Consumption of soy milk and herbicide glyphosate may alter your sperm? Horticulturist Kevin Folta says not so fast

x

[Editor’s note: Kevin Folta is a molecular geneticist and chair of the horticultural sciences department at the University of Florida.]

Carey Gillam [‎Research Director at US Right to Know] posted a link on Twitter highlighting a newly-published article. The article comes from a team of Brazilian scientists that fed developing male rats massive amounts of soymilk, and then massive amounts of soy milk spiked with gigantic doses of herbicide (not just glyphosate). They then analyzed factors potentially related to reproductive toxicity.

glyphosate

The referenced work is Nardi et al. 2017….

To make this relevant, I’m ~100 kg. To achieve the amounts used in this this experiment I’d have to drink a liter of soy milk and just under a half-cup of herbicide a day, for 35 days.

My conclusion: When you poison pubescent, developing male rats with isoflavones (a type of phytoestrogen) you screw up their development. Then when you add massive doses of herbicides for 23 days you can find differences in testosterone and sperm morphology. It shows that sick animals fed herbicides show physiological differences. Duh.

But the authors don’t prefer the conservative interpretation that I would draw. This sensational conclusion omits the fact that these were rats hammered with herbicides and soymilk, yet makes it seem like relevant doses from normal exposure.

But it is a great conclusion for Gillam, paid by the anti-GMO industry, who can now cherry pick the scare out of the article to make it seem like food-based exposures of glyphosate are dangerous.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Massive Consumption of Soy Milk and Herbicides for Three Weeks Might Make Your Sperm Weird

{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.singularReviewCountLabel }}
{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.pluralReviewCountLabel }}
{{ options.labels.newReviewButton }}
{{ userData.canReview.message }}
screenshot at  pm

Are pesticide residues on food something to worry about?

In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring drew attention to pesticides and their possible dangers to humans, birds, mammals and the ...
glp menu logo outlined

Newsletter Subscription

* indicates required
Email Lists
glp menu logo outlined

Get news on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.