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Boone et al., 2014

Boone, Michelle D., Bishop, Christine A., Boswell, Leigh A., Brodman, Robert D., Burger, Joanna, Davidson, Carlos, Gochfeld, Michael, Hoverman, Jason T., Neuman-Lee, Lorin A., Relyea, Rick A., Rohr, Jason R., Salice, Christopher, Semlitsch, Raymond D., Sparling, Donald, & Weir, Scott; “Pesticide Regulation amid the Influence of Industry;” BioScience, 2014, 64(10), 917-922; DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biu138.

ABSTRACT:

Pesticide use results in the widespread distribution of chemical contaminants, which necessites regulatory agencies to assess the risks to environmental and human health. However, risk assessment is compromised when relatively few studies are used to determine impacts, particularly if most of the data used in an assessment are produced by a pesticide’s manufacturer, which constitutes a conflict of interest. Here, we present the shortcomings of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s pesticide risk assessment process, using the recent reassessment of atrazine’s impacts on amphibians as an example. We then offer solutions to improve the risk assessment process, which would reduce the potential for and perception of bias in a process that is crucial for environmental and human health. FULL TEXT

Bonny, 2011

Bonny, Sylvie; “Herbicide-tolerant Transgenic Soybean over 15 Years of Cultivation: Pesticide Use, Weed Resistance, and Some Economic Issues. The Case of the USA;” Sustainability, 2011, 3(9), 1302-1322; DOI: 10.3390/su3091302.

ABSTRACT:

Genetically modified (GM) herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops have been largely adopted where they have been authorized. Nevertheless, they are fiercely criticized by some, notably because of the herbicide use associated with them. However, how much herbicide is applied to GMHT crops compared to conventional crops, and what impacts does the use of herbicide have? The paper first presents some factors explaining the predominance of GMHT crops. Then, trends in the use of herbicide for GM crops are studied in the case of the most widespread HT crop: HT soybean in the USA. The trends in the toxicity of herbicides applied to HT soybean are also addressed, as well as the appearance of glyphosate-resistant (GR) weeds. Lastly, the paper examines the spread of GR weeds and its impact. How are farmers, weed scientists, and the industry coping with this development, and what are the prospects of glyphosate-tolerant crops given weed resistance? In conclusion, some issues of sustainability and innovation governance raised by genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops are discussed. FULL TEXT

Benbrook, 2020

Benbrook, Charles; “Shining a Light on Glyphosate-Based Herbicide Hazard, Exposures and Risk: Role of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Litigation in the USA;” European Journal of Risk Regulation, 2020, 11(3), 498-519; DOI: 10.1017/err.2020.16.

ABSTRACT:

Roundup, and other glyphosate-based herbicides, are the most heavily used pesticides in the history of the USA and globally. In March 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen”. A portion of the 695,000 Americans then living in 2015 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) became aware of IARC’s decision. Several thousand Roundup–NHL lawsuits had been filed by the end of 2017, rising to 18,400 by July 2019 and 42,000 by November 2019. Three cases have gone to trial, each won by the plaintiffs. The author has served as an expert witness for the plaintiffs in this litigation and has been compensated for his time spent. The impact of the litigation on the independent assessment of the science useful in determining whether glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicide exposures are linked to NHL is reviewed, as is why the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and IARC reached such different judgements regarding glyphosate human cancer hazard and risk. Two important “lessons learned” regarding the EPA versus IARC assessment of glyphosate cancer hazard and risk are highlighted. The first arises from differences in the magnitude of applicator risks from mostly dermal exposures to formulated glyphosate-based herbicides compared to just dietary exposures to technical glyphosate. The second relates to missed opportunities to markedly lower applicator exposures and risks with little or no impact on sales via reformulation, added warnings and worker safety provisions, company-driven stewardship programmes and greater determination by the EPA in the 1980s to compel Monsanto to add common-sense worker protection provisions onto Roundup labels (eg “wear gloves when applying this product”). Policy reforms designed to alleviate systemic problems with how pesticide hazards, exposures and risks are analysed, regulated and mitigated are described. FULL TEXT

Beckie, 2017

Beckie, Hugh J.; “Herbicide-Resistant Weeds: Management Tactics and Practices;” Weed Technology, 2017, 20(3), 793-814; DOI: 10.1614/wt-05-084r1.1.

