Glyphosate is estimated to account for almost a third of all pesticides on the Irish market in the decade to 2021, according to an internal Department of Agriculture memo.
The herbicide, which has been linked to negative impacts on biodiversity and human health, was found in 3% of 1,176 samples of food and animal feed tested by the USDA between January 2018 and September 2023. was detected.
Glyphosate was primarily found in cereals, but not at levels that pose a health risk, officials told Minister Charlie McConalogue and the department’s executive director.
Ireland voted in October to renew glyphosate’s EU license for 10 years, and voted again in favor in November’s Appeals Committee vote.
Records released under Freedom of Information reveal that the Department of Agriculture was preparing to support a 15-year renewal in July, before the 10-year proposal was finalized.
In a press note distributed ahead of the October vote, officials discussed the “extensive” use of herbicides in Ireland. Listed uses include applying glyphosate when reseeding grasslands and herbicides in “minimum tillage” systems aimed at reducing soil erosion and maximizing carbon stored in the ground. This includes dispersing.
Officials also cited the use of glyphosate in Ireland’s forestry, horticulture, amenity areas, hard surface and railway track maintenance, and the control of Japanese knotweed.
“Glyphosate is widely used, accounting for approximately 30% of total pesticide active substances placed on the market in Ireland between 2012 and 2021,” the statement said.
- Our research platform Noteworthy has previously reported on the widespread use of pesticides by councils and the thousands of liters being used on Ireland’s roads and forests. Read their findings >>
The European Commission renewed EU licenses for herbicides for 10 years starting this month, as no EU member state had a conditional majority voting for or against the renewal proposal at either meeting. In the second vote, three member states opposed renewal, and seven abstained.
The ministry said it supported the update on the basis of a “very detailed scientific assessment” by the EU’s two scientific bodies, which “did not identify any areas of significant concern”. Environmental groups point to data gaps in scientific assessments.
The ubiquity of glyphosate in the environment is highlighted by a study that investigated the presence of glyphosate in human urine. A US federal study published last year found traces of the herbicide in 80% of samples, but a much smaller study in Ireland found only 25%.
A ministry memo addressed the studies, with officials telling the minister and the secretary-general that the studies were “reliable” but that “the levels detected in each case do not pose an adverse effect on human health.” “It was far below the level required for this.”
Elsewhere, the briefing note notes that glyphosate residues above legally permissible levels were detected in two samples of imported cannellini beans from 2018 to 2023, but a subsequent risk assessment indicated that It was found that there is no risk to human health.
Department officials said the study’s finding that glyphosate residues are not present in food at levels that pose a health risk is consistent with the European Commission’s findings that overall human exposure to glyphosate residues through the diet is not at dangerous levels. He stated that this was in line with the views of the association.
parkinson’s disease
Ahead of the vote, government ministers and the Department of Agriculture were contacted by a number of members of the public urging Ireland to vote against renewal due to glyphosate’s impact on biodiversity and risks to human health.
Some of this communication came from relatives of people with Parkinson’s disease.
There is some evidence of a link between glyphosate exposure and the risk of Parkinson’s disease, as summarized in an article in Lancet Planetary Health last month. Scientists at University College Cork are also investigating this possible link.
“My father is a farmer and five years ago he developed Parkinson’s disease,” one member of the public wrote to Eamon Ryan, the environment secretary.
“Recently, I read that there is increasing evidence that glyphosate may be a cause of Parkinson’s disease,” the person wrote.
They added that they believed “it is very likely that the use of the spray contributed to the development of this terrible disease.”
The Parkinson’s Disease Society of Ireland called for glyphosate to be banned ahead of the appeal committee’s vote.
The World Health Organization deemed glyphosate a “probable” carcinogen in 2015, sparking global concern about its use. Environmentalists have also noted evidence of negative effects on aquatic life and pollinators.
