Abstract:

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide originally introduced to the market in 1974 by the agrochemical company Monsanto. More than 40 years down the line, glyphosate has become one of the most economically meaningful herbicides, with a global use of more than 1.8 million pounds in 2014. In non resistant plants, glyphosate is widely believed to exert its herbicidal effect via inhibition of the 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase, an enzyme of the shikimate pathway required for the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants and most microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria and some protozoans. As the shikimate pathway has no known physiological function in mammals, glyphosate was considered safe for humans. However, this view has been challenged by several studies conducted by researchers from various fields, leading to the assumption that agricultural spreading of glyphosate might bear health risks, including but not limited to carcinogenic, inflammatory and endocrine disruptive effects.