Glyphosate herbicides, such as Monsanto’s popular Roundup, have an environmentally friendly reputation because their active ingredients are relatively nontoxic and degrade rapidly in the environment. But University of Pittsburgh biologist Rick Relyea is challenging this view. He has found that Roundup at environmentally relevant concentrations kills or harms tadpoles because of the presence of the surfactant POEA , an ingredient that is defined as inert and doesn’t appear on the label (Ecol. Appl. 2005, 15, 618–627; 1118–1124).
Relyea’s work is one of several studies that shed light on the behavior of “inerts” in the environment, a topic largely ignored by the U.S. EPA, say many environmental toxicologists inside and outside the agency. In 1995, EPA changed the listing of POEA (polyethoxylated tallow amine) from an inert of “unknown toxicity” to one that is of “minimal concern”. According to the agency, “the current use pattern in pesticide products will not adversely affect public health or the environment”. The agency presently does not have plans to further revise the classification, say EPA officials interviewed for this story.
“The inerts evaluation for environmental effects is EPA’s dirty little secret,” says one agency scientist who requested anonymity. “POEA is likely to be the tip of the iceberg, but we don’t know because we don’t have data. The agency assures us that everything’s okay. On the basis of what? Not data. Then, to make matters worse, the inerts aren’t even listed on the label.”
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2005/sep/science/rr_inerts.html
Posted by Dave at September 10, 2005 01:18 PM