New Zealand Green Party Slams EPA over Glyphosate Safety

Posted on Jul 28 2017 - 1:20am by Sustainable Pulse

New Zealanders’ health is being put at risk by a chemical in commonly used weed killers deemed unsafe by international agencies, but not our own Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the New Zealand Green Party stated Thursday.

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup weed killer has been determined to be a probable human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the world’s leading authority. A paper released Thursday demonstrates how the New Zealand EPA used science and opinion supplied by industry and unpublished data to reach conclusions counter to the views of 17 world experts.

“New Zealanders should be able to count on agencies like the EPA to ensure public health,” says Green Party pesticides spokesperson Steffan Browning and co-author of the report.

THE GLYPHOSATE BOX

Glyphosate Residue Free Certification

Glyphosate in Popular American Foods

1o Things You Need to Know about Glyphosate

Glyphosate in Numbers

The paper ‘Why did the NZ EPA ignore the world authority on cancer?’ has supporting statements from academics and researchers, and includes information released under the OIA showing that the Ministry of Health did not agree with the EPA’s approach to challenging the IARC.

The research paper recommends that the EPA immediately withdraw its report, ‘Review of the Evidence Relating to Glyphosate and Carcinogenicity,’ and adopt the IARC’s determination that it is a probable human carcinogen.

“Removing glyphosate based herbicides such as Roundup from streets and parks is the least the EPA can do before undergoing a deep review of its processes,”

“The EPA review appears outdated and the agency has failed to take account of significant factors,”

“The failure of New Zealand authorities to draw on the IARC finding and protect New Zealanders from chemicals with probable carcinogenic properties means we need to investigate how the EPA and other agencies makes these decisions,” said Mr Browning.

The Green Party also sent the EPA a petition on Thursday with more than 3000 signatures calling for a reassessment of the safety of Glyphosate.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...
About the Author

Sustainable Pulse is a global news outlet covering sustainable agriculture, GMOs and pesticides.

Leave A Response