You Can Be Exposed—But Not Informed
We live in a country where glyphosate is sprayed on parks, sports fields, school grounds, food crops, and roadside verges. Yet if you wanted to know how much glyphosate is in your own body, where would you even go?
That’s not a rhetorical question. We tried to find out—and ran straight into a wall.
A call to the National Poisons Centre drew a blank. Local lab testing providers don’t offer glyphosate testing to the public. The specialist laboratory housed inside Auckland Hospital used to test urine for glyphosate—but no longer does. Enquiries to ESR and a GP’s office remain unanswered. There are no clear pathways. No price lists. No information on what’s possible. And no public discussion on why that matters.
Yet it absolutely matters.
A Chemical Measured Globally—But Not Here
Around the world, citizens are increasingly turning to urine testing as a tool for awareness and advocacy. The Detox Project, Friends of the Earth Europe, and other independent groups have all commissioned glyphosate exposure testing to reveal just how pervasive the chemical has become in human bodies.
In one U.S. study, over 80% of participants had detectable glyphosate levels in their urine. In France and Germany, nationwide testing has helped push for regulatory reform. Even Sri Lanka and Malaysia have run occupational exposure trials on farm workers.
So why is it so hard to test for glyphosate in New Zealand?
Is it cost? Lack of demand? Or something more structural—a system that simply isn’t equipped (or interested) in measuring everyday chemical exposure?
Science Is Catching Up. Our Systems Aren’t.
A newly published study from horticultural workers in Croatia reveals just how far the science has advanced. Researchers used a sensitive form of testing (¹H-NMR metabolomics) to track not only glyphosate, but the way it breaks down in the human body.
They discovered that glyphosate isn’t just excreted unchanged—it’s metabolised into several other compounds, including formaldehyde, sarcosine, glyoxylic acid, and methylamine. Some of these have potential toxicological significance on their own. The study even calculated how long each of these substances stayed in the body.
This research is a milestone. It confirms that glyphosate exposure can now be traced—and quantified—with precision. Yet in New Zealand, we’re still stuck asking whether we can even get tested.
The Bigger Problem: What We Don’t Measure, We Don’t Regulate
This isn’t just about personal curiosity. If the public can’t access testing, how can we ever track long-term exposure? How can doctors consider glyphosate as a possible contributor to chronic conditions if they don’t have data? How can we hold regulators accountable for their claims of safety if the tools to verify exposure are locked behind invisible doors?
Right now, New Zealand has no biomonitoring program for glyphosate. There is no public testing effort, no required screening for occupational workers, and no baseline data being collected on the population.
That’s Why We’re Testing Ourselves
At No More Glyphosate NZ, we’re not waiting for permission. We’re launching our own community-led food testing initiative—starting with New Zealand honey and moving on to breakfast cereals and beyond.
But for now, there’s a way for individuals to test themselves.
After a long trail of dead ends—from the National Poisons Centre to ESR to local labs—we finally found one option. And here’s the twist: even the Ministry of Health didn’t know where to go at first. It was only after a lengthy phone call that they referred us to House of Health, a private clinic with no formal connection to government testing infrastructure.
Yes, you read that correctly: the New Zealand Ministry of Health referred us to an independent health clinic—because there’s no public system in place.
Here’s how it works:
- You purchase a test kit on their website (select “Glyphosate” from the Options and “None” from the Add-On-Test dropdown menu).
- Provide a urine sample at home.
- Return it to House of Health, who then ship it to a U.S. laboratory.
- Your results arrive several weeks later.
It’s not exactly convenient—or affordable for many—but it proves what we suspected: the testing is possible. It just hasn’t been made accessible or visible.
That’s why we’re pushing for more. Personal exposure testing shouldn’t be this difficult to find. It should be part of public health policy.
Final Thought
Transparency starts with access. And right now, access to something as basic as glyphosate testing is nearly nonexistent in New Zealand.
If regulators insist this chemical is safe, then let’s make the tools available to measure it. Let’s move from “trust us” to “test us.”
Until then, the silence speaks volumes.
Resources & References
We shouldn’t have to rely on overseas studies to prove what may already be happening in our own bodies. But until New Zealand catches up, we look to the growing body of international research for insight—and for pressure. These reports show not only that glyphosate exposure is measurable, but that it’s far more common than many authorities would have us believe.
Monitoring the levels of glyphosate and its metabolites in urine of horticultural workers using 1H-NMR metabolomics
Ivić, M. et al. (2024)
This study is among the first to document how glyphosate is metabolized in the human body, identifying multiple metabolites—including formaldehyde and sarcosine—and calculating how long they remain detectable in urine after exposure.
ADMET & DMPK
Human Contamination by Glyphosate
Friends of the Earth Europe (2013)
A cross-European biomonitoring project found glyphosate in 44% of urine samples from volunteers in 18 countries, highlighting widespread, everyday exposure—even among people not directly involved in agriculture.
Link to PDF
The Poison in Our Daily Bread: Glyphosate Contamination Widespread in Essential Foods
The Detox Project (2022)
An independent initiative conducting the most comprehensive glyphosate testing of U.S. food products to date. Their 2022 report revealed glyphosate contamination across a wide range of staple items—including bread, grains, and pulses—sourced from major retailers. They also highlight that over 80% of U.S. urine samples tested contained detectable glyphosate, underscoring widespread human exposure.
Read the article: The Poison in Our Daily Bread
When studies show widespread glyphosate in people’s urine—and our own country lacks both the testing and the will to investigate—it’s not just a data gap. It’s a public health blind spot. If other nations can track exposure and publish results, why can’t we? And what might we find if we actually started looking?
Image Source & Attribution
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