Human ocular effects from self-reported exposures to Roundup (R) herbicides

We evaluated ocular effects from reported human exposures to Roundup(R) her bicides based on 1513 calls to an American Association of Poison Control Ce nters (AAPCC) certified regional poison center during the years 1993 throug h 1997, The preponderance of reported exposures were judged by poison cente r specialists to result in either no injury (21%) or transient minor sympto ms (70%). There was some temporary injury in 2% of cases; one injury took m ore than 2 weeks to resolve. In no instance did exposure result in permanen t change to the structure or function of the eye. Since the representativen ess of calls to poison control centers is unknown, several interpretations of these findings are possible. The most conservative interpretation is tha t there were no serious ocular effects from exposure to Roundup(R) herbicid es during a 5 year period among callers to a single regional poison center. A less conservative interpretation would be that severe ocular effects fro m Roundup(R) exposures are rare among users of these products.