The European Parliament of the European Union has recently approved to renew for seven years the license to use the Glyphosate Limiting it to professional use.
Many institutions, with Greenpeace at the top, have expressed concern about this resolution adopted by the European Parliament, as they consider it to be a carcinogen and a toxic substance for hormone-producing or hormone-dependent organs.
What is glyphosate?
Glyphosate, or N-phosphonomethylglycine as it is called scientifically, is the active principle of a herbicide that works by eliminating herbs and shrubs, through its absorption by the leaves.
Developed in 1974 by the American multinational Monsanto , Glyphosate is the molecular key of Roundup, a trademark of a herbicide composed of solvent, a mixture of soap-like surfactants and glyphosate itself. The purpose was to control weeds and grasses, as indicated on the Monsanto website.
Although many companies manufacture herbicides and other components with glyphosate, the patent was in the hands of Monsanto until 2000, RoundUp occupying 77% of the market today.
Aquaneat, Aquamaster, Rodeo, Roundup or Buccaneer are some of the solutions that have been carried out from glyphosate. Some of these substances are the ammonium salt, potassium salt, isopropyl amine salt, or acid glyphosate.
At present, glyphosate is used primarily in Genetically modified crops , As a desiccant agent in fruit and silviculture, for maintenance of lawns and gardens or the elimination of weeds in urban and peri-urban areas.
The industrialized countries in which transgenic crops are grown are the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria and Romania. While developing countries within this list are Argentina, China, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Colombia, Uruguay, Honduras and the Philippines.
As of 2003, 99% of the global area planted with transgenic crops was distributed between the United States (63%), Argentina (23%), Canada (6%), China (4%), Brazil South Africa (1%).
Controversy: WHO declares glyphosate"possibly"carcinogenic
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), published its evaluation of five pesticides in Lyon on March 20, 2015, And their possible carcinogenic risks.
Among these pesticides was glyphosate, which was classified into Group 2A. This means that there are experiments carried out with animals in which the carcinogenic effects became apparent, but there is no evidence with humans. Which determines that there possibly is an exposure of the human cancer agent to humans.
In this regard, WHO places itself in a neutral position and assigns responsibility to governments and international organizations for the adoption of the measures, regulations or licenses they deem most appropriate for public health.
This resolution has been the reason why different ecological institutions such as Greenpeace, Ecologistas en Acción, the Landless Movement or the Center of Studies on Appropriate Technologies of Argentina (CETAAR), have carried out campaigns to promote the prohibition of the products composed of Glyphosate.
In any case, before the WHO published this report, it has been studying for 40 years the possible relationship of glyphosate and diseases such as cancer in several studies.
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a study to identify chemicals, including glyphosate, to identify the potential of these to interact with the endocrine system. This level 1 test determined that"glyphosate does not demonstrate convincing evidence of potential interaction with the estrogen, androgen, or thyroid pathways in mammals or wild fauna and flora."
Similar result were obtained from the Report of the Evaluation for Renewal (RAR), drafted by the German government. The mission was the approval of the EPA report and it was concluded that glyphosate did not pose any toxic problem in hormone-producing organs. This prevented glyphosate from passing Level 2 of the EPA studies, aimed at corroborating Level 1.
In 2013, a group of Brazilian researchers suggested that workers in the soybean fields of a Brazilian region showed evidence of DNA damage. The culprit for this situation would be glyphosate, in addition to other components such as 2,4-D.
The latest report with impact was published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) suggesting that glyphosate was a component that did not alter DNA and therefore did not pose a carcinogenic threat. He also suggests that studies that show that animals are prone to cancer from glyphosate are merely incidental and can not be taken as evidence that humans can suffer the same consequences.
Global 2000 along with other associations reported to EFSA and the Monsanto company for alleged manipulation of the scientific study to cover the effects of glyphosate.
At the moment the success has been little since, on 13 April 2016, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a license to use glyphosate in the European Union with 374 votes in favor, 225 against and 102 abstentions.
Although the request was for fifteen years, it has been reduced to seven years and limited to"professional uses", excluding its use in play areas, gardens and parks.