ABSTRACT:

In input-intensive cropping systems around the world, farmers rarely proactively manage weeds to prevent or delay the selection for herbicide resistance. Farmers usually increase the adoption of integrated weed management practices only after herbicide resistance has evolved, although herbicides continue to be the dominant method of weed control. Intergroup herbicide resistance in various weed species has been the main impetus for changes in management practices and adoption of cropping systems that reduce selection for resistance. The effectiveness and adoption of herbicide and nonherbicide tactics and practices for the proactive and reactive management of herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds are reviewed. Herbicide tactics include sequences and rotations, mixtures, application rates, site-specific application, and use of HR crops. Nonherbicide weed-management practices or nonselective herbicides applied preplant or in crop, integrated with less-frequent selective herbicide use in diversified cropping systems, have mitigated the evolution, spread, and economic impact of HR weeds. FULL TEXT

Apel et al., 2020

Apel, P., Rousselle, C., Lange, R., Sissoko, F., Kolossa-Gehring, M., & Ougier, E.; “Human biomonitoring initiative (HBM4EU) – Strategy to derive human biomonitoring guidance values (HBM-GVs) for health risk assessment;” International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 2020, 230, 113622; DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2020.113622.

ABSTRACT:

The European Joint Program “HBM4EU” is a joint effort of 30 countries and the European Environment Agency, co-funded under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program, for advancing and implementing human biomonitoring (HBM) on a European scale and for providing scientific evidence for chemical policy making. One important outcome will be a Europe-wide improvement and harmonization of health risk assessment following the coordinated derivation or update of health-related guidance values referring to the internal body burden. These guidance values – named HBM guidance values or HBM-GVs – can directly be compared with HBM data. They are derived within HBM4EU for priority substances identified by the HBM4EU chemicals prioritization strategy based on existing needs to answer policy relevant questions as raised by national and EU policy makers. HBM-GVs refer to both the general population and occupationally exposed adults. Reports including the detailed reasoning for the values’ proposals are subjected to a consultation process within all partner countries of the consortium to reach a broad scientific consensus on the derivation approach and on the derived values. The final HBM-GVs should be applied first within the HBM4EU project, but may also be useful for regulators and risk assessors outside this project. The subsequent adoption of derived HBM-GVs at EU-level needs to be discussed and decided within the responsible EU bodies. Nevertheless, the establishment of HBM-GVs as part of HBM4EU is already a step forward in strengthening HBM-based policy efforts for public and occupational health. The strategy for deriving HBM-GVs which is based on already existing approaches from the German HBM Commission, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) as well as from the US-based scientific consultant Summit Toxicology, the allocation of a level of confidence to the derived values, and the consultation process within the project are comprehensively described to enlighten the work accomplished under the HBM4EU initiative. FULL TEXT

Andersen et al., 2008

Andersen, H. R., Schmidt, I. M., Grandjean, P., Jensen, T. K., Budtz-Jorgensen, E., Kjaerstad, M. B., Baelum, J., Nielsen, J. B., Skakkebaek, N. E., & Main, K. M.; “Impaired reproductive development in sons of women occupationally exposed to pesticides during pregnancy;” Environmental Health Perspectives, 2008, 116(4), 566-572; DOI: 10.1289/ehp.10790.

ABSTRACT:

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this prospective study was to investigate whether occupational pesticide exposure during pregnancy causes adverse effects on the reproductive development in the male infants.

DESIGN AND MEASUREMENTS: Pregnant women employed in greenhouses in Denmark were consecutively recruited, and 113 mother-son pairs were included. The mothers were categorized as occupationally exposed (91 sons) or unexposed (22 sons) to pesticides during pregnancy. Testicular position and volume, penile length, and position of urethral opening were determined at 3 months of age using standardized techniques. Concentrations of reproductive hormones in serum from the boys were analyzed.

