Editor's note: This is the third in a series of six articles we will be sharing from the Genetic Literacy Project about pesticides and food.
By Kayleen Schreiber and Marc Brazeau
Although pesticide toxicity and biodegradability has decreased overall during the last few decades, many consumers are still worried about pesticides. They are especially concerned with specific pesticides that are portrayed as dangerous by the media.
Foremost among those is glyphosate.
Glyphosate (the active ingredient in RoundUp) has drawn attention in the media in recent years, alleged by advocacy groups as being toxic and dangerous. But study after study has shown that it is one of the least toxic herbicides on the market and does not accumulate in the soil. How does glyphosate fit into the context of all current pesticides? How does glyphosate toxicity compare to other pesticides? And how does glyphosate toxicity compare to other common substances?
3: How dangerous is glyphosate?
Before understanding the toxicity of glyphosate in the context of other pesticides and substances, it is important to clarify what toxicity means. Toxicity, the degree to which a substance can damage an organism, can be measured and compared in various ways. Acute toxicity refers to the immediate effects of exposure to a certain dose of a substance. Chronic toxicity refers to the effects of being exposed to a certain dose of a substance multiple times over the course of a certain period, for example, once a day for months or years. Acute toxicity is what we think of when someone gets poisoned by a substance. Chronic toxicity is usually what most consumers are worried about concerning pesticides: what are the effects of being exposed to small doses of pesticides, on our produce, for example, over a long period of time?
Read more at the Genetic Literacy Project.
This article excerpt is part 3 of a 6 part series – Pesticides and Food: It’s Not a Black or White Issue – that ran originally on the Genetic Literary Project and is reposted here with permission of the GLP and the authors.