Most glyphosate in European rivers does not come from farmers, but from a product you use almost daily.

[Esperanto]

The controversial substance glyphosate not only ends up on crops but also in our rivers. but rather due to additives in laundry detergents, as discovered by researchers from the University of Tübingen in Germany.

Summary

The most widely used herbicide glyphosate contaminates surface waters around the globe. Both agriculture and urban applications are discussed as sources for glyphosate. To better delineate these sources, we investigated long-term time series of concentrations of glyphosate and its main transformation product aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in a large meta-analysis of about 100 sites in the USA and Europe. The U.S. data reveal pulses of glyphosate and AMPA when the discharge of the river is high, likely indicating mobilization by rain after herbicide application. In contrast, European concentration patterns of glyphosate and AMPA show a typical cyclic-seasonal component in their concentration patterns, correlating with patterns of wastewater markers such as pharmaceuticals, which is consistent with the frequent detection of these compounds in wastewater treatment plants. Our large meta-analysis clearly shows that for more than a decade, municipal wastewater was a very important source of glyphosate. In addition, European river water data show rather high and constant base mass fluxes of glyphosate all over the year, not expected from herbicide application. From our meta-analysis, we define criteria for a source of glyphosate, which was hidden so far. AMPA is known to be a transformation product not only of glyphosate but also of aminopolyphosphonates used as antiscalants in many applications. As they are used in laundry detergents in Europe but not in the USA, we hypothesize that glyphosate may also be a transformation product of aminopolyphosphonates.

sciencedirect.com/science/a...

[Gallowglass]

wow!

[Stillstandingstill]

Good find.

[gomelgo]

how sad

[Eryl]

Story designed to distract us from the fact that Glyphosate is dangerous and the most dangerous source of Glyphosate is the food we eat. Farmers don't spray it on bare ground, often they use it to 'dry off' grain crops just before harvest.

[Caa11]

that is awful and really frustrating!! When will people wake up to the fact that this is killing every living thing!!!???

[MarionP in reply to Caa11]

It's not the only one either.