Glyphosate-based pesticides affect cell cycle regulation

Cell-cycle dysregulation is a hallmark of tumor cells and human cancers. Failure in the cell-cycle checkpoints leads to genomic instability and subsequent development of cancers from the initial affected cell. A worldwide used product Roundup 3plus, based on glyphosate as the active herbicide, was suggested to be of human health concern since it induced cell cycle dysfunction as judged from analysis of the first cell division of sea urchin embryos, a recognized model for cell cycle studies. Several glyphosate-based pesticides from different manufacturers were assayed in comparison with Roundup 3plus for their ability to interfere with the cell cycle regulation. All the tested products, Amega, Cargly, Cosmic, and Roundup Biovert induced cell cycle dysfunction. The threshold concentration for induction of cell cycle dysfunction was evaluated for each product and suggests high risk by inhalation for people in the vicinity of the pesticide handling sprayed at 500 to 4000 times higher dose than the cell-cycle adverse concentration. (C) 2004 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.