Portugal’s verges are awash with glyphosate, 51,000 litres a year, according to environmentalist association, Zero.
With only slight progress being made with Portugal’s councils to limit the use of glyphosate organophosphates to kill weeds, Portugal’s national road and rail company is showing even less interest in banning the use of Roundup on the country's verges.
Zero has requested an immediate clarification from Infraestruturas de Portugal as to what instruction it gives its subcontractors as they spray up to 15,000 kilometres of public road verges every year.
After several complaints from the public, all fully against the application of herbicides on verges and land adjacent to national road system, Zero has requested some urgent clarification on contract operational guidelines.
Zero has obtained information that in 2017 the application of herbicides will be carried out in three districts - Viseu, Coimbra and Santarém – over 102 hectares of verges alongside more than 400 kilometres of roads.
Although the road company has authorised glyphosate spraying by concessionaires in only three districts, Zero has worked out that, taking into account the chemical manufacturer’s guidelines recommending a minimum of 500 litres per hectare, at least 51,000 litres of glyphosate will be used.
The chemical is suspected of acting as a hormonal deregulator which can cause damage to the human liver and kidneys and that it is carcinogenic, although these claims are refuted by the main manufacturer, Monsanto which has lobbied hard to get the 'scientific reports' that it needs to continue selling the chemical.
Zero also points out the consistent spraying of verges serves to increase weed resistance, making this an expensive exercise in the long-term.
Also, the killing off of large amounts of green matter at the roadside creates a line of combustible material which allows fires to spread quickly.
Considering that the road and rail company will, by the end of 2017, be reviewing the district conservation contracts that it has with 18 service companies, Zero has called for Infrastructures de Portugal and the Ministry of Planning and Infrastructures to ban the use of this herbicide on Portugal’s roadsides and to impose a condition that the control of vegetation is carried out by mechanical means.
Zero also states that there is nothing stopping the road company from insisting that herbicide use is stopped now, mid-contract, which would prevent the chemical cocktail from entering the ecosystem.
The majority of EU member states will need to get behind the re-approval of glyphosate before the European Commission decides against a ban, according to the European Health and Food Safety Commissioner.
Commenting during a meeting of EU agricultural ministers on Monday, July 17, Vytenis Andriukaitis said it was the “shared responsibility” of national governments to extend the approval of the product, Reuters reports.
The commissioner said he had “no reason to doubt the safety of the weed killer,” which was not classified as a carcinogen by the European Chemicals Agency earlier this year.
The ECHA’s Committee for Risk Assessment did agree to maintain the current classification of glyphosate as a substance that caused serious eye damage and being toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects, after considering extensive scientific data.
Glyphosate has been authorised in the EU since 2002 and is the main chemical ingredient in Monsanto’s ‘Roundup’ and is an active substance used in the production of many pesticides.
In 2016, three reports with differing conclusions regarding the chemical were published; two agreed that it was unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard, while the third concluded that it probably had the potential to cause cancer in humans.
Earlier this month, the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mairead McGuiness, warned that political pressure to ban herbicides would only increase in the future.
According to the MEP, more than one million citizens have put their names to a petition looking to ban glyphosate - a move she said was “a signal for how citizens perceive plant protection products.”
The EU has been in a deadlock over the future of glyphosate within the bloc, with France and Germany among a number of states that previously have abstained from voting.
The Reuters report quoted Andruikaitis as saying, “I wanted to make clear that the commission has no intention of re-approving this substance without the support of a qualified majority of member states. This is and will remain a shared responsibility.”
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With thanks to http://www.agriland.ie
