About 500 children die every year in Brazil from glyphosate used in the cultivation of GM soybeans: the shock study

About 500 children die every year in Brazil from glyphosate used in the cultivation of GM soybeans: the shock study

According to a study, glyphosate used in GM soybean crops is behind the deaths of 503 children a year in Brazil

Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous

According to a study, glyphosate used in GM soybean crops is behind the deaths of 503 children a year in Brazil





There is glyphosate, widely used in GM soybean crops in Brazil, behind the deaths of 503 children a year. All deaths that could have been avoided. Confirming the shock is a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Princeton, FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas) and the Insper (Insper Learning Institution). Glyphosate is, in fact, the most used pesticide in Brazil and represents 62% of the total herbicides used in the country. From 2000 to 2010, the sale of this dangerous substance tripled to 128 thousand tons and the trend continued in the following decade, and in 2019 an even 217 thousand tons were sold. 

Read also: Brazil approves 6 dicamba-based herbicides killer banned in the United States

The irreversible damage caused by the use of glyphosate

Used for the production of transgenic soybeans, the herbicide has helped Brazil become the largest wheat producer in the world, surpassing even the United States. According to the new survey, the spread of glyphosate in soybean crops has resulted a 5% increase in the infant mortality rate in the southern and central-western areas of the country, where the water contaminated by glyphosate arrives. 

There is great concern about the effects of herbicides on populations that are not directly involved in agriculture, who are not directly exposed to pesticides "- highlight the experts who conducted the study - Although these substances are present in the body for more than 50% of the western population, we do not know if they are harmful or not. Our article is one of the first studies to credibly confirm that this should indeed be considered a problem, as it demonstrates that contamination occurs via waterways in territories far from the areas of use.


To take the study forward, the researchers focused on births that occurred between 2004 and 2010, a period in which there was a boom in the sales and use of glyphosate for the production of transgenic soybeans in Brazil. Therefore, they took into consideration some of the municipalities "downstream" with respect to the areas of intensive use of the herbicide.


"What we have shown is that there is a worsening of health conditions at birth in these downstream municipalities compared to where soy production has increased," explains Professor Rodrigo Soares at the Insper.

And among the most serious consequences related to the use of glyphosate found on newborns are: a greater probability of being born underweight, an increase in premature births and an increase in infant mortality. 

"We also produced a number of other empirical analyzes to show that these consequences were indeed associated with the glyphosate-contaminated water used to produce soy," the experts point out.

Read also: Glyphosate and other pesticides (also) promote the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics

The abuse of glyphosate in Brazil 

Glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide in the world, was invented and marketed starting in 1974 by the multinational Monsanto, acquired by the German group Bayer in 2018. And in Brazil, as in other countries, it is widely used to produce genetically modified soy, which is able to resist this powerful substance. The use of transgenic soy has spread rapidly in Brazil since 2004, and has come to representand 93% of the area planted with cereals already around 2010. And, in parallel with the increase in soy production, the use of glyphosate has also grown, which is poisoning the environment and people's health. 


In the European Union, unlike in Brazil, the registration of pesticides always has a fixed time. Here, when a pesticide is registered, this registration is eternal, until it is questioned, ”explains Alan Tygel, a researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

In EU countries, in fact, the use of glyphosate will be banned starting from 15 December of the 2022, but in the meantime we are forced to deal with the frightening consequences caused by the use of this dangerous substance ...


Read also: Glyphosate: Europe allows individual states to ban! The petition

Source: Insper/BBC Brazil

Read also:

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  • Glyphosate, the hypothesis of fraud on the data that allowed the re-approval in Europe appears
  • Glyphosate is bad for pregnant women and must be eliminated, word of gynecologists
  • Mexico says no to glyphosate: 'beyond productivity, there is human health and that of the environment'
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