According to a new study published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, nearly 60% of sperm samples from a French infertility clinic contained high levels of glyphosate.

Glyphosate is the world’s most common weedkiller.

“The new research also found evidence of impacts on DNA and a correlation between glyphosate levels and oxidative stress on seminal plasma, suggesting significant impacts on fertility and reproductive health,” The Guardian reports.

“Environmental exposure to endocrine disruptors, such as pesticides, could contribute to a decline of human fertility,” the researchers wrote.

“Taken together, our results suggest a negative impact of GLY on the human reproductive health and possibly on his progeny,” the researchers wrote.

Per The Guardian:

The paper comes as researchers look for answers to why global fertility rates are dropping, and many suspect exposure to toxic chemicals like glyphosate is a significant driver of the decline.

Glyphosate is used on a wide range of food crops and in residential settings in the US. The most popular glyphosate-based product is Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller, which has been at the center of legal and regulatory battles in recent years. US government research from 2023 found genotoxicity in farmers with high levels of the herbicide in their blood, suggesting an association between it and cancer.

In December, a group of top US public health advocacy groups petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the product, though its defenders have said there is no definitive proof of its toxicity to humans. Still, dozens of countries have banned or restricted its use.

The levels French researchers found in sperm were four times higher than in the men’s blood, which the authors wrote is the first time the comparison had been made. They called the finding “worrying”, and it suggests the chemical is particularly dangerous for reproductive systems.

From ScienceDirect:

We have reported for the first time in human, the presence of GLY in human sperm in nearly 60% of male patients in a French infertile cohort in our infertility clinic. We found GLY concentrations four time higher in sperm than in blood, corresponding probably to an hemato-testicular barrier alteration. We detected a strong positive correlation between OSin lipids and DNA and GLY’s amount in blood and sperm. Meanwhile, we can’t exclude the toxicity of the co- formulants of GBHs or other pesticides associated as well. Even if we did not find in our study a correlation between sperm parameters and oxidative stress markers and GLY, it’s a matter of concern for the future generations to have detected a such elevated proportion of GLY associated with OS in sperm in our infertile population. It could be interesting to test systematically OS markers in sperm in infertile man in order to improve the lifestyle factors and give antioxidant supplementation to try to counteract oxidative status. Indeed, OS is one of the main mechanisms implicated in the occurrence of pathologies such as obesity, cancer and epigenetic effects in the offspring. It would be wise to apply the precautionary principle for GBHs formulants use despite the extension of the GLY use in Europe.

The alarming research follows a study that found microplastics in all 23 human testes analyzed.

STUDY: Microplastics Found In ALL Human Testes Analyzed, Linked To Decreased Sperm Counts?

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.