An interesting piece of research from the University of Tübingen in Germany showing a possible link between certain aminopolyphosphonates, which are commonly used in European detergent formulation, and glyphosate pollution being detected in European waterways.
It seemed the aminopolyphosphonates are reacting in the sewage treatment process and producing glyphosate in waste water that is getting into waterways.
This isn’t occurring in washing machine, rather the reaction seems to be happening during the treatment of sewage, so it could be driven by a biological process or some other reaction.
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-glyphosate-european-rivers-farming.html
It seems the research was concluding that it was entirely coming from run off form agricultural use of herbicides, but that wasn’t adding up as it was being spotted during dry parts of the year when runoff isn’t likely.
They ingredient is not used, or is rarely used in, US detergents, so in the American case the sources are mostly agricultural.
I was looking through some common detergents here in Ireland and not all of them contained aminopolyphosphonates.
For example Sodium Diethylenetriamine Pentamethylene Phosphonate (SDTPMP) is in one band’s pods, but didn’t seem to be in the liquids.
I can see this potentially becoming a very big issue.
It seemed the aminopolyphosphonates are reacting in the sewage treatment process and producing glyphosate in waste water that is getting into waterways.
This isn’t occurring in washing machine, rather the reaction seems to be happening during the treatment of sewage, so it could be driven by a biological process or some other reaction.
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-glyphosate-european-rivers-farming.html
It seems the research was concluding that it was entirely coming from run off form agricultural use of herbicides, but that wasn’t adding up as it was being spotted during dry parts of the year when runoff isn’t likely.
They ingredient is not used, or is rarely used in, US detergents, so in the American case the sources are mostly agricultural.
I was looking through some common detergents here in Ireland and not all of them contained aminopolyphosphonates.
For example Sodium Diethylenetriamine Pentamethylene Phosphonate (SDTPMP) is in one band’s pods, but didn’t seem to be in the liquids.
I can see this potentially becoming a very big issue.
