ICOETOX | IBAMTOX 2016 Conference Proceedings

Abstract

On March 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen to humans (Group 2A). Glyphosate is an herbicide used worldwide to control a variety of plants in agriculture, gardening, grasslands and in aquatic environments. In Portugal, it is also commonly used to control weeds growth in urban areas. This classification triggered the scientific community. Several international studies were aimed to evaluate the presence of glyphosate in food, environment and humans. The German study “Urinale 2015” detected glyphosate in a mean value of 1.1 ng/mL (n=2009) in urine samples. Another study comprising individuals from 18 European countries (n=182) revealed a mean value of 1.8 ng/mL. In Portugal, the presence of glyphosate had never been studied, and the Portuguese parliament opposes in 2016 to the ban of the herbicide in the country. This position was in line with the initially favourable decision from Portugal regarding the revalidation of glyphosate license in the European Union for 7 years. On April 29 th , the public television channel (RTP) reported the results of a Portuguese study that for the first time assessed the urinary content of glyphosate in a group of 26 volunteers. Glyphosate was present in all the urine samples with a mean value of 26.2 ng/mL, about 20 times higher than the mean value observed in the German study. Further, the level of glyphosate found in urine was 260 times higher than the limit value established for water. Taking in account the worldwide use of glyphosate and the recent health implications, it is urgent to assess its toxicological profile and to evaluate the impact of the long-term exposure on both public health and environment. The spread of the news piece with these results put the issue at the centre of the national attention, reflecting the mobilization of civil society and the change of political vision regarding this topic. Portugal, given the new developments, redefined its position and now admits the prohibition of glyphosate, if the indecisiveness of European experts, given the little scientific evidence, persists. This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the grant SFRH/BD/113117/2015.