herbicide – Desdemona Despair

Phytohormone pools affected by GBH, phosphate fertilizer and their combination in three crop species. Phytohormones, their precursors and metabolites; compounds that were analyzed in this study are indicated with abbreviations after the compound name. Additional compounds (without abbreviations) were added to show common pathway intermediates and to show biosynthetic origins of phytohormones. Chorismate derives from the shikimate pathway which includes the target site of glyphosate. By blocking the EPSPS enzyme, an essential biosynthetic step is corrupted, which is often shown to cause decreased biosynthesis of metabolites synthesized downstream of the shikimate pathway. Centrally placed hexahedron highlights the possible interactions between hormones also known as hormone crosstalk. Symbols (arrows and stops) besides and below metabolites (left side = oat, right = potato, and below = strawberry) indicate the effect of treatment (blue = phosphate, yellow = GBH, blue + yellow = phosphate + GBH) on each plant species corresponding to significances shown in Figure 2 (N = 40). Graphic: Fuchs, et al., 2022 / Frontiers in Plant Science

February 17, 2022

Glyphosate herbicide residues in soil affect hormone levels in crop plants – “Ubiquitous herbicide residues have multifaceted consequences by modulating the hormonal equilibrium of plants”

14 February 2022 (University of Turku) – A new study finds that glyphosate residues in soil affect phytohormones in aboveground plant parts. Academy of Finland funded postdoctoral researcher Dr. Benjamin Fuchs investigates the effects of herbicide residues in soil on plant physiology and chemical ecology of plant-insect interactions. Glyphosate-based herbicides are commonly used to kill […]

Sri Lankan mother Sumitra Dissanayake weeps for her dead daughter, Shashikala Sewwandi, who she says was killed by the herbicide paraquat. She pleads for extremely poisonous pesticides and herbicides to be banned. “I don’t want anyone to grieve like me.” Photo: Greenpeace / The Guardian

March 28, 2021

Scientist tells of relief after speaking out over weedkiller fears – Herbicide poisoning expert says paraquat responsible for “tens of thousands” of deaths worldwide

By Ben Quinn 24 March 2021 (The Guardian) – A scientist with one of the world’s largest chemical firms took the difficult decision to speak out publicly when “a new generation” of managers rejected concerns about a mass-produced weedkiller that he had been expressing for decades. Going public has been a “relief”, says toxicologist Jon […]

Andrew Crane-Droesch is a data scientist with the University of Pennsylvania Health System. He worked as a research economist at the Economic Research Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture between 2016 and 2019. Photo: UC Berkeley Energy and Resources Group

October 24, 2019

The Trump administration didn’t like my agency’s research. So it sent us to Missouri. – “They can’t tolerate it when scientists present hard truths they don’t like”

By Andrew Crane-Droesch 21 October 2019 (The Washington Post) – I joined the Economic Research Service (ERS) in 2016. I wanted to use my academic training to do something in the public interest — I didn’t really expect to get involved in agriculture. Then I got absorbed in the subject: Humanity’s dependence on the environment […]