Compositional differences in soybeans on the market: Glyphosate accumulates in Roundup Ready GM soybeans

Abstract

This article describes the nutrient and elemental composition, including residues of herbicides and pesticides, of 31 soybean batches from Iowa, USA. The soy samples were grouped into three different categories: (i) genetically modified, glyphosate-tolerant soy (GM-soy); (ii) unmodified soy cultivated using a conventional "chemical" cultivation regime; and (iii) unmodified soy cultivated using an organic cultivation regime. Organic soybeans showed the healthiest nutritional profile with more sugars, such as glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltose, significantly more total protein, zinc and less fibre than both conventional and GM-soy. Organic soybeans also contained less total saturated fat and total omega-6 fatty acids than both conventional and GM-soy. GM-soy contained high residues of glyphosate and AMPA (mean 3.3 and 5.7 mg/kg, respectively). Conventional and organic soybean batches contained none of these agrochemicals. Using 35 different nutritional and elemental variables to characterise each soy sample, we were able to discriminate GM, conventional and organic soybeans without exception, demonstrating "substantial non-equivalence" in compositional characteristics for 'ready-to-market' soybeans.

Re-registration Challenges of Glyphosate in the European Union

“…Nonetheless, glyphosate residues were reported in bottled drinking water (Rendón-von Osten and Dzul-Caamal, 2017). Glyphosate residues were detected in honey and soy sauce (Rubio et al, 2014), in produce (Bøhn et al, 2014), processed food products, even in human specimens (blood, urine, mother's milk) (Knudsen et al, 2017;Rendón-von Osten and Dzul-Caamal, 2017). It should be noted, however, that measurements of glyphosate in complex biological matrices e.g., blood and breast milk, that led to positive scores used ELISA methods of questionable accuracy, and instrumental analysis by LC-MS/MS did not find glyphosate above its limit of detection in human breast milk (McGuire et al, 2016;Steinborn et al, 2016).…”

Glyphosate Use Predicts Healthcare Utilization for ADHD in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project net (HCUPnet): A Two-Way Fixed-Effects Analysis

“…Its use has grown significantly with the development of crops genetically engineered to tolerate the herbicide [14] in part because of the appearance of glyphosate-resistant weeds. "Triple-stacked" corn is a hybrid corn variety that expresses three transgenic events simultaneously in the same plant, including the following: 1) the CP4 EPSPS (5-enolpyruvulshikimate-3-phosphate synthase) protein that adds resistance to the herbicide glyphosate, 2) Cry1Ab protein to protect against European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis), and 3) Cry3Bb1 protein to protect against corn rootworm (Diabrotica spp.)…”

Are Ready for Market Genetically Modified, Conventional and Organic Soybeans Substantially Equivalent as Food and Feed?

“…Cuhra and co-workers tested chronic effects of glyphosate and Roundup and showed that environmental concentrations of 0.05-0.45 mg/l (active ingredient) cause negative effects on D. magna offspring size and reproduction (Cuhra et al 2013). Chemical residues of glyphosate and its primary metabolite, AMPA, are documented to be present in herbicide tolerant GM soy (Duke et al 2003;Bøhn et al 2014).…”

“…For details on use of agrochemicals by the farmers, soybean varieties grown, analyses of nutritional contents in the soybean and methods for analyzing chemical residues, see (Bøhn et al 2014).…”

“…As of today, about 85 % of the genetically modified (GM) crop plants are herbicide tolerant (Beckie 2014) and are designed to be sprayed with herbicides during the growth season of the plant. Consequently, crops such as Roundup-ready soybean are accumulating herbicide residues in the final product (Bøhn et al 2014). However, the maximum residue levels (MRLs), at present 40 mg/kg in the US and 20 mg/kg in the EU, make such accumulation legally accepted.…”