The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is in the process of becoming the first country to ban the use of the substance glyphosate in herbicides.
Source: Press release by Luxembourg’s Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development
The Minister of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development,
Romain Schneider, is thus implementing the government’s commitment by
banning the use of glyphosate-based plant protection products on
Luxembourg soil.
Indeed, the 2018-2023 coalition agreement stipulates for “the
abandonment of the use of glyphosate by 31 December 2020, in compliance
with the relevant legal provisions”.
Glyphosate phase-out by 31 December 2020
With a view to this abandonment, the actors concerned, such as
farmers, winegrowers, market gardeners and holders of authorisations,
were informed in advance by the Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and
Rural Development of the planned measures:
Withdrawal of the marketing authorisation of plant protection
products containing the active substance glyphosate from 1 February
2020;
Period for using up stocks granted until 30 June 2020
Grace period for the use of these products by professional or private users until 31 December 2020.
Luxembourg, a pioneer among the Member States of the European Union
By this governmental decision, Luxembourg terminates the use of the
substance glyphosate as from 1 January 2021, notwithstanding its
approval at European level until 15 December 2022.
In Romain Schneider’s view, this decision has the capacity to produce
a significant leverage effect throughout the European Union, bearing in
mind that other countries such as Austria have already taken similar
steps.
Voluntary renunciation of the substance glyphosate since autumn 2019
Farmers who give up the use of glyphosate-based plant protection
products from the crop year 2019/20 will be compensated under the
Greening and Landscape management program.
Farmers who have committed to comply with this condition will receive
additional compensation per hectare of EUR 30 for arable land, EUR 50
for wine-growing land and EUR 100 for fruit-growing.
Glyphosate Box
Glyphosate Residue Free Certification for Food Brands – Click Here
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Test Your Hair for Glyphosate and other Pesticides – Click Here to Find Out Your Long-Term Exposure
Dissent crushed to protect New Brunswick’s glyphosate addiction
Wildlife biologist Rod Cumberland has been fired from the Maritime College of Forest Technology (MCFT) in New Brunswick, Canada.
A June 20 letter from the college lists several reasons for his dismissal. But the college’s former director, Gerald Redmond, says the real reason is Cumberland‘s critical stance towards the use of glyphosate in forestry. “There is no other explanation,” Redmond told the National Observer.
Glyphosate is killing New Brunswick’s deer
Cumberland, the former chief deer biologist for the province (pictured left in the image above), argues that the heavy use of glyphosate in forestry has had a devastating impact on New Brunswick’s white-tailed deer population, which plummeted by over 70% from 286,000 in the mid-1980s to just 70,000 by 2014.
Redmond, who is also a wildlife biologist, says that when he was the college’s director he experienced “attempts to sanction Rod for speaking up on this important wildlife issue”.
According to Redmond, “The other issues cited in [Cumberland’s] letter of termination that focus on his classroom management and teaching approaches are simply ‘window dressing’ to cover up the real reasons for his dismissal.”
Redmond says Cumberland should definitely be reinstated. “Rod Cumberland is one of the finest, most experienced and professional wildlife biologists that I have had the pleasure to know and work with. On top of that, he is an incredible educator and communicator.”
Second sacking
Within 24 hours of his publicly linking Cumberland’s dismissal to glyphosate, Redmond too was fired by the college he at one time directed and where he was still teaching.
The Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents 77,000 academics across Canada, has condemned the dismissal of both teachers, saying it appeared to show the college had “violated their academic freedom and their basic right to due process”.
Chief medical officer sacked while investigating glyphosate
But Cumberland and Redmond are not the only experts in New Brunswick whose dismissals have been linked to concerns about glyphosate.
In 2015 New Brunswick’s chief medical officer, Dr Eilish Cleary (pictured right in the image above and in the poster below), was investigating the human health impacts of the herbicide when she was suddenly put on leave without being allowed to discuss the reasons. She told reporters, “I was surprised and upset when it happened. The whole situation has caused me significant stress and anxiety. And not being able to talk about it makes it worse.”
A month later Dr Cleary was fired, bringing an abrupt end to her role in the investigation.
It was subsequently reported that New Brunswick’s Health Department had “concluded ‘a satisfactory agreement’ that was legally consistent with other instances of dismissal without cause”. But they refused to make Dr Cleary’s actual severance terms public. Eventually, after Radio-Canada took them to court, they were forced to disclose that they had paid her $720,000 (equivalent to over half a million US dollars).
