Welcome to another episode
of Behind the Science,
Rock Star Edition.
I'm your host,
Jennifer Fournier.
There is a worldwide debate
going on about a very common
pesticide called glyphosate.
This debate is
actually quite chilling
because of the frequent use
of this common pesticide.
So in this episode of
Behind the Science,
knowledge is power.
No matter the debate, we are
here to answer the question,
how can we accurately detect
this common pesticide?
Hi, Jeremy, how are you?
Good.
How are you Jen?
Actually, I'm quite concerned.
I was reading an
article that was stating
that there was an
overwhelming majority
of a certain
population that's
contaminated by a chemical
called glyphosate.
Actually, in this
article, it stated
that 75% of this population
was found to have
this chemical in their urine.
Is this something we need
to be concerned with?
Yes, you're right, Jen.
So glyphosate is one of the
most commonly used pesticide,
both in agriculture product
and at home, in your garden.
So but in terms of toxicity,
there really are two camps.
So one region may think
it's a low to medium risk.
But the other region,
they disagree.
They think it's highly toxic.
They really should be regulated.
So does that mean
that one region
uses it more than another?
No, both region use
quite extensively.
Just that how they want to
regulate it might be different.
OK, could you maybe show
me some more information
on this growing trend
of using glyphosate?
Sure.
Let's go to the whiteboard.
Sounds good.
Let's take a look at the
global usage of glyphosate.
Here, we see a graph
on the left, which
is the annually
usage of per pound
of glyphosate versus the years.
It started from 1987
all the way to 2014.
As you can see, the
uses started very low.
And in the middle,
you're seeing a lot
of genetically modified
crops being introduced.
And these genetically
modified crops
are engineered so that
it can resist glyphosate.
Let's focus on the
year 1994 and 2014.
And here, we can see a
map of the United States.
And here, on the left, we can
see the usage at year 1994.
And that was before the years
genetically modified crops were
introduced, which means
they're used quite commonly.
But when you see 2014
after several crops
introduced, and really
the usage of glyphosate
exponentially grows.
Wow!
So we're really using more
and more of this pesticide.
That just screams testing.
Is there an easy way
to analyze these?
Glyphosate really is an
analytical challenging analyte.
What makes it so
analytically challenging?
If you look at a
structure, glyphosate
is a very small and
very polar compound.
So secondly, it does not
have any chromaphore.
So it cannot be detect by UV.
And lastly, the current
method is labeling glyphosate
and analyze by GC-MS.
And people really would
like to analyze directly
without using any labeling.
All right, so what
could be your solution?
Oh, we recently find
a good solution for it
by using HILIC chromatography
using Torus DEA columns.
And we can analyze this
compound without an issue.
Could you show me
some more data?
Absolutely.
Let me show you more details.
Great.
Here, we show
typical chromatograms
of glyphosate related
compounds--
AMPA, glufosinate,
and glyphosate.
These are unlabeled analytes
with excellent retention
on the DEA column.
By using a Xevo TQ-XS 
mass spectrometer,
this analysis is very
reliable and sensitive.
Sounds like we found
a good solution
to a tough analytical problem.
Yes.
Look!
Looks like we have
some help back there.
I say, take that polar pesticide.
Let's go!
There has to be a way to
combat weeds without using
so much herbicide.
However, in the meantime,
we have a great method
that can accurately
with high sensitivity
detect even low
levels of glyphosate.
So take that highly
polar pesticide.
For more information
on how to tackle
the tough polar pesticide
problem, go to the link
below for more information.
And join us next time
for another episode
of Behind the Science,
Rock Star Edition.
