Low levels of Roundup cause liver disease in rats

A long-term, low-dose study by Seralini and others shows Roundup causes liver disease in female rats. The study took 2 years and...

The dose selected was below what people are commonly exposed to in the everyday environment and 75,000 times below what is permitted by EU regulators.

The study found Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in the rates. NAFLD is found in 20% of the general population today, making people wonder if there's a link between Roundup (which contains more chemicals than just glyphosate) and NAFLD. Naturally, a study was warranted. In a previous study, even rats given 0.1ppb (parts per billion!) over 2 years showed liver damage. In the current study, 214 proteins out of 1906 were "disturbed". That's 11.2%. But hundreds of proteins being disrupted is still very bad.


Sources
EurActive. Jan 11, 2017.
The study in Nature. Backup link at archive.is.

Study shows Roundup causes liver disease

Keep in mind that there's a difference between glyphosate (which is bad enough) and Roundup, which contains surfactants to make it better absorbed by plants. Some studies indicate Roundup to be much more dangerous than plain glyphosate.

The study was peer reviewed at Nature.com.  doi:10.1038/srep39328

The impairment of liver function by low environmentally relevant doses of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) is still a debatable and unresolved matter. Previously we have shown that rats administered for 2 years with 0.1 ppb (50 ng/L glyphosate equivalent dilution; 4 ng/kg body weight/day daily intake) of a Roundup GBH formulation showed signs of enhanced liver injury as indicated by anatomorphological, blood/urine biochemical changes and transcriptome profiling. 

Wow! Damage at parts per billion! Or 4 NANOgrams per kg of body weight! Damage occurs at concentrations far below EPA standards.

This was a 2 year study on female rat liver tissue.  The rats suffered from Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). NAFLD currently affects 25% of the US population. NAFLD can progress to the more serious condition non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Over the 24 months the trigliceride levels rose in the rates. See Figure 1 graph in study.