Determination of Glyphosate and AMPA in Blood Can Predict the Severity of Acute Glyphosate Herbicide Poisoning

Abstract Objective To evaluate a potential association between blood and urine concentration of glyphosate and its metabolite, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), with severity of acute glyphosate (herbicide) poisoning. Methods In our retrospective study of acute glyphosate poisoning, we examined records from the French National Database of Poisonings, dated between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2016. We compared the severity of poisoning among case individuals using the Fisher exact test and Wilcoxon test. Also, we calculated ROC curves to determine the cutoff for blood and urine concentration. Results A total of 17 plasma glyphosate, 11 urine glyphosate, 13 plasma AMPA, and 10 urine AMPA specimens were included in our study, with collection dates ranging from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2016. Conclusion The optimal cutoff we discovered for blood concentration of AMPA was 0.88 mg/L; for glyphosate, it was 600 mg/L. The cutoff plasma concentration of AMPA has never been described in the literature, to our knowledge.