The research group of Prof. Weijun Zhou (corresponding author) have published an article entitled “Potential impact of the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid on human and ecosystems” in journal of Environmental International (IF5: 7.729). This review article was a part of Dr. Faisal Islam PhD thesis, while Dr. Jian Wang also equally contributed in conceiving, writing and modification of later drafts of the manuscript.

This paper reviews the current understanding of effects of the herbicide 2,4-D on the environment, with the goal of identifying key uncertainties and critical knowledge gaps.  It is very important to investigate the fate and distribution of 2,4-D in the environment because 2,4-D resistant crops will be introduced in the near future, which will eventually increase its application and presence in the environment.This review critically explains:

· Why 2,4-D is ubiquitously present in the environment.

· Why there is a need to study higher doses of 2,4-D and its short time exposure in the lab and how such results are relevant to the environment.

· It also put forwarded the possible mechanism of 2,4-D interference in spermatogenesis of human based on the recently published reports on mammals.

· It further explains in details about how the general public is exposed to 2,4-D and potential accumulative effects on the farmers.

· Article also contains a number of mechanistic figures to enhance the understanding of 2,4-D for readers.

Article link:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412017315313

(Institute of Crop Science)