At the request of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), a group of experts from around the world spent a year examining the data from peer-reviewed studies on Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the popular herbicide Roundup. In March 2015, the experts concluded that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans”.
In an abundance of caution the Ministry of Health, Seniors and Environment placed a temporary six month ban on the importation of glyphosate formulations pending a local review of all pertinent information.
To illustrate the complexity of this issue, a subsequent study conducted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in November 2015, reported that “glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans” and proposed a new safety measure that will tighten the control of glyphosate residues in food.
The Ministry is committed to ensuring the health of Bermudians and our visitors, and as such work continues on the development of a study to better understand the level of risk to the public from various potential exposure pathways.
The study will determine the concentrations of glyphosate, its degradation products and associated surfactants used in the herbicides Rodeo® and Roundup®, in a range of samples including groundwater, air and food samples. These concentrations will then be compared to recognized international standards to determine whether there is any risk to the people in Bermuda or ecotoxicity to the environment.
The Department of Environmental Protection has been working to source analytical laboratories overseas that can conduct the analyses to appropriate detection limits (i.e. 0.01 μg/l in water, 160μg/100 l in air, 0.01 mg/kg in foods). It has taken the Department considerable effort to date to identify analytical laboratories that can determine all analytes (glyphosate, derivatives and surfactants) at the required detection limits in all the matrices listed above. It is estimated that the sampling will start in April 2016 and will be completed by July 2016.
Further, the Department has been working to identify effective and environmentally sensitive alternatives to Roundup. Trials will be undertaken in the coming months on alternative products to test for effectiveness.
Once the study has been completed the Ministry will review the findings with the relevant Government bodies. This information, in conjunction with the above mentioned studies and a review of the stakeholder concerns will be used to determine the Government’s position on the future of glyphosate in Bermuda.
Considering there is still a pressing need for the effective control weeds and Roundup products are an industry standard, in the interim the Ministry of Health Seniors and Environment will permit the importation of Ready To Use glyphosate products, until the such time as the final recommendation can be made. The ban on concentrated forms of glyphosate will continue.
Ministry technical officers will be giving an update on the work and will be available for questions at a lunchtime meeting Friday, February 5 at 12.30 p.m. at the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo.