Do we share life with glyphosate?

DEMONTE, LUISINA; REPETTI, MARÍA ROSA; MICHLIG, NICOLÁS; MICHLIG, MELINA; BELDOMÉNICO, HORACIO R.

San José

Workshop; 6th Latin American Pesticide Residue Workshop; 2017

Universidad de Costa Rica

Argentina experienced an extraordinary agricultural development in the last two decades, supported by important technological innovations: the extensive use of bioengineered GM cultures designed to be resistant to specific herbicides (glyphosate, glufosinate, others), no till direct seeding, modern machinery and agrochemicals. More than 200 million tons of glyphosate was annually loaded on a confined surface that grew from 25 mill hectares in 1996 to more than 40 mill ha in 2016, producing more than 110 mill tons of soybean and other crops.The analytical task that involves monitoring and studying the effects of these huge loadings of the herbicide complex is still a challenge. Glyphosate remains being the more used herbicide worldwide and the less monitored. Several analytical methodologies for the determination of glyphosate, its principal metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) and glufosinate, other phosphonate herbicide, have been proposed. Methods based in no-derivatization strategies (QuPPE ? LC-MS/MS and others) and derivatizing techniques suitable for determination with LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS have updated versions. In this presentation an overview on these selected approaches and the experimented and validated methodologies in course in our laboratory for determination of glyphosate and related compounds by UHPLC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS will be described. Results from the application of validated methodologies to the analysis of environmental samples (soil, sediments, underground and surface waters) and other type of matrices of processed crops (maize, cotton) and food (fruits, beer, flour) that also will be mentioned, show variable and recurrent concentrations of the studied compounds frequently in all matrices. These findings support the hypothesis that a comprehensive and dramatic improvement of the analytical control, monitoring and enforcement systems, together with concomitant risk assessment efforts, in countries submitted to high loadings of herbicides, are of priority importance, a mandatory task nowadays in order to protect human health and the environment.