Sri Lanka Lifts Ban On Sale Of Glyphosate

– Sri Lanka Lifts Ban on Sale of Glyphosate (Sustainable Pulse, May 13, 2014):

Sri Lanka’s Department of Agriculture announced yesterday that it has officially lifted the ban on glyphosate with the Registrar of Pesticides as no justifiable reason has been found to impose a ban.

Source: www.colombopage.com

Sri Lanka in March this year banned the sale of Monsanto’s “Round Up” glyphosate weedicide after a study found that the weedicide is responsible for the increasing number of chronic kidney disease patients.

The decision to ban the weedicide sale was based on a directive of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who appointed a committee to look into the chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu).

The research study conducted by Dr. Channa Jayasumana of the Rajarata University found that while the weedicide itself is not nephrotoxic, when it combines with hard ground water containing metals such as cadmium and arsenic, either naturally present in the soil or added through fertilizer, glyphosate becomes extremely toxic to the kidney.

However, since then the validity of Dr. Jayasumana’s research had come under question as the manufacturer Monsanto and other agrochemical producers have raised objections to the findings saying that there is no evidence to suggest the conclusion that glyphosate is responsible for CKDu.

A European glyphosate task force also has concluded that there is no true link to the kidney disease.

GM Watch comment: As for the “European glyphosate task force” mentioned in the article, which has “concluded that there is no true link” between glyphosate herbicide and chronic kidney disease, let’s hope the Sri Lankan government recognises that this “task force” is entirely made up of the pesticide companies that make and sell glyphosate herbicide!

Starting in the mid-1990s, CKDu was discovered among the rice paddy farmers in the North Central Province (NCP) of Sri Lanka and over the years since then, the disease spread rapidly to the other farming areas of the country, especially in North Central, North Western, Uva and Eastern Provinces.

A World Health Organization (WHO) reports estimated 15 percent of the population in North Central and Uva Province, about 60 000 people, had CKDu, and that 22,000 had died in the past 20 years in Anuradhapura alone from it.

The Agriculture Department, while noting that they have not found conclusive evidence which relates the kidney disease to pesticides in general, say that a glyphosate ban will affect the tea plantations and also the paddy cultivation drastically as it is the only effective weedicide for paddy and other commercial crops like, tea, coconut and rubber.

The Department however, cautioned that any pesticide/weedicide use has adverse effects on health and advised the farmers to use them in a controlled manner, according to a report in Ceylon Today.

Special officers will be deployed at Provincial Council levels to monitor and train farmers on the proper usage of glyphosate, the Department said.

More important information on Glyphosate (Roundup):

– Toxic Combo Of Roundup And Fertilizers Blamed For Tens Of Thousands Of Deaths

– World’s Number 1 Herbicide Discovered In U.S. Mothers’ Breast Milk

– Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor Requests Total Ban Of Glyphosate Herbicides

– Dr Cattani: Roundup Causes Toxic Damage To Rat Brains

– Scientist Slams Biotech Industry Over Deadly Kidney Disease Epidemic

– Gov. Study: Roundup Weedkiller Found In 75% of Air And Rain Samples

– Monsanto’s Roundup Causes ‘Gluten Intolerance’

– Pesticide Formulations Up To 1000 Times More Toxic Than Active Ingredients Tested For Safety

– Study: Pesticide Evaluations Dishonest And Misleading

– Dr. Mercurio: Glyphosate Is Most Resistant To Biodegredation In Sea Water

– Governments Ignore Definitive Proof That Monsanto’s Roundup Causes Birth Defects

– UK Bread And Cereal Bars Found To Be Contaminated With Toxic GLYPHOSATE

– El Salvador Bans Glyphosate

– Study: Roundup And Glyphosate Toxicity Underestimated

– GMO And Monsanto Roundup: Glyphosate Weedkiller In Our Food and Water?

– Glyphosate In Monsanto’s Roundup Inhibits Natural Detoxification In Human Cells: Study

– Study: New Review Of Hundreds Of Scientific Studies Surrounding Glyphosate Links Monsanto’s Roundup To Autism, Parkinson’s And Alzheimer’s

– USDA Received Dire Pathogen Warning BEFORE Deregulating GM Alfalfa

– Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide Linked To Overgrowth of Deadly Bacteria

– Study: GMO Toxins Found In Nearly All Pregnant Women, Unborn Babies

– GMO Technology, Glyphosate Toxicity Leaving Men Sterile

– Jeffrey Smith’s Full Presentation On Deadly GMO’s (Video)

– FIRST LONG-TERM GMO STUDY: Monsanto GMO Corn & Roundup Cause Massive Tumors In Lab Animals (Video)

– Shocking GMO Study: Rats Fed Lifetime Of GM Corn Grow Horrifying Tumors, 70% Of Females Die Early

– Study: Roundup Herbicide 450-Fold Diluted Is Still Genotoxic

– Illinois Government Secretly Destroys Beekeeper’s Bees And 15 Years Of Research Proving Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Bees

– Farmers Sue Monsanto And US Tobacco Giants Knowingly Poisoned Argentinean Tobacco Farmers With Pesticides, Causing ‘Devastating Birth Defects’ In Their Children

– Monsanto Secretly Poisoning Population With Roundup – Scientist And Friends Attacked For Exposing Roundup Link To Birth Defects

– ROUNDUP: Birth Defects Caused By World’s Top-Selling Weedkiller, Scientists Say

– Roundup Birth Defects: Regulators Knew World’s Best-Selling Herbicide Causes Problems, New Report Finds

– Scientists Warn Of Dangerous New Pathogen From Roundup Ready Treated Monsanto GM Crops Causing Infertility And Spontaneous Abortions

– Roundup, GMOs linked to emergence of deadly new pathogen causing spontaneous abortions among animals

– Monsanto’s Roundup Triggers Over 40 Plant Diseases and Endangers Human and Animal Health

– Study: Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Human Cells (Flashback)

– Scientist: Monsanto’s herbicide could cause brain, intestinal and heart defects in foetuses