An evaluation of the genotoxic potential of glyphosate.

The potential genotoxicity of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide, was tested in a variety of well-established in vitro and in vivo assays including the Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli WP-2 reversion assays, recombination (rec-assay) with Bacillus subtilis. Chinese hamster ovary cell gene mutation assay at the hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyl transferase gene locus, hepatocyte primary culture/DNA repair assay, and in vivo cytogenetics assay in rat bone marrow. No genotoxic activity was observed in the assays performed. The data suggest that glyphosate should not pose a genetic risk to man.