A new study suggests that glyphosate exposure could be a key ingredient in the autism epidemic sweeping the US. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, one of the most popular herbicides in the world.
Broadly speaking, the researchers propose that autism should be viewed as a PIN1 deficiency syndrome, in which a key substance for neurological development and health (PIN1) is inhibited. The natural compound melatonin is essential for the production of melatonin, because it inhibits a substance called DAPK1, which in turn inhibits PIN1.
Recent research has shown that glyphosate inhibits the body’s production of melatonin, which makes glyphosate a strong candidate for causing many of autism’s most distinctive symptoms, including “increased dendritic spine density, missing or thin corpus callosum, and reduced bone density.”
Since 1974 in the US, it’s estimated that at least 1.6 billion kg of glyphosate has been used in the US, or roughly 20% of total global usage of the chemical.
A 2022 study showed that 81.2% of Americans over the age of 6 have detectable levels of glyphosate in their urine.
Autism rates have skyrocketed in the US in recent decades. Currently, 1 in 36 children in the US is diagnosed with autism, up from 1 in 150 children just 20 years ago.
Some possible factors to explain the rise that have been proposed include better awareness and screening for the condition, changes in diagnostic criteria and environmental or genetic factors.
The authors of the new study caution that glyphosate use should be “curtailed” so that proper investigation of its effects can be discovered.
“Given the ominous rise in the incidence of autism now happening around the globe, we believe it is imperative that distribution and use of glyphosate be curtailed immediately, while the mechanisms behind its potential connection to autism—and possibly a wide range of other diseases—can be definitively confirmed or ruled out through additional detailed research.”
Glyphosate has already been linked to cancer, endocrine disruption and obesity.
Roundup was previously manufactured by Monsanto, until Bayer bought the company in 2016 for $66 billion.
Bayer has faced tens of thousands of lawsuits, at a cost of billions of dollars, over harmful effects attributed to the use of Roundup products.
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