Mario Levesque, a political science professor at Mount Allison University, said the size of the settlement could help explain why the government had tried to keep it secret. He told CBC News, “I think this is hush hush money.”
Silencing dissent in New Brunswick
Eilish Cleary’s willingness to speak out on controversial public health issues was well known. In 2012, she had produced a report that drew attention to the “social and community health risks” related to fracking. The provincial government considered keeping the report secret but eventually agreed to publish it.
Following that episode, Cleary said she had had to “re-affirm my right and my ability to speak”. But Mario Levesque says her sacking shows the government might have found another way to silence her.
Rod Cumberland is also known as someone not afraid to go public with his concerns. Redmond describes him as a person who “does his research and is never intimidated to speak out when something is amiss”.
And that kind of outspoken dissent is “rare” in New Brunswick, according to an article in Le Monde Diplomatique: “Teachers, civil servants and politicians fear reprisals; some have been intimidated.”
The article, published earlier this year, gives both Rod Cumberland and Tom Beckley, a professor of forestry at the University of New Brunswick, as examples of experts who have come “under pressure when analysing the impact of this weedkiller on local fauna and the lack of transparency in the provincial government’s management of forests”.
According to Gerald Redmond, “A lot of good people in government and elsewhere have been intimidated.” Cumberland, who used to work for the provincial government, is even reported as saying that “numerous other government officials who’ve opposed current forest practices have been removed from their posts”.
And when the chief medical officer was sacked, the leader of New Brunswick’s New Democratic Party pointed out that “silencing New Brunswick’s most prominent government scientist” sent a clear signal: “We cannot expect civil servants to do their job when even prominent public officials like Dr Cleary are muzzled.”
Diamond & Diamond, a national personal injury law firm in Canada, is spearheading a $500 million class-action lawsuit against various Roundup makers, including pharmaceutical company Bayer, the owner of Roundup maker Monsanto, CBC reported Thursday.
Bottles of Monsanto Co. Roundup brand herbicide products are arranged for a photograph in Shelbyville, Kentucky, U.S., on Monday, April 4, 2016. Monsanto is scheduled to release earnings figures on April 6. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Roundup is a weedkiller that contains glyphosate, a herbicide chemical often used by homeowners to treat their lawns.
There have been many lawsuits filed across North America alleging
that glyphosate can cause health problems including non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma, a rare type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system.
In the United States alone, there have been about 42,000 lawsuits filed against the makers of Roundup.
Diamond & Diamond is calling this Canada’s largest class-action lawsuit against Roundup makers. There are currently more than 60 individuals named as plaintiffs, but the firm said they believe thousands may have been affected.
This year, there have already been lawsuits against Roundup
manufacturers filed in B.C., Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. This one
would be the first class action in Canada and follows the likes of
class-action lawsuits filed in the U.S.
Darryl Singer, the head of commercial and civil litigation at Diamond & Diamond, said the plaintiffs involved in this class-action lawsuit are looking not only for financial compensation, but also what he calls “behaviour modification” so that the same thing doesn’t happen again in the future with other products in Canada.
“If there’s not these lawsuits that force companies like
Monsanto to write these big cheques, they have no incentive to change
the way they do business,” Singer said.
Singer said the
plaintiffs have also been diagnosed with other forms of cancer, like
brain and lung cancer, and some of his clients are acting on behalf of
an estate.
“These are not minor injuries,” he said. “Of the [plaintiffs] that are living, some of them are not likely to see the end of this lawsuit because they will pass away before that.”
Bayer Canada said it will “vigorously defend” its products, according to a statement the company provided to CBC News.
“While
we have great sympathy for the plaintiffs, glyphosate-based herbicides
are not the cause of their illnesses,” the statement said.
“Glyphosate has been extensively studied globally by scientists and regulators, and results from this research confirm it is not carcinogenic. We firmly stand behind the safety of glyphosate-based products and as a company devoted to life sciences, assure Canadians that their health and the environment are our top priority.”
Thailand edged closer Tuesday to banning glyphosate and two other controversial pesticides despite protests from farmers in a multi-billion-dollar agriculture industry aiming to be the “kitchen of the world”.
Agriculture employs 40 percent of Thailand’s population and the Southeast Asian country is one of the world’s leading rice and sugar exporters.
