Glyphosate
Glyphosate (N-[phosphonomethyl]glycine) is an herbicide that is used widely in agriculture, forestry, and commercial weed control. It is one of the first herbicides against which crops have been genetically modified to increase their tolerance. US poison control center data between 2001 and 2007 report glyphosate to be the most common herbicide exposure. Commercial glyphosate-based products (Roundup, Vantage, and many others) are marketed in concentrations of glyphosate ranging from 0.5% to 41% or higher and generally consist of an aqueous mixture of the isopropylamino salt of glyphosate, a surfactant, and various minor components. Concentrated Roundup, the most commonly used glyphosate preparation in the United States, contains 41% glyphosate and 15% polyoxyethyleneamine (POEA).
Mechanism of toxicity. The precise mechanisms of toxicity of glyphosate formulations are complicated. There are five different glyphosate salts, and commercial formulations contain surfactants that vary in chemical structure and concentration.
It has been hypothesized that toxicity is related to the presence of the surfactant rather than to the glyphosate itself. Surfactants may impair cardiac contractility and increase pulmonary vascular resistance.
Some have postulated that glyphosate or the surfactants may uncouple mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation.
Glyphosate is a phosphorus-containing compound, but it does not inhibit acetylcholinesterase.
Toxic dose. Glyphosate itself has very low toxicity by the oral and dermal routes, with 50% lethal dose (LD50
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