To watch nature briefly bursting forth in every colour before the land turns golden under a summer sun is surely our birthright. But just as trees have been demonised in this country, wild flowers too are seen as the enemy. They are regarded as ‘bad’ plants (ħaxix ħazin).
Not so long ago, when natural cycles were allowed to run their course, springtime would see the flowering of wild plants along many of our roads. At first ‘cleaning’ of verges from any plant growing wild was done with a small rotary blade on the end of a long stick before the switch to chemical use. Now masked men with spray guns eliminate the harbingers of winter’s close before anyone can enjoy roadside wildflowers to the full.
Year after year, we see carpets of pink bindweed and purple mallow, red poppies and yellow daisies turned brown overnight after liberal application of the herbicide glyphosate on roadsides, pavements, roundabouts and in public gardens. The shortlived flowers would die off anyway as part of their natural cycle so why not let nature be while avoiding more harm to the environment?
On May 23, activists around the world, including Malta, held marches against Monsanto, a leading American producer of genetically engineered seeds and the herbicide glyphosate. Labelled for use in fine (not windy) weather, and only in temperatures below 25°C, it is highly debatable whether the chemical is suitable for use in Malta at all.
Glyphosate has been described as a toxicity multiplier since its impact on health can increase when it binds to other chemicals. Specialist long-term research looking at the collective effects of mixed agrichemicals may be the best way to determine the consequences for our health – and for nature on which we depend for our very survival.
In 2004, the Department of Information, reacting to a local Friends of the Earth survey on traceability of the chemical in humans, claimed that “the Maltese agriculture authorities actually advise farmers not to use glyphosate on the potato crop”.
Three years later, a National Statistics Office survey of products used on crops in Malta showed that half of all glyphosate imported for agriculture was applied by potato farmers. The rest was used in fields where vines, forage, vegetables and orchard fruit were grown.
Yearly analysis carried out on samples of local fruit, vegetables and animal products have shown ‘no traces’ of glyphosate, although testing for it in the air, water and soil after spraying has not been so evident.
The herbicide can be freely bought from any local garden centre or farm shop. According to this year’s list of agrichemicals authorised for use in Malta, glyphosate is permitted under 10 different European brand names: Hopper Blu (Dow), Roundup (Monsanto), Touchdown (Syngenta), Seccherba Respect, Shamal, Bioglyf, Vebiglyf and Glyfos.
Former environment directorate head Alfred Baldacchino said glyphosate is linked to kidney failure and other health problems such as obesity, autism, infertility, depression, Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease. Tests on animals have shown links to cancer, and that it may also be carcinogenic in humans.
Scientific publications have shown glyphosate can cause oxidative stress to cells, a precondition to cancer
The herbicide inhibits an enzyme that plants need to promote growth. Gut bacteria are affected by it in the same way, leading to an imbalance of helpful versus unhelpful bacteria in the body, which can open the door to disease in humans and animals.
Despite the difficulty of linking any single agrichemical to human illnesses, momentum for the banning of glyphosate has been building since 2013. That year, El Salvador started phasing out 53 agrichemicals, including glyphosate. The following year Holland took steps to prohibit the sale of glyphosate to individuals for use in their own gardens, although industrial sales were not affected.
Last March, the international agency for cancer research (IARC) under the World Health Organisation tagged glyphosate as a probable cause of cancer in humans. Initial evidence has linked the widely used herbicide to non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Germany’s Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), which is responsible for evaluation of the herbicide for use in the EU, ditched the IARC findings and handed its own evaluation report to the European Food Safety Authority, claiming it to be ‘non-carcinogenic’. European NGOs have sent a joint letter to Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, pointing out the gap between the two reports.
According to a senior toxicologist in the IARC programme, even though evidence in humans was limited, the evidence seen in experimental animals was enough to put glyphosate into group 2A – a category with ‘probable links’ to cancer and of greater concern than the 2B ‘possible link’ category under which some other agrichemicals fall.
Monsanto, the company behind legislative changes favouring genetically modified foods, refuted the claim against their key revenue earner. Most GMO seeds produced by Monsanto, such as soy, corn, canola, alfalfa, cotton, sugar beets and sorghum, are designed to be resistant to the herbicide so that GMOs and glyphosate go hand in hand.
The German institute did not take this into account in their risk assessment. The regulatory agencies mentioned in their report are famed for their heavy reliance on industry-funded studies, several of which have been ditched by the IARC itself.
The EU go-ahead to glyphosate was given in 2002 but an approval renewal process is likely to be completed in 2016. All active substances in agrichemicals must be assessed for safety to humans, animals and the environment at least every 10 years under the EU regulatory system. Independent researcher Testbiotech criticised as ‘untenable’ a glyphosate risk assessment carried out by the German institute in 2014. Concerns over glyphosate have prompted more frequent assessments.
So far, the Malta Competition and Consumers Authority has meekly ruled out a ban on the use of glyphosate in Malta “unless the EU imposes a ban or introduces new procedures related to its use”. The importation and use of glyphosate has been banned in Sri Lanka, and the tiny island of Bermuda has suspended importation on all new orders of glyphosate-based herbicides until further research can be done over health concerns.
In June, France’s Ecology Minister advised that garden centres should sell glyphosate only from locked cabinets, although the sale of glyphosate is still legal in France.
Genetically modified crops are not grown in Malta as far as we know. But effects of the GMO-glyphosate package sold to other countries has been devastating in rural areas, not least the US.
Milkweed, a hardy plant which used to be common on the American prairie, is in decline. It is the only food of the monarch butterfly caterpillar and the only plant on which the adult monarch will lay its eggs. The plant’s habitat has been turned to fields where Roundup Ready genetically modified crops are planted and dosed with glyphosate.
The monarch butterfly has been an indicator of both the health of pollinators and of the American landscape. Their decline is a symptom of environmental problems that pose risks to the food supply and to natural places that define national identity.
It is impossible to put a value on bees which pollinate a third of the food we eat. Yet there are strong indications that glyphosate may at least be partly responsible for the collapse of bee colonies. Bees which succumb to colony collapse disorder have been found lacking in gut bacteria which prevents uptake of essential micronutrients by their digestive system.
Earlier this summer, German beekeepers called for a nationwide ban on cultivating genetically modified plants. European legislation proves to be the stumbling block. Ostensibly the law enables member states to opt out of the cultivation of GMOs at local or regional level, but it fails to provide a solid basis for such a ban.