<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>An unlikely product sitting in millions of </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/australia" rel="" target="" title="Australian"><span>Australian</span></a><span> families' cupboards and garages could be helping fuel a rise in </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/superbugs" rel="" target="" title="superbugs"><span>superbugs</span></a><span>, concerning new research suggests.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Antimicrobial resistance is estimated to be responsible for between 1.1 million and 1.4 million deaths worldwide annually.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In October, the World Health Organisation (WHO) again </span><a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance" rel="" target="_blank" title="sounded the alarm on the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria"><span>sounded the alarm on the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria</span></a><span> in hospitals around the world.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>NATIONAL:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/cyclone-narelle-could-reach-perth-in-rare-southward-charge/59051576-0357-44cb-b89e-88270336f3c1" target="_blank"><strong><span>Millions on alert as cyclone could hit Australia again in rare phenomenon</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The WHO found antibiotic resistance rose in more than 40 per cent of antibiotic-pathogen combinations it monitored in the five years to 2023.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing advances in modern medicine, threatening the health of families worldwide," WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said of the findings.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's long been thought that overuse of antibiotics was the key driver of bacteria evolving to resist the antibiotics, but research </span><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1740431/abstract" rel="" target="_blank" title="published in Frontiers today"><span>published in </span><em><span>Frontiers</span></em><span> today</span></a><span> suggests that a common weedkiller can have the same effect.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/superbugs-fuelled-by-common-ingredient-glyphosate-in-weedkiller-roundup/60dd5409-17b2-4607-a433-d681a7268d3d" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Glyphosate is a common ingredient in many weedkillers such as Roundup, with about 500 products containing it registered by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Its use by both home gardeners and Australian farmers has become ubiquitous over the past 40 years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Now, new research suggests it is driving antimicrobial resistance in soil bacteria as a side-effect of developing resistance to the weedkiller itself.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>LIVE UPDATES:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/us-israel-iran-war-live-updates-march-24-donald-trump-latest-world-news-headlines/a6d7c67d-9a69-4279-88eb-985ccda7fb13" target="_blank"><strong><span>'Zombie ships' pass through Strait of Hormuz, Trump postpones strikes</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A team of microbiologists in Argentina collected 68 bacterial strains from soil collected near Buenos Aires, near farmland where glyphosate is commonly used, with strains found in local hospitals.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The strains were each found to be resistant to between one and 16 of the antibiotics tested.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Crucially, all hospital strains were also found to be highly resistant to glyphosate and glyphosate-based weedkillers.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This means that if these bacteria enter the environment through untreated wastewater from hospitals, they could go on to thrive in agricultural areas where glyphosate is used," said one of the study authors, Dr Camila Knecht.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's not the first time the impacts of glyphosate have sparked controversy.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It is known to harm arthropods, in particular bees, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified it as a probable human carcinogen.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In Australia, a class action by 800 Australian non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/roundup-class-action-cancer-decision-looms/ae64e620-c07b-404b-80b5-e32b3075fad0" rel="" target="" title="failed to conclusively prove that glyphosate causes cancer"><span>failed to conclusively prove that glyphosate causes cancer</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><strong><span>NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></strong></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><em><strong><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="" title=""><em><strong><span>Apple</span></strong></em></a><span> </span><em><strong><span>and</span></strong></em><span> </span><a 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