RESULTS: The prevalence of cryptorchidism at 3 months of age was 6.2% [95% confidence interval (CI), 3.0-12.4]. This prevalence was considerably higher than among Danish boys born in the Copenhagen area (1.9%; 95% CI, 1.2-3.0) examined by the same procedure. Boys of pesticide-exposed mothers showed decreased penile length, testicular volume, serum concentrations of testosterone, and inhibin B. Serum concentrations of sex hormone-binding globulin, follicle-stimulating hormone, and the luteinizing hormone: testosterone ratio were increased compared with boys of nonexposed mothers. For individual parameters, only the decreased penile length was statistically significant (p = 0.04). However, all observed effects were in the anticipated direction, and a joint multivariate test showed that this finding had a p-value of 0.012.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest an adverse effect of maternal occupational pesticide exposure on reproductive development in the sons despite current greenhouse safeguards and special measures to protect pregnant women.

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Alberto et al., 2016

Alberto, D., Serra, A. A., Sulmon, C., Gouesbet, G., & Couee, I.; “Herbicide-related signaling in plants reveals novel insights for herbicide use strategies, environmental risk assessment and global change assessment challenges;” Science of The Total Environment, 2016, 569-570, 1618-1628; DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.06.064.

ABSTRACT:

Herbicide impact is usually assessed as the result of a unilinear mode of action on a specific biochemical target with a typical dose-response dynamics. Recent developments in plant molecular signaling and crosstalk between nutritional, hormonal and environmental stress cues are however revealing a more complex picture of inclusive toxicity. Herbicides induce large-scale metabolic and gene-expression effects that go far beyond the expected consequences of unilinear herbicide-target-damage mechanisms. Moreover, groundbreaking studies have revealed that herbicide action and responses strongly interact with hormone signaling pathways, with numerous regulatory protein-kinases and -phosphatases, with metabolic and circadian clock regulators and with oxidative stress signaling pathways. These interactions are likely to result in mechanisms of adjustment that can determine the level of sensitivity or tolerance to a given herbicide or to a mixture of herbicides depending on the environmental and developmental status of the plant. Such regulations can be described as rheostatic and their importance is discussed in relation with herbicide use strategies, environmental risk assessment and global change assessment challenges. FULL TEXT

Gillezeau et al., 2020

Gillezeau, C., Lieberman-Cribbin, W., & Taioli, E.; “Update on human exposure to glyphosate, with a complete review of exposure in children;” Environmental Health, 2020, 19(1), 115; DOI: 10.1186/s12940-020-00673-z.

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND: Glyphosate, a commonly used pesticide, has been the topic of much debate. The effects of exposure to glyphosate remains a contentious topic. This paper provides an update to the existing literature regarding levels of glyphosate exposure in occupationally exposed individuals and focuses or reviewing all the available published literature regarding glyphosate exposure levels in children.

METHODS: A literature review was conducted and any articles reporting quantifiable exposure levels in humans published since January 2019 (the last published review on glyphosate exposure) were reviewed and data extracted and standardized.

RESULTS: A total of five new studies reporting exposure levels in humans were found including 578 subjects. Two of these studies focused on occupationally exposed individuals while three of them focused on glyphosate exposure levels in children. Given the sparse nature of the new data, previously identified studies on exposure to glyphosate in children were included in our analysis of children’s exposure. The lowest average level of glyphosate exposure reported was 0.28 μg/L and the highest average exposure levels reported was 4.04 μg/L.

