commercial use, and multiple regulatory approvals including toxicology evaluations, liter...

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the pervasive herbicide, Roundup. Its usage on crops to control weeds in the United States and elsewhere has increased dramatically in the past two decades, driven by the increase over the same time period in the use of genetically modified (GM)1 crops, the widespread emergence of glyphosate-resistant weeds among the GM crops (necessitating ever-higher dos...

It is notable that the adoption of GM glyphosate-tolerant crops increases glyphosate use but reduces non-glyphosate herbicide use; and adoption of GM insect-resistant crops significantly reduces insecticide use. While the health hazard of pesticide use has been well documented, little literature evaluates the health effects of different pesticides related to GM crops in an integrated framework....

Wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America are integrated with farmland and contain mixtures of herbicide contaminants. Passive nonfacilitated diffusion is how most herbicides can move across plant membranes, making this perhaps an important process by which herbicide contaminants are absorbed by wetland vegetation. Prairie wetlands are dominated by native cattail (Typha latifolia)...

Japanese climbing fern (Lygodium japonicum) is an invasive vine that has been identified as an economic and ecological threat in forest ecosystems of the Southeast. In two separate studies, we examined the use of directed sprays of glyphosate, imazapyr, and metsulfuron-methyl herbicides, alone and in combination, for control of Japanese climbing fern and for impacts to associated vegetation in ...

Gene flow from transgenic glyphosate-resistant crops can result in the adventitious presence of the transgene, which may negatively impact markets. Gene flow can also produce glyphosate-resistant plants that may interfere with weed management systems. The objective of this article is to review the gene flow literature as it pertains to glyphosate-resistant crops. Gene flow is a natural phenomen...

The repeated evolution of herbicide resistance in weeds is an ongoing problem in agricultural regions across the world, and presents a unique system in which to study the origins and spread of adaptive traits across heterogeneous landscapes. Lolium perenne ssp. multiflorum (Lam.) (Italian ryegrass) is a widespread grass weed of agricultural crops that has repeatedly evolved resistance to herbic...

As glyphosate is a broad spectrum herbicide extensively used in agriculture worldwide, identification of new aroA genes with high level of glyphosate tolerance is essential for the development and breeding of transgenic glyphosate-tolerant crops. In this study, an aroA gene was cloned from a Janibacter sp. strain isolated from marine sediment (designated as aroAJ. sp). The purified aroAJ. sp en...