A tractor spraying herbicide on field. Photo by Tpmartins, Flickr.

Listen to this week’s radio segment here or read the transcript below. This week’s episode discusses the effects of the herbicide known as Roundup.

Should Iowans worry about how the world’s most widely used herbicide affects our environment?

This is the Iowa Environmental Focus.

A series of studies are raising questions about the herbicide Roundup. Last year, a report out of the University of Pittsburgh found that tadpoles grew longer tails when exposed to Roundup – the same adaptation as when they are exposed to other threats. This indicates that the herbicide may have unwanted effects on some species.

Past studies have found that glyphosate-based herbicides – like Roundup – cause birth defects in laboratory animals. Roundup is also believed to have caused the development of “superweeds”, which have grown resistant to herbicides and are so large that they can damage farm equipment.

A U.S. Geological Survey study last year found traces of glyphosates in nearly every air and water sample collected in Mississippi and Iowa.

For more information on this issue, visit IowaEnvironmentalFocus.org.

I’m Jerry Schnoor from the UI Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research.

Thank You.