Death due to glyphosate intoxication.

Li, Zhe; Kim, Dae Jung; Kim, Won Kyu; Kim, Yu Hoon; Lee, Bong Woo; Lee, Sang Yong; Lee, Soong Deok; Lee, Won Tae; Lee, Han Young; Choi, Young shik; Han, Gil Ro

Original article

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2003;27(1):83-87.
Published online May 31, 2003.

Death due to glyphosate intoxication.

Zhe Li, Dae Jung Kim, Won Kyu Kim, Yu Hoon Kim, Bong Woo Lee, Sang Yong Lee, Soong Deok Lee, Won Tae Lee, Han Young Lee, Young shik Choi, Gil Ro Han

¹Department of Forensic Medicine, Seoul Nat'l University, Korea. sdlee@snu.ac.kr
²Department of Anatomy, Kang Won Nat'l University, Korea.
³Department of Anatomy, Han Yang University, Korea.
⁴Department of Forensic Medicine, National Institute of Scientific Investigation, Korea.

Abstract

Glyphosate containing herbicides, such as 'Touchdown' or 'Roundup', have been known relatively safe. They have been introduced as substitute for highly toxic paraquat. Till now few researchers have paid their attention for this material, and few data are available concerning this. Recently we experienced seven cases of glyphosate intoxication during past three years. Most of the cases could be regarded as intentional ingestion and accidental intoxication seemed to be quite less compared to paraquat. As there exist technical difficulties for the clarification of the material quantitatively, some cases were disputable concerning the circumstances in which ingestion of the material or death have occurred. Cases were reviewed and several points about this material were discussed.

Key Words: Glyphosate, Touchdown, Roundup, intoxication