High levels of glyphosate detected in hair of Japan parliamentarians

Hair samples were taken from 23 members with results showing the majority suffered from long-term exposure to a variety of pesticides including glyphosate and its metabolite AMPA.

The Japanese testing project used a newly developed long-term exposure hair testing method that revealed much higher levels of contamination than ever detected elsewhere in the world using urine or blood testing, GMO news tracker Sustainable Pulse reports.

“I aim to launch a non-partisan parliamentary group for food safety,” member of the Japanese House of Councillors, Ryūhei Kawada, told Yahoo News Japan in regard to the project, which has increased calls for a more environment friendly approach to pesticides in the Asian country.

Kawada’s colleague Mizuho Fukushima believes the practice of pre-harvest wheat spraying using glyphosate in the US and Canada is the main reason behind the findings, while arguing that “we need to promote organic and free school meals using organic rice and local wheat bread.”

The testing was conducted under the Detox Project Japan to identify pesticides Japanese people are exposed to over the long-term.

Henry Rowlands, director of the project, stated: “This unique testing project was made possible by the development of new hair testing methods that have enabled our long-term exposure to pesticides to be identified for the first time. Urine and blood testing only give us a very short-term picture of exposure, whereas hair testing gives us the real and full picture of what we have been exposed to over the long-term and thus what we need to avoid.”

The pesticides detected included Cyprodinil, Fipronil Sulfone, Iprovalicarb, Metolachlor, Propiconazole, Pyraclostrobin, Spiroxamine, Tebuconazole, Tetramethrin, Transfluthrin, Trifloxystrobin, Glyphosate, AMPA, Glufosinate.

Four of those pesticides were found in over 10% of the samples; Tebuconazole (a fungicide) – 10.7%, Transfluthrin (an insecticide) – 14.3 %, Glyphosate (a herbicide) – 32.1%, AMPA (the main metabolite of glyphosate) – 53.6%.

The results for glyphosate and AMPA included regular levels of over 33 and 166 ppb respectively with the highest results of 791 ppb for glyphosate and 1205 ppb for AMPA.

Rowlands added: “Considering that the average levels in urine for both glyphosate and AMPA are around 3 ppb, these levels in hair are highly concerning. The results have shocked Japan and are set to hopefully lead to changes in legislation surrounding long-term exposure to pesticides in the country. This shows that with the correct level of awareness anything is possible.”