You would think we were still living in the Dark Ages, when Auckland Council refuses to listen to up to date international cancer researchers who have clearly established that glyphosate-based products like Roundup are probably carcinogenic.
A report by principal author Jodie Bruning and Steffan Browning MP told the Auckland Environment and Community Committee that the EPA dismissed the findings of its own authority on cancer, The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), whose 17 international experts determined in 2015 that glyphosate and its formulations was a probable human carcinogen (and a known
animal carcinogen).
Instead the EPA relied on a cancer review carried out by a single New Zealand toxicologist who concluded that glyphosate was unlikely to cause cancer. Part of his evidence was an ‘unsolicited’ report from Monsanto. That’s like the fox being in charge of the hen house!
Readers will recall that I have been trying for weeks to get a proper answer from Auckland Transport (AT) on what they are now using on our roadside berms.
I finally received an email from AT media person Scott Winton, apologising for the delayed reply and presenting me with a totally inadequate answer to my questions.
I asked AT where they use glyphosate, is AT committed to reducing use in compliance with the Council Weed Management Policy, has it hidden its use of glyphosate by mixing it with Biosafe, and are its practices consistent with the council’s?
This, in part, is their reply.
“In Auckland City, a plant-based herbicide called BioSafe is used. However, glyphosate is still used to some extent to treat specific weeds which are resistant to these weed control methods or in areas where it is not practical to use non-chemical methods.”
AT went on to say “the EPA has classified glyphosate as a low toxicity herbicide for general use in New Zealand.”
You will note no mention of compatibility with the council’s Weed Management Policy, no commitment to reduction of glyphosate use, and no answer to my allegation of lacing BioSafe with glyphosate.Even the Ministry of Health doesn’t agree with the EPA approach.
As Steffan Browning told council, “Clearly the IARC has the expertise, and with the absence of monitoring of levels of human exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides in New Zealand councils must take the precautionary lead of progressive European countries, California, and Christchurch City, and remove herbicides like Roundup from areas open to the public.”
Jodie Bruning added simply, “It is the duty of Auckland Council to protect public health.”
Dr Jane Goodall, the famous naturalist, strongly supported the Bruning/Browning report, and said, "Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads. How could we ever have believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?”
There is evidence of huge self-interested input from Roundup producer, Monsanto, to EPA reports, both in New Zealand and the US.
Like tobacco companies did for years, Monsanto have commissioned and paid for sympathetic reports on glyphosate to distribute to the EPA, and more widely. It is even said that some of those tobacco lobbyists are now on Monsanto’s payroll.
The failure of New Zealand authorities to draw on the IARC finding and protect New Zealanders from chemicals with probable carcinogenic properties signals a need to investigate the functioning of the NZ EPA, Ministry for Primary Industries and Ministry for the Environment.
We should be able to rely on these government agencies to ensure public health.
At the risk of being accused of excessive repetition, let me say again, our Super City is being sadly let down by a council that refuses to listen to compelling research results, and allows its so-called Council Controlled Organisation, AT, to continue to run amok and ignore its protocols.
What do we do now, readers? (JOHN ELLIOTT)