History of Glyphosate Commercial Use Glyphosate is a white crystal-like powder with the chemical formula of C3H8NO5P. Several researchers confirmed that glyphosate was synthesized in 1950 by Henri Martin who was working for a pharmaceutical company at that time (Alibhai and Stallings, 2001; American Chemical Society, 2010; Dill et al., 2010). In a separate research work conducted by the Monsanto Company, the chemists were able to discover two glyphosate-related chemicals that have weak herbicidal activities against weeds. Another chemist in Monsanto Company named John Franz synthesized other compounds based on the two glyphosate-related compounds and eventually found out the potential of glyphosate as a herbicide. Later on, the glyphosate …show more content…
Samsel and Seneff (2013) specified that there are approximately 18 types of CYP enzymes in the human body. The inhibition activity in Cytochrome P450 enzyme will disrupt the important chemical reactions of the human body that include metabolism of Vitamin D and toxins, detoxification of several xenobiotics, digestion of fats and the synthesis of estrogen, testosterone, steriod, cholesterol, H2O soluble bile acids and other hormones. The adverse effects of glyphosate in the human body is also supported by Richard et al. (2005) stating that the aromatase activities in the human placental cells and HepG2 cells in the human liver were interrupted even at low glyphosate levels equal to 10 …show more content…
(2012) indicated that glyphosate is associated with breast cancer based on the results of their study where the female rats that continuously consumed food containing glyphosate developed large mammary tumors. Yong et al. (2010) explained that the disruption of Cytochrome P450 1A2 and the availability of sulfate due to the presence of glyphosate can result to an increase in breast density, high risk to breast cancer, and slow metabolism of estrogen and testosterone. Samsel and Seneff (2013) further added that other diseases associated with glyphosate exposure include obesity and inflammatory bowel