Determination of glyphosate in breast milk of lactating women in a rural area from Paraná state, Brazil

The aim of this study was to verify the presence of glyphosate in breast milk and to characterize maternal environmental exposure. Sixty-seven milk samples were collected from lactating women in the city of Francisco Beltrão, Paraná, living in urban (n=26) and rural (n=41) areas, at the peak of glyphosate application in corn and soy crops in the region (April and May 2018). To characterize the study population, socio-epidemiological data of the women were collected. To determine glyphosate levels, a commercial enzyme immunosorbent assay kit was used. Glyphosate was detected in all breast milk samples analyzed with a mean value of 1.45 µg/L. Despite some descriptive differences, there were no statistically significant differences (P<0.05) between the categories of the variables tested. Also, glyphosate was detected in drinking water samples from the urban area and in artesian well water from the rural area of the region where the studied population lived. The estimation of the total amount of glyphosate ingested by breastfeeding babies in a period of 6 months was significant. These results suggest that the studied lactating population was contaminated with glyphosate, possibly through continued environmental exposure.