\u201cThis study reinforces that glyphosate exposure during pregnancy is widespread and may be linked to preterm birth risk. Even modest associations matter because pregnancy is a sensitive window, and small risks can translate into large population impacts,\u201d said Jessie Buckley, professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in an email.<\/p>\n
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\u201cPregnancy is a sensitive window, and small risks can translate into large population impacts.\u201d \u2014 Jessie Buckley, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill<\/p>\n
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Researchers collected urine samples from 1,450 women who gave birth between 2016 and 2019 and found that those with higher levels of glyphosate during mid-pregnancy were more likely to go into spontaneous labor \u2014 which means going into labor naturally before 37 weeks rather than being medically induced \u2014 compared to those with lower levels.<\/p>\n
Preterm birth is a leading cause of illness and death in newborns. Premature babies can face a range of health problems, including infections and long-term learning and developmental challenges.<\/p>\n
The participants were planning to give birth at New York City hospitals, far from agricultural fields, suggesting exposure likely came from food. \u201cIt\u2019s not like these are in agricultural populations where there\u2019s wide-scale spraying and air migration of the herbicide residues,\u201d said Dr. Leonardo Trasande, senior author of the study and professor of pediatrics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.<\/p>\n
Buckley noted that glyphosate exposure is not something people can necessarily avoid. \u201cGlyphosate exposure is fundamentally a systems problem. Real reductions require policy decisions about how and where glyphosate is used,\u201d Buckley said. \u201cWhile diet can influence personal exposure, changes like choosing organic foods are not equally available to everyone. Individual choices can\u2019t replace upstream actions that prevent the risk of being exposed in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study comes a month after the Supreme Court ruled<\/a> in favor of Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, limiting consumer lawsuits against pesticide companies. The ruling in the case, Monsanto v Durnell,<\/a> found that pesticide companies cannot be held liable for omitting cancer warnings as long as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has deemed those warnings unnecessary.<\/p>\n In February, the Trump administration signed an executive order<\/a> protecting production of glyphosate. The order was widely<\/a> criticized by public health and environmental groups.<\/p>\n A spokesperson from Ruveon, a subsidiary of Bayer which manages its glyphosate products, said they are reviewing the publication. \u201cGlyphosate has been used safely for 50 years and is among the most extensively studied products of its kind,\u201d the statement said, adding \u201cno regulatory authority in the world has determined that glyphosate causes reproductive or developmental harm.\u201d<\/p>\n Trasande believes the results shown in the study highlight the need for stronger regulations to protect the health of pregnant women and infants, two groups especially vulnerable to chemicals in the environment. \u201cIt certainly adds further support to the need for individual level, as well as societal level, changes in what we eat and how we produce [food].\u201d<\/p>\n
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