CONCLUSION: The literature on glyphosate exposure levels, especially in children, remains limited. Without more data collected in a standardized way, parsing out the potential relationship between glyphosate exposure and disease will not be possible. FULL TEXT

Haas et al., 2015

Haas, D. M., Parker, C. B., Wing, D. A., Parry, S., Grobman, W. A., Mercer, B. M., Simhan, H. N., Hoffman, M. K., Silver, R. M., Wadhwa, P., Iams, J. D., Koch, M. A., Caritis, S. N., Wapner, R. J., Esplin, M. S., Elovitz, M. A., Foroud, T., Peaceman, A. M., Saade, G. R., Willinger, M., Reddy, U. M., & NuMo, M. b study; “A description of the methods of the Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: monitoring mothers-to-be (nuMoM2b);” American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2015, 212(4), 539 e531-539 e524; DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2015.01.019.

ABSTRACT:

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of the “Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: monitoring mothers-to-be” is to determine maternal characteristics, which include genetic, physiologic response to pregnancy, and environmental factors that predict adverse pregnancy outcomes.

STUDY DESIGN: Nulliparous women in the first trimester of pregnancy were recruited into an observational cohort study. Participants were seen at 3 study visits during pregnancy and again at delivery. We collected data from in-clinic interviews, take-home surveys, clinical measurements, ultrasound studies, and chart abstractions. Maternal biospecimens (serum, plasma, urine, cervicovaginal fluid) at antepartum study visits and delivery specimens (placenta, umbilical cord, cord blood) were collected, processed, and stored. The primary outcome of the study was defined as pregnancy ending at <37+0 weeks’ gestation. Key study hypotheses involve adverse pregnancy outcomes of spontaneous preterm birth, preeclampsia, and fetal growth restriction.

RESULTS: We recruited 10,037 women to the study. Basic characteristics of the cohort at screening are reported.

CONCLUSION: The “Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: monitoring mothers-to-be” cohort study methods and procedures can help investigators when they plan future projects.

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Hantsoo et al., 2019

Hantsoo, L., Jasarevic, E., Criniti, S., McGeehan, B., Tanes, C., Sammel, M. D., Elovitz, M. A., Compher, C., Wu, G., & Epperson, C. N.; “Childhood adversity impact on gut microbiota and inflammatory response to stress during pregnancy;” Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2019, 75, 240-250; DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2018.11.005.

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as abuse or chronic stress, program an exaggerated adult inflammatory response to stress. Emerging rodent research suggests that the gut microbiome may be a key mediator in the association between early life stress and dysregulated glucocorticoid-immune response. However, ACE impact on inflammatory response to stress, or on the gut microbiome, have not been studied in human pregnancy, when inflammation increases risk of poor outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the relationships among ACE, the gut microbiome, and cytokine response to stress in pregnant women.

METHODS: Physically and psychiatrically healthy adult pregnant women completed the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE-Q) and gave a single stool sample between 20 and 26weeks gestation. Stool DNA was isolated and 16S sequencing was performed. Three 24-hour food recalls were administered to assess dietary nutrient intake. A subset of women completed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) at 22-34weeks gestation; plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and cortisol were measured at four timepoints pre and post stressor, and area under the curve (AUC) was calculated.

RESULTS: Forty-eight women completed the ACE-Q and provided stool; 19 women completed the TSST. Women reporting 2 or more ACEs (high ACE) had greater differential abundance of gut Prevotella than low ACE participants (q=5.7×10^-13). Abundance of several gut taxa were significantly associated with cortisol, IL-6, TNF-alpha and CRP AUCs regardless of ACE status. IL-6 response to stress was buffered among high ACE women with high intake of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (p=0.03) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (p=0.05).

DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that multiple childhood adversities are associated with changes in gut microbiota composition during pregnancy, and such changes may contribute to altered inflammatory and glucocorticoid response to stress. While preliminary, this is the first study to demonstrate an association between gut microbiota and acute glucocorticoid-immune response to stress in a clinical sample. Finally, exploratory analyses suggested that high ACE women with high dietary intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) had a dampened inflammatory response to acute stress, suggesting potentially protective effects of omega-3s in this high-risk population. Given the adverse effects of inflammation on pregnancy and the developing fetus, mechanisms by which childhood adversity influence the gut-brain axis and potential protective factors such as diet should be further explored.

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