Glyphosate
Definition of glyphosate:
Glyphosate was first used as a herbicide in 1973. It's one of the world's most widely used herbicides and is used in 130 countries for the weed control of more than 100 crops[1]. It occurs as a white crystalline solid[2].
This is the common definition for glyphosate, other definitions can be discussed in the article
|
Notes
| Glyphosate |
|---|
|
| Formula |
| C3H8NO5P |
The glyphosate is used as a herbicide to control a number of broadleaf weeds and grasses. The principal food use sites include corn, wheat, sorghum, citrus and stone fruits, potatoes and onions, asparagus, coffee, peanuts, and pineapples. There are also a number of non-food use sites including ornamental, turf, forestry, and industrial rights-of-way (rail road tracks)[2].
Although it is rather soluble in water (11,6 g/l), in application sites, glyphosate adsorbs to soils and should stay in the top 15 cm. This reduces its exposure to surface waters and the marine environment. Glyphosate is a rather unstable molecule that can be biodegraded. In most environments, its half-life is less than 30 days, although in some cases it takes up to 174 days to half its environmental concentration. Glyphosate is usually biodegraded to AMPA[1]
Glyphosate doesn't have a tendency to bioaccumulate or biomagnify[2].
Concentrations of 10µg/l might cause acute toxicity in one water flea species, while other zooplankton species can tolerate short exposure to glyphosate concentrations of 25 mg/l[3]. Concentrations which cause acute toxicity in fish range from 5 mg/l to 19 g/l, depending on the species[4]
Environmental standards and legislation
Included in the water framework list of priority substances
References
Please note that others may also have edited the contents of this article.
|
