Herbicide Awareness & Research Project
Our Objective
The objective of UC San Diego Herbicide Awareness and Research Project is to raise awareness of and conduct independent scientific research into the health-related effects of genetically modified (GM) foods and the herbicides that are applied to them.
About the Project
The herbicide Roundup is sprayed onto "Roundup Ready" GM crops, including the vast majority of GM corn and soy grown in the United States as well as applied as a desiccant to facilitate harvest of a number of small non-GM grains. Residues of glyphosate, the primary ingredient of Roundup, are found in these crops at harvest. In the biomedical literature, concern has been expressed about our increasing exposure to glyphosate, although this remains a highly controversial area.
In March 2017 the state of California's Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) received approval to list glyphosate as an agent known to the state of California to cause cancer. Given the noted gap in the literature of studies examining 1) how glyphosate exposure might have changed over the decades since the widespread introduction of GM foods and 2) potential longitudinal epidemiological relationships between glyphosate exposure and human health, we have initiated the Herbicide Awareness and Research Project to conduct research into these areas.
About Our Team
The Herbicide Awareness and Research Project team are part of the UC San Diego Center of Excellence for Research and Training in Integrative Health under the direction of Professor Paul J. Mills.
Project Updates
- Glyphosate Excretion is Associated With Steatohepatitis and Advanced Liver Fibrosis in Patients With Fatty Liver Disease (PDF)
- Research Letter: Excretion of the Herbicide Glyphosate in Older Adults Between 1993 and 2016 (PDF)
- Comment & Response: Karberg 2018, Glyphosate Levels in Older Adults-Reply (PDF)
Support Our Work
Your contribution supports independent, scientific research into the potential health-related effects of genetically modified (GM) foods and the herbicides that are applied to them.
Currently, we are fundraising to extend our initial work documenting the rising levels of urinary glyphosate and its primary metabolite, AMPA, by exploring the possible health implications by examining whether increasing levels are associated with adverse health effects in a naturalistic, population-based study.