Title: Bayer’s new Roundup weedkiller for consumers 45 times more toxic
[FOE 22/10/24] -- A Friends of the Earth analysis — “New Roundup, New Risks” — finds that residential Roundup products are more toxic to consumers and the environment than ever before. Not only has manufacturer Bayer failed to remove glyphosate from all Roundup products, as promised, but new formulations of Roundup are 45 times more toxic to human health, on average, following long-term, chronic exposure. They also pose greater risks to the environment.
Bayer announced it would remove glyphosate from consumer products starting in 2023 in response to tens of thousands of lawsuits linking the weedkiller to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Friends of the Earth reviewed Roundup weedkillers for sale at the two largest U.S. home and garden retailers — Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) — to determine whether the company followed through as of October 2024.
Not only do several Roundup products still contain glyphosate, but eight new Roundup products contain chemicals of dramatically greater concern. With no requirement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to warn consumers of the new dangers, people are unknowingly being exposed to higher risks.
Roundup products sold to consumers now contain combinations of four new active ingredients as replacements for glyphosate: diquat dibromide, fluazifop-P-butyl, triclopyr and imazapic. All four chemicals pose a greater risk of long-term and/or reproductive health problems than glyphosate based on the EPA’s evaluation of safety studies.
The pesticides have been linked to a variety of harms to human health, including birth and developmental abnormalities; reproductive dysfunction; kidney or liver damage; and irritation, inflammation, or allergic reactions affecting the skin, eyes and respiratory system.
