Ample evidence around the world exists suggesting a link between exposure to glyphosate, toxicity and perturbed physiological functions in non‐target organisms. Although glyphosate formulations are widely used for weed and alien plant management, their ecotoxicological information remain scanty. Using the 96‐hour Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay‐Xenopus protocol, embryotoxicity and teratogenicity of three glyphosate‐based formulations were assessed. Embryos of Xenopus laevis were exposed to Roundup, Kilo Max and Enviro Glyphosate at concentration of 0.3‐1.3, 130‐280 and 320‐560 mg acid equivalent (a.e.)/L respectively. The results showed Roundup to be more toxic than the other formulations with a 96‐hour LC 50 of 1.05 mg a.e/L. compared with 207 mg a.e./L, and 466 mg a.e./L for Kilo Max and Enviro Glyphosate respectively. Although, both Roundup and Kilo Max formulations show inhibition on growth of the embryo‐larva (P ˂ .05), the minimum concentration inhibiting growth ratios of the three formulations was >0.30 baseline, indicating no significant growth inhibiting effect in the formulations. For teratogenicity, Roundup and Enviro Glyphosate formulations exhibited increasing teratogenic traces, with the teratogenic index at 1.7 and 1.6 respectively. Kilo Max formulation shows low teratogenicity with the teratogenic index at 1.4. Characteristic malformation induced by these formulations included generalized edema, cardiac and abdominal edema, improper gut formation and axial malformations. This study confirms that these formulations could be a potential physiological and ecological health disruptor, particularly concerning teratogenicity and growth disruption. Further studies to characterize the contributions of their surfactants will be invaluable.
Genetiker27 on June 23rd, 2019 at 23:48 UTC »
From the abstract:
These numbers seem to be similar to reported LC50 toxicity in other aquatic species.
EDIT:
From the above cited 1979 link referring to previous aquatic LC50 values:
In addition, another citation from 1999 regarding frog exposure to glyphosate:
This is the only time I will insert my own thoughts here, but OP’s statement about this being one of the first datasets indicating any adverse effects of direct glyphosate exposure to aquatic species seems incorrect to me given the previously cited literature.
fanglord on June 23rd, 2019 at 23:35 UTC »
One of the pros to using glyphosate is that it binds pretty strongly to soil and has a relatively short half life in the soil - the question is how this actually affects pond life around crop fields ?
Uncle_Charnia on June 23rd, 2019 at 18:17 UTC »
Don't frogs eat a lot of mosquitoes?