Epigenetics is the study of how behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way genes work. According to the NIH, epigenetics is a rapidly growing area of science that focuses on the processes that help direct when individual genes are turned on or off. While the cell’s DNA provides the instruction manual, genes also need specific instructions - epigenetic processes tell the cell to read specific pages of the instruction manual at distinct times. Some epigenetic changes are stable and last a lifetime, and some may be passed on from one generation to the next, without changing the genes.
Pesticides, including glyphosate, have been shown to cause epigenetic changes in our bodies. Scientists have discovered the multi-generational impacts of glyphosate exposure, in which second and third generations following the glyphosate exposure suffer ill health and disease due to the original toxic exposure. Frighteningly, we won’t know the full extent of the damage from our unprecedented use of glyphosate for several generations. With no evidence of an imminent phase-out of glyphosate, we continue to create this multigenerational damage with everyday exposure.
Select research on glyphosate-induced epigenetic changes.
