America wants to phase out glyphosate, the world’s most common weed killer and the main ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, blaming exposure to the chemical for various health issues, including cancer, gut problems, anxiety and infertility, among others.
This week, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr will preview a report into potential causes of chronic illness in children, including lack of exercise, screen time – and pesticides.
The report has largely been co-ordinated by Calley Means, a wellness influencer in the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement and the brother of Donald Trump’s new pick for Surgeon-General, Dr Casey Means.
The physician-turned-wellness influencer and holistic farming advocate is just one of many in Trump’s administration wanting to ban glyphosate, reports The Telegraph.
The chemical has been considered “probably” a carcinogen by the World Health Organisation since 2015, although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US says it is not cancer-causing.
Means is also concerned about the chemical’s link to infertility and sperm reduction.
She wrote in a newsletter last year: “Some of the most commonly used pesticides… promote the conversion of testosterone to oestrogen, which can have negative effects in women (like increased breast cancer risk, infertility), men (depletion of testosterone, infertility), and foetuses (birth defects).”
Views on glyphosate backed by science
Posting to Instagram, she wrote: “Chronic diseases and infertility are largely rooted in the same thing: metabolic dysfunction from cells that are broken due to a toxic industrial world…
“The single most effective strategy … is restoring sustainable agriculture practices that contribute to biodiverse soil and nutrient-rich food, and moving away from industrial agriculture that uses toxic synthetic pesticides.”
Trump – and the wider Maha movement– is concerned over an apparent decline in fertility in recent decades.
Means said that since the 1970s, cumulatively, there had been a 50% to 60% decline in total fertility rate, testosterone, and sperm counts.
While several factors can influence these rates, the World Economic Forum estimates there has been a 50% decrease in fertility in the past 70 years.
A review published earlier this year in the journal Reproductive Sciences suggested exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) could disrupt female hormones, cause uterine and ovary damage, and increase infertility or miscarriage.
The study also connected the conditions of endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome with the chemical.
The team of scientists, from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, said: “These GBH-induced alterations in uterine architecture and morphology may contribute to infertility, early pregnancy loss, and endometrial hyperplasia”.
‘Negative impact on reproductive health’
Meanwhile, in a separate study of sperm taken from infertile men at Centre de fertilité Pôle Santé Léonard de Vinci in Chambray-lès-Tours, France, last year, more than 55% of samples were found to contain high levels of glyphosate.
A link was also found between the chemical and oxidative stress on seminal plasma, which can impair sperm vitality.
“Taken together, our results suggest a negative impact on glyphosate on human reproductive health and possibly on offspring,” wrote the authors of the study, conducted in partnership with the University De Tours and the University De Limoges, and published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.
People particularly at risk were those who ate non-organic produce, agricultural workers and smokers, the study concluded.
‘Glyphosate impacts male reproductive systems’
It’s not just in the US that concerns over the chemical are growing.
“The effect of glyphosate on humans and animals is indirect,” said Dr Amy Godfrey, a doctor who formerly worked with the NHS.
She said because the chemical works by inhibiting an enzyme not present in animals and humans, “we assumed from a biochemical standpoint that it was safe”.
After years of seeing the downstream health effects of agriculture and the food system, Godfrey changed careers to drive change in the food system, and is now head of research for The First Thirty, a venture capital firm investing in agriculture and health.
On glysophate’s effect on fertility, she points to animal studies which suggest it acts as a disruptor to the body’s endocrine system, which is responsible for hormone production.
“Rats and mice exposed to glyphosate show increased rates of embryonic resorption, which is a proxy for early miscarriage, altered progesterone levels, dysfunctional implantation [and] structural changes in the ovaries and uterus,” she told The Telegraph.
More than 180 000 lawsuits
Roundup, which contains glyphosate as an active ingredient, was acquired by Bayer, the pharmaceutical company, in 2018, and according to the firm’s website, as of 31 January 2025, 114 000 out of 181 000 glyphosate-related lawsuits “have been resolved or deemed to be ineligible”.
Bayer has repeatedly insisted that Roundup is safe and has been tested extensively.
The Telegraph article – The chemical Maga fears is making us infertile (Restricted access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Australian judge dismisses Roundup class action cancer suit
Bayer triumph after latest Roundup cancer trial
Environmental contaminants linked to male infertility ‘crisis’
Child cancer risk tied to multiple pesticide exposure – US study