The anti-glyphosate associations believe that the EFSA report could have been key to the European chamber's approval of the license.
Monsanto defends itself through its web portal arguing that"When we take cognizance of a study that questions the safety of glyphosate, our product safety teams and scientists make a careful review of it. This is part of the scientific process - questioning of evidence, review and exchange of information on scientific results.
After our internal review, we shared our point of view with the scientific community. To date, studies that contradict the safety profile of glyphosate have not met the sound scientific criteria for the development of these studies and protocols. For example, some are not peer-reviewed, and others may not reflect the"real-world"conditions of exposure and dosage."
The Argentine case
During the 1970s, Argentina began a"green revolution"by introducing new varieties of cereals and wheat into its fields, something that they did not have until then.
In a second generation of crops, a double wheat-soybean crop was developed that allowed to substitute the maize. This soybean production gradually increased until the 1990s, when the transgenic soya RR seed began its implantation in many parts of the Argentine national territory.
This technique of transgenic cultivation was based on the planting of seeds directly in the land, without having to plow them, using glyphosate, the agrochemical that maintained the exclusivity of those seeds.
Crops of soybean, maize or sunflower were extended to areas like the province of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe or Entre Ríos and with this the consumption of glyphosate.
It is estimated that of the million liters consumed in 1991, this was multiplied by 200 in 2007. The reason was partly due to some problems that arose in the growing areas such as soil erosion rate, pests, appearance Of more resistant herbs or the continuous fight against the invasion of insects.
So much did glyphosate dependence on Argentine agricultural production, which exceeded that of fuel oil consumption.
But in the meantime transgenic crops continued to expand, in the areas of culture were detected cases of cancer, malformations, lupus, anemia, respiratory allergies, arthritis, neurological and endocrine diseases, hypothyroidism, celiac disease,"rare"diseases, births with Malformations or cases of pollution in the fauna (animals, rivers, vegetation).
Complaints and mobilizations by farmers, residents of nearby areas or environmental and environmental associations became apparent because of the seriousness of the matter.
But it was not until 2009 that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, president of Argentina at that time, ordered that a National Commission of Investigation be carried out to try to study, identify and act against the problem and its possible causes.
Independently, Dr. Andrés Carrasco (1946 - 2014), then Minister of Defense, carried out research published in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology In which it revealed the adverse effects of glyphosate for vertebrates. Government colleagues, like the Minister of Science and Technology, Lino Barañao discredited the work of Carrasco, because it had methodological flaws.
Although also supported by many institutions and part of the scientific community, SENASA (National Service of Health and Agro-Food Quality) decreed that glyphosate herbicides complied with all safety regulations and was ruled out as causing some of the The growing zones of transgenic foods.
Countries where glyphosate is not legal
Although the European Union has approved the use of glyphosate in herbicides, several countries or places where it is not legal or are being banned.
The most recent is the case of Holland. Its parliament banned its commercial use in April 2014, coming into force in late 2015.
In Denmark, this type of herbicide has been banned since 2003.
French ecology minister Ségolène Royal heads the proposal to eliminate glyphosate herbicides from France's gardening shops.
The Community of Extremadura approved in a meeting the prohibition of herbicides with glyphosate in public spaces, but at the moment, only in Merida has taken a step forward, suppressing its use for the control of herbs.
Outside of Europe, El Salvador was banned in 2013, after being believed to have been responsible for an outbreak of kidney disease in part of its population. In Brazil, one of the largest producers of transgenic crops (glyphosate-tolerant crops) has filed a lawsuit with the Federal Public Ministry to ban glyphosate in addition to other pesticides.
Bibliography
- Benedetti D, Nunes E, Sarmento M, Porto C, Eliete C, dos Santos I, Ferraz Dias J, da Silva, J (2013) Genetic damage in soybean workers exposed to pesticides: Evaluation with the comet and buccal micronucleus cytome assays
- EDSP Weight of Evidence Conclusions on the Tier 1 Screening Assays for the List 1 Chemicals
- National Agriculture Statistics Service (2005) in Acreage eds. Johanns, M. & Wiyatt, S.D. 6, 30 (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, DC).