Centre restricts use of common weedicide glyphosate citing health hazards

Source: The post is based on the article “Centre restricts use of common weedicide glyphosate citing health hazards” published in The Hindu on 1st November 2022.

What is the News?

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has restricted the use of glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, citing health hazards for humans and animals.

The new notification mandates that all holders of the certificate of registration granted for Glyphosate and its derivatives will have to return the certificate of registration to the Registration Committee.

From now on, glyphosate will be applied only through pest control operators(PCOs). PCOs are licensed to use deadly chemicals for treating pests such as rodents.

What is Glyphosate?

Glyphosate is an herbicide. It is applied to the leaves of plants to kill both broadleaf plants and grasses.

​​Glyphosate was highly accepted by tea planters in the past two decades. It has a very good market size in the tea sector of West Bengal and Assam.

Health impact of Glyphosate: Health impacts of glyphosate range from cancer, reproductive and developmental toxicity to neurotoxicity and immunotoxicity.

– Some 35 countries have banned or restricted the use of glyphosate. These include Sri Lanka, Netherlands, France, Colombia, Canada, Israel and Argentina.

Glyphosate usage in India: In India, glyphosate has been approved for use only in tea plantations and non-plantation areas accompanying the tea crop. Use of the substance anywhere else is illegal.

– But glyphosate consumption data shows a different picture. Consumption is higher in states that do not have tea crops. For example, the highest consumption of glyphosate in India for 2020-21 was in Uttar Pradesh followed by Gujarat.

– Majority of those using glyphosate were also not trained for doing so and did not have the appropriate safety precaution.