“Safer” Roundup Weed Killer Can Still Damage Your Organs, Shocking Study Finds
For avid golfers, living near a putting green may sound like a dream come true. We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but studies show that living near a golf course can increase your risk of Parkinson’s disease by 126 percent due to the weed killers and pesticides, like Roundup, used on most fairways. While Roundup has taken strides to “cleanify” its formula, new research says there’s more work to be done.
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Roundup’s new formula still contains hazardous toxins.
In Oct. 2024, Roundup transitioned its residential formulas from being glyphosate-based to diquat-based. At the time, diquat was widely believed to be a safer alternative to glyphosate.
Glyphosate is an active ingredient that’s used for managing “invasive and noxious weeds” in both agricultural and residential/commercial settings, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It’s most notably found in Roundup products, particularly the brand’s weed sprayers.
Glyphosate has been a registered pesticide in the U.S. since 1974, though it’s banned in the U.K., European Union, and China. Research centers have been fighting to get it outlawed in the U.S.—but the EPA doesn’t view glyphosate as a potential human or ecological threat.
In Feb. 2020, the EPA sided against International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) data and reported that glyphosate “is unlikely to be a human carcinogen.” Doubling down on their findings, the EPA reported that “there are no risks of concern to human health” and “the benefits of glyphosate outweigh the potential ecological risks when glyphosate is used in accordance with labels.”
However, this didn’t quite quell public concerns. In Oct. 2024, parent company Bayer announced it would “no longer [be] producing glyphosate-based Roundup products for the U.S. residential lawn and garden market.” Bayer replaced glyphosate with four other active ingredients, including diquat.
In response, the nonprofit organization Friends of the Earth released an analysis that proved all four substitutes “pose greater risk of long-term and/or reproductive health problems than glyphosate.” According to their findings, these chemicals have been associated with the following conditions:
- Birth and development abnormalities
- Reproductive dysfunction
- Kidney and liver damage
- Irritation, inflammation, and allergic reactions affecting the skin, eyes, and respiratory system
Most shockingly, diquat was dubbed “the worst offender” of the four weed killers. “It is 200 times more chronically toxic than glyphosate, is classified as a highly hazardous pesticide, and is banned in the European Union,” per the report.
Since then, additional research has come out corroborating the Friends of the Earth analysis.
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New research shows diquat is just as harmful to humans.
Diquat enters the human body via the digestive tract, leading to extreme poisoning. This can result in damaged intestines, exacerbated inflammation, and gut microbiome disruption, according to new research published in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology.
Diquat is considered toxic because it generates reactive oxygen species (ROS), which “cause oxidative damage to lipids, proteins, and DNA, ultimately leading to multi-organ dysfunction,” wrote the authors.
The herbicide can trigger acute tubular necrosis (damage to the tubule cells of the kidneys), mitochondrial dysfunction, and apoptosis (which can cause cancer), making the kidney the “primary target organ.” When our organs aren’t functioning at their best, toxins have a higher likelihood of infiltrating the bloodstream and spreading to other parts of the body.
Diquat can also attack the lungs and nervous system. “Its toxicity still causes damage through ROS and inflammatory signaling pathways,” wrote the authors. An “excessive generation” of ROS can cause irreparable harm to lung tissue.
Even so, banning diquat doesn’t seem to be on the EPA’s list of priorities.
“Other countries have banned diquat, but in the U.S., we’re still fighting the fights that Europe won 20 years ago. It hasn’t gotten to the radar of most groups and that really says a lot about the sad and sorry state of pesticides in the U.S.,” Nathan Donley, a science director with the Center for Biological Diversity who was not involved in the study, told The Guardian.
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The takeaway:
A new study indicates that diquat is just as much of a public health threat—if not more so—than its predecessor, glyphosate.
To glean perspective, Sarah Starman, senior campaigner at Friends of the Earth, compared the inclusion of diquat in weed killers as equivalent to over-the-counter pain meds containing opioids.
“Drug companies are not allowed to replace the aspirin in a brand-name pain reliever with OxyContin or fentanyl, and for good reason. It is unconscionable that the Environmental Protection Agency allows this toxic sleight of hand and unethical that Bayer is exposing consumers to dramatically greater risks with no warning,” she said in the 2024 report.
“Bayer, like other chemical companies, cannot be trusted to protect our health. We need serious reform at the EPA to ensure that the agency does its duty to protect people and the environment from dangerous pesticides,” she added.