ANALYSIS

Glyphosate first became available in 1974 and is now one of the world’s most widely used agrochemicals in fields, yards and orchards.

To say it is regarded as an essential product by the farming industry is an understatement. It is used not only as a highly effective weed killer but is also sprayed on crops such as oil seed rape, wheat or oats just before harvest in order to desiccate or burn them off.

It is a tool that is especially valuable if a harvest is late or wet, as it often is in Scotland.

Many other agrochemicals have been blacklisted in the last decade but such is the dependence on glyphosate – or Roundup as it is commonly known – farmers’ lobby groups have fought to keep it in the arable tool box.

Most of the anxiety over its safety stems from a World Health Organisation report two years ago in which glyphosate was classified as “probably carcinogenic in humans” albeit just months later the European Food Safety Authority reported that the substances involved were unlikely to pose a carcinogenic threat.

However the mud has stuck and green groups have stepped up their opposition to its use, just when the product needs to be relicensed by the European Commission for use.

Farm leaders insist that the decision should be made based on science not politics and warn of the economic consequences of being deprived of such an effective product.