According to a new American study, glyphosate, present in particular in the herbicide Roundup, is associated with lower birth weights in babies. Almost all pregnant women are exposed to it during pregnancy.
- The team of researchers behind this study had already revealed in 2018 that exposure to glyphosate, which affected 93% of pregnancies according to the results at the time, was linked to shorter pregnancy durations.
- Since then, other studies have found similar results.
- “Exposure to pesticides during pregnancy, particularly early in pregnancy, can imprint DNA and alter gene expression,” says the study’s lead author, Dr. Paul Winchester.
99% of American pregnant women are exposed to glyphosate. This is the shock figure of a new study from Indiana University School of Medicine, published in the journal Environmental Health. This study finds that glyphosate may be associated with lower weights in newborns and a higher risk of requiring admission to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Glyphosate: widely used, almost all pregnant women are exposed to it
Glyphosate is a chemical present in particular in the weedkiller Roundup, produced by the American food company Monsanto. This herbicide is widely used by farmers and garden owners, whether in Europe or the United States. Glyphosate is also found in products other than weed killers due to contamination. For example, it has been found in packaged and organic foods.
Previous studies have found a number of adverse effects from herbicide exposure in animal experiments, but the scientific community is not yet fully aware of its effects on the developing human fetus.
For this study, the researchers followed the pregnancies of 187 women living in Indiana in the United States, aged 29 on average. They took urine samples from the first trimester of pregnancy to detect traces of glyphosate. All but one of the samples had it.
More problems with low weight among babies born in rural areas
Once the babies were born, the researchers noticed that birth weights were lower in infants whose mothers were heavily exposed to glyphosate. Increased glyphosate levels during pregnancy were also associated with a greater likelihood of NICU admission.
Another finding: Newborns born to women living outside urban areas are more likely to have a lower birth weight, since they are more exposed to the glyphosate used by farmers.
“As a neonatologist, I see more and more infants with issues like low birth weight as well as mothers with obesity or gestational diabetes.says the study’s lead author, Dr. Paul Winchester, professor of clinical pediatrics, in a university statement. We need to continue to study these herbicides long-term to find out how they might cause these problems and what we can do to prevent them.”
