Glifosato

El glifosato es un herbicida intensivamente usado en el territorio argentino, especialmente en conjunción con la siembra directa de soja transgénica Roundup Ready.

Uso en Argentina

Según estimaciones de la Red de Médicos de Pueblos Fumigados, se usan en el país unos 180 millones de litros anuales de glifosato.

Toxicidad

Según un estudio hecho por Andrés Carrasco:

The broad spectrum herbicide glyphosate is widely used in agriculture worldwide. There has been ongoing controversy regarding the possible adverse effects of glyphosate on the environment and on human health. Reports of neural defects and craniofacial malformations from regions where glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) are used led us to undertake an embryological approach to explore the effects of low doses of glyphosate in development. Xenopus laevis embryos were incubated with 1/5000 dilutions of a commercial GBH. The treated embryos were highly abnormal with marked alterations in cephalic and neural crest development and shortening of the anterior-posterior (A-P) axis. Alterations on neural crest markers were later correlated with deformities in the cranial cartilages at tadpole stages. Embryos injected with pure glyphosate showed very similar phenotypes. Moreover, GBH produced similar effects in chicken embryos, showing a gradual loss of rhombomere domains, reduction of the optic vesicles, and microcephaly. This suggests that glyphosate itself was responsible for the phenotypes observed, rather than a surfactant or other component of the commercial formulation. A reporter gene assay revealed that GBH treatment increased endogenous retinoic acid (RA) activity in Xenopus embryos and cotreatment with a RA antagonist rescued the teratogenic effects of the GBH. Therefore, we conclude that the phenotypes produced by GBH are mainly a consequence of the increase of endogenous retinoid activity. This is consistent with the decrease of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling from the embryonic dorsal midline, with the inhibition of otx2 expression and with the disruption of cephalic neural crest development. The direct effect of glyphosate on early mechanisms of morphogenesis in vertebrate embryos opens concerns about the clinical findings from human offspring in populations exposed to GBH in agricultural fields.

Según el Ministro de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovaciòn Productiva de la Nación, Lino Barañao, no está probado que el glifosato sea dañiño para las personas. El 15 de agosto de 2011 —en una conversación con Hebe de Bonafini en el programa Pariendo sueños de la radio La voz de las madres de la Fundaciòn Madres de Plaza de Mayo— Barañao afirmó hay gente que se ha tomado un vaso de glifosato, para suicidarse, y no le ha pasado nada y agregó que podía ser tan dañino como agua con sal.

En un estudios hechos sobre 600 pacientes que habían ingerido glifosato, se encontró 19 muertos (3,2% de mortalidad) mientras los restantes tuvieron síntomas de envenenamiento variables entre menores y severos.[1] Varios estudios encontraron que la ingestión de 190 ml de glifosato —un vaso chico— es fatal.

Fuentes

• Paganelli, Alejandra & Gnazzo, Victoria & Acosta, Helena & López, Silvia L. & Carrasco, Andrés E.; Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Produce Teratogenic Effects on Vertebrates by Impairing Retinoic Acid Signaling (Herbicidas a base de glifosato producen malformaciones en vertebrado al obstaculizar la señalización del ácido retinoico); revista Chemical Research in Toxicology; 9 de agosto de 2010; artículo DOI: 10.1021/tx1001749.
• Entrevista a Andrés Carrasco en Tecnología para todos, programa de radio del INTI.
• Ávila Vázquez, Medardo; Sr. Ministro Barañao: El Glifosato no es agua con sal; ARGENPRESS; Ciudad de Buenos Aires; 18 de agosto de 2011.