It is also one of the biggest consumers of pesticides being banned or phased out in other parts of the globe because of links to a variety of illnesses.
Thailand’s National Hazardous Substances Committee voted to ban glyphosate and chemicals paraquat and chlorpyrifos, officials said.
“The ban will be effective on December 1,” committee chair Panuwat Triangjulsri, of the Ministry of Industry, told reporters.
Paraquat, a herbicide which the US Centers for Disease Control calls “highly poisonous”, has been banned in Europe since 2007.
Studies have linked the pesticide chlorpyrifos to developmental delays in children, while critics say the weedkiller glyphosate is a likely cause of cancer.
Glyphosate Box
Glyphosate Residue Free Certification for Food Brands – Click Here
Test Your Food and Water at Home for Glyphosate – Click Here
Test Your Hair for Glyphosate and other Pesticides – Click Here to Find Out Your Long-Term Exposure
Farming organisations and the chemical industry have lobbied for the continued use of glyphosate, sold under the trade name Roundup made by Bayer subsidiary Monsanto.
In the US there are more than 18,000 lawsuits with plaintiffs claiming glyphosate caused different kinds of cancer even though it is widely used in agriculture there.
The company has suffered several defeats in court that it plans to appeal against.
Austria became the first European Union member to forbid all glyphosate use in July, with restrictions also in force in the Czech Republic, Italy and the Netherlands. France is phasing it out by 2023.
19 countries globally now ban glyphosate – find out who they are here
Vietnam banned all herbicides containing glyphosate soon after the Roundup cases in the US, but the decision was swiftly denounced by the US Secretary of Agriculture, who said it would impact global agricultural production.
Thailand’s health minister, who has argued the pesticides put lives at risk, praised Tuesday’s move as “heroic” on his Facebook page even as several dozen farmers protested — citing a rise in production costs.
“If we don’t have the chemicals to eradicate the weeds, we will have to use more labourers,” said Charat Narunchron of a farmers association in Chanthaburi province, who called the ban “unfair”.
Thailand’s Pesticide Alert Network — which has long advocated for the ban — thanked the government but said it needs to help farmers adjust to other methods.
In this issue of my periodic newsletter I would like to share with you material that is relevant to my book, Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of GMO. The GMO so-called bio-tech industry does incredible things to keep labeling off their products, to prevent independent scientific research in to the safety not only of the genetically modified soybeans or corn or cotton; they also prevent any research into the possible carcinogen traits or toxicity of the agrochemicals they force farmers to use with their GMO seeds. The following is an account of the true origins of the project that is called Genetic Manipulation or creation of unnatural Genetically Manipulated Organisms and the real agenda of the people who sponsor the entire project.
Germany will ban the use of the weedkiller glyphosate – the subject of billion-dollar U.S lawsuits over claims it causes cancer – from the end of 2023 and limit its use before then, the Environment Ministry said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will ban the use of the weedkiller glyphosate - the subject of billion-dollar U.S lawsuits over claims it causes cancer - from the end of 2023 and limit its use before then, the Environment Ministry said on Wednesday.
Germany’s move comes after Austria’s lower house of parliament in July passed a bill banning all uses of glyphosate and after some 20 French mayors last month banned it from their municipalities, defying the government.
Bayer disagreed with Germany’s decision, saying: “Such a ban would ignore the overwhelming scientific assessments of competent authorities around the world that have determined for more than 40 years that glyphosate can be used safely.”
Glyphosate is cleared for use in the European Union until December 2022. Glyphosate-based herbicides are the most commonly applied weed control products in the world.
The German government said it would systematically reduce the use of herbicides containing glyphosate from 2020.
It said there would be a substantial reduction in the quantity of herbicides containing glyphosate being sprayed - due to bans on use in private homes and gardens plus public areas as well as a ban on use before harvests and considerable restrictions on use before sowing and after harvests.
Glyphosate was developed by Monsanto under the brand Roundup. It is now off-patent and marketed worldwide by dozens of other chemical groups including Dow Agrosciences and Germany’s BASF.
Concerns about its safety emerged when a World Health Organization agency concluded in 2015 that it probably causes cancer.
Bayer, which acquired Monsanto last year, says studies and regulators have deemed glyphosate and Roundup safe for human use. The company faces lawsuits over claims the product causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Madeline Chamber and Louise HeavensOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
