Research from the Medical University of Vienna  finds that glyphosate causes cell and DNA damage to epithelial cells derived from the inside of the mouth and throat. It raises concerns over the safety of inhaling glyphosate, one of the most common ways in which people are exposed to the herbicide.

Siegfried Knasmueller and his colleagues the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, found that Monsanto’s formulated version of glyphosate called Roundup Ultra Max caused cellular damage and DNA damage including chromosomal abnormalities and ultimately killed the cells at higher concentrations. Importantly, DNA damage occurred at concentrations below those required to induce cell damage, suggesting that the DNA damage was caused directly by glyphosate instead of being an indirect result of cell toxicity.

These are not the first findings of glyphosate-based herbicides’ cytotoxic and genotoxic effects. Numerous independent research teams have been documenting the hazards of glyphosate exposure over the last few years with in vivo, in vitro and clinical studies.

Source: Institute of Science in Society