Authorities in dark on extent of Roundup use
New Zealand authorities do not know how much of the chemical weedkiller glyphosate is being used in this country.
A United States jury recently awarded terminally ill Dewayne Johnson US$289 million (NZ$440 million) in damages, after it determined Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller product caused his cancer – and that the corporation failed to warn him of the health hazards from exposure.
Glyphosate is the key ingredient in herbicides, the best known of which is Roundup manufactured by Monsanto.
The US judgment has triggered concerns about glyphosate use around the globe, with some retailers in the United Kingdom considering removing the product from shop shelves.
Stuff approached the Ministry for the Environment, the agricultural chemicals lobby Agcarm and Horticulture New Zealand. All said New Zealand’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) was the agency to ask, but it replied that it did not collect information about how much glyphosate was used annually.
On Monday the EPA said it had not been involved in the US court case, and was not aware of specific evidence used in court.
‘‘There is no change to the science behind our current position, which is products containing glyphosate remain safe to use when you follow the instructions on the product’s label,’’ the general manager of the EPA’s hazardous substances group, Dr Fiona Thomson-Carter, said.
Besides Monsanto, about 25 different manufacturing companies produce glyphosate-based products in New Zealand under 89 trade name products.
Glyphosate has been used in New Zealand for 42 years, and it’s used on a wide range of crops – for example, wheat, barley, oats and peas – before harvest.
Glyphosate-based products are also commonly used for weed control on a range of rural, commercial and residential properties.
Agcarm chief executive Mark Ross said the herbicide had recorded more than 40 years of safe use and had been the subject of more than 800 studies, all of which confirmed its safety. More than 160 countries approved its safe use.
Other than going organic, Ross said there were few alternatives, and they could be more hazardous and more expensive. Possible examples were paraquat, 2-4 D, amitrole or metsulfe ron methyl( escort ).
The EPA said it did not know what crops the weedkiller was used on, and did not know alternatives.
New Zealand’s arable industry, which is worth about $1.2 billion a year, and exports $180m worth of seeds and cereals, is highly dependent on the chemical, as is horticulture.
It is an integral part of farming systems using no tillage or minimum tillage systems.
Federated Farmers said a ban would jeopardise the country’s ability to be competitive in grain and seed production.
Meanwhile, a New Zealand group of public health experts has concluded the EPA process for evaluating the carcinogenicity of glyphosate was flawed.
The experts, from Auckland and Massey universities, said there was no mention of risk assessment or ‘‘net-benefit approach’’ in the report and no discussion of current New Zealand glyphosate exposures.
They criticised the EPA’s assessment for quoting heavily from a European Food Safety report, which they said was itself ‘‘markedly flawed’’ and relied heavily on ‘‘industry-funded and industry-manipulated reviews’’.
‘‘Products containing glyphosate remain safe to use when you follow the instructions on the product’s label.’’ Dr Fiona Thomson-Carter