• Roundup is a common domestic and agricultural herbicide.spray image by dinostock from Fotolia.com
  
  Roundup is the brand name of glyphosate, a herbicide used both agriculturally and domestically in many countries (including the United States). Roundup works by disrupting the production of several important amino acids in plants. The government approved glyphosate because animals do not produce their own amino acids; instead they get them by eating plants. The EPA considers the dangers posed by glyphosate to have low toxicity when used properly.
  
  

Danger to Humans

• According to a study by the American Chemical Society, some of the ingredients considered "inert," or inactive, in Roundup can amplify the toxicity of the product's active ingredient, glyphosate. This study was one of the first to examine the effects of Roundup's ingredients on human cells together instead of one at a time. The study found that even at concentrations below the common agricultural levels, Roundup can be dangerous to human placental, umbilical and embryonic cells. The study's researches fear that Roundup could interfere with hormone production during pregnancy.
  
  

Danger to Animals

• Roundup can leave behind residues that take a long time to break down, which allows some of the product to be absorbed by plants in the next growing season. Plants exposed to these low levels of glyphosate become more susceptible to disease, and organisms that eat the plants can be harmed. Rabbits in areas high in residue can have up to a 50 percent decline in sperm, and mice can pass on genetic liver and kidney problems to their offspring. Roundup is also fatal to amphibians and commonly drifts into the large puddles they use to reproduce--killing entire broods.
  
  

Environmental Danger

• Roundup is a "broad spectrum" or "non-selective" herbicide. This means that it disrupts processes common to almost all plants and is therefore harmful to any species of plant. Because Roundup is usually used by homeowners and farmers attempting to kill a few specific problem species, they can allow a mist to drift to neighboring plants. Roundup that makes its way into the ground upsets populations of micro-organisms in the soil which can affect surrounding plants.