Glyphosate is safe, but some scientists still question how we regulate it

Enlarge / Some of our pesticides harm helpful species, like this bee. (credit: USDA)

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in RoundUp, made by Monsanto, and the most widely used herbicide in the world. People have been squirting it for the past 40 years, and the amount sprayed on fields has gone up about 15-fold since the introduction of RoundUp Ready crops, also made by Monsanto, in 1996.

Glyphosate inhibits a metabolic pathway used only by plants, fungi, and bacteria. It is therefore not obviously dangerous for birds, insects, or other animals to consume-any risk of RoundUp use comes from off-target effects. Thus, our EPA and the European Commission have just reapproved the use of glyphosate for the next five years. (RoundUp Ready crops are not planted in Europe, but glyphosate is still used, as it's an effective herbicide.)

In last week's Science, two Dutch scientists-collectively, they have backgrounds in ecology, risk assessment, pharmaceuticals, and genetic modification-have questioned whether this reapproval is such a great decision. They suggest that social factors need to be seriously considered in determining how we use agricultural agents. Glyphosate use has impacts for society that go beyond any physiological effects it may have on humans, and societal factors have not been considered thus far.

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