Compositional differences in soybeans on the market: glyphosate accumulates in Roundup Ready GM soybeans

http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=1053

Bøhn, T.^1,2, Cuhra, M.^1,2, Traavik, T.^1,2, Sanden, M.³, Fagan, J.⁴ and Primicerio, R.²  

¹ GenØk, Centre for Biosafety, P.O. Box 6418, 9294 Tromsø, Norway

² Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, 9019 Tromsø, Norway

³ National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research, NIFES, P.O. Box 2029, 5817 Bergen, Norway

⁴ Earth Open Source, 2nd Floor 145-157, St. John Street, London EC1V 4PY, United Kingdom  

Corresponding author: Thomas Bøhn, GenØk, Centre for Biosafety, P.O. Box 6418, 9294 Tromsø, Norway. Email: thomas.bohn@genok.no. Phone: +4777644541  

ABSTRACT  

This article describes the nutrient and elemental composition, including residues of 21 herbicides and pesticides, of 31 soybean batches from Iowa, USA. The soy samples were grouped into three different categories: i) genetically modified, glyphosate-tolerant soy (GM-soy); ii) unmodified soy cultivated using a conventional “chemical” cultivation regime; and iii) unmodified soy cultivated using an organic cultivation regime. Organic soybeans showed the healthiest nutritional profile with more sugars, such as glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltose, significantly more total protein, zinc and less fibre than both conventional and GM-soy. Organic soybeans also contained less total saturated fat and total omega-6 fatty acids than both conventional and GM-soy. GM-soy contained high residues of glyphosate and AMPA (mean 3.3 and 5.7 mg/kg, respectively). Conventional and organic soybean batches contained none of these agrochemicals. Using 35 different nutritional and elemental variables to characterise each soy sample, we were able to discriminate GM, conventional and organic soybeans without exception, demonstrating “substantial non-equivalence” in compositional characteristics for ‘ready-to-market’ soybeans.