Plans to reintroduce a harmful chemical into Cornish communities have been announced by Cornwall Council. The chemical, called glyphosate, is often used as a weedkiller, ensuring prolonged eradication in public spaces and byways of wild plants and invasive species.
Its use dwindled after the County Council decided to stop funding it back in 2013, allowing nature to recover. In Penzance, the decision to stop using it altogether came in 2019, after Cornwall Council and PZ Council declared a climate emergency and the impact of chemicals on bio-diversity, waterways and human health became greater concerns.
As Cornwall Council seeks to reintroduce the treatment, local councils are being given a short window of time, until 20th April , to make a decision on whether to opt-out of the reinstated service. Simple right? But there’s a caveat.
If councils can’t keep up to the new ‘standards’ expected using alternative methods, they will be unable to opt-out of this harmful chemical the following year. And at such short notice, with budgets already set for the year, it’s putting parish and town councils between a rock and a hard place.
The new guidance from Cornwall Council makes it incredibly hard for councils to say no – driven by the perceived untidiness of wild plants and a desire to re-ignite ‘community pride’ – there are still key environmental and health impacts to consider, beyond image.
We’ve pulled together everything you need to know about glyphosate, and how you can make your voice heard to try and stop its reintroduction.
What is glyphosate?
Glyphosate is one of the most widely-used pesticides in the world; a chemical compound derived from glycine and marketed as a broad-spectrum herbicide.
Found in most herbicides used for agriculture (and even in your back garden brands), it’s use as a chemical treatment first gained traction in the 1970s, and it’s been increasingly used ever since.
That’s because it’s so effective at controlling unwanted vegetation, helping to grow crop yields. In fact, with the rise of genetically modified crops in the 90s, which ensured specific plants like soy and corn could be made resist to the chemical, global-scale adoption has been cited as a key factor in the success of industrial farms.
But what’s the impact on our health?
Glyphosate isn’t just used in our food systems. It’s also been used in most public spaces, in villages, towns and cities across the UK for environmental management (think parks, footpaths and roads).
Cornwall Council argues that using alternative methods requires more manpower, costs more to keep on top off and it’s leading to damage to things like kerbs, while also making places look untidy. What they refer to as, damaging ‘community pride’. But at what cost? Regular exposure to the chemical comes with serious issues, despite media and marketing striving to push a non-hazardous narrative.
Based on a review of one thousand publicly available scientific studies by independent experts, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, part of the UN World Health Organisation) declared glyphosate to be genotoxic (it causes DNA damage) in 2015. It also found it was carcinogenic to animals, and a ‘probable carcinogen’ to humans.
This ruling has been fortified by the fact that one of the most widely-used brands, Roundup, has most recently been the centre of major lawsuits in connection with thousands of people who have developed cancer after regularly using the pesticide product. Already, Bayer, which owns the brand, has paid more than $11 billion in settlements and jury awards resulting from the Roundup lawsuits.
But cancer isn’t the only issue. Some studies have also found that exposure of pregnant women to glyphosate-based herbicides in the first trimester can impair fetal growth and affect neonatal health at birth. For those women living near farms, the chemical is detected more frequently during spraying season, even if they’d never used the pesticide themselves.
Elsewhere, the French government has been paying compensation to farmers with Parkinson’s Disease, after studies demonstrated connections to the condition. And, at the same time, the EU banned the use of glyphosate in pre-harvest desiccation, reflecting fears about its accumulation in food (though it is still allowed during other phases of production).
While there is a continued narrative for it’s safe use (subject to restrictions), evidence of negative health impacts suggests there’s still much to learn about the long-term impacts and growing connections to some of our worst health crises.
Water ways, oceans and local biodiversity
Glyphosate has been typically marketed as a product with low risk of leaching into waterways, but recent studies are now finding that it can leach out and pose a pollution threat to water courses.
Issues like water run-off make these environments more vulnerable, with contaminated water affecting non-target plants. Plus, as a chemical that is toxic to aquatic life, the risk increases exponentially for species living in waterways.
It’s impact on soil health is equally concerning, affecting the growth of microorganisms and negatively affecting reproduction in different species of earthworms – species that are vital for good soil health. Alongside this, it’s reported that glyphosate is increasing the severity or re-emergence of crop diseases, as the land struggles to fight back.
Other studies have found that the chemical is having a detrimental impact on other types of biodiversity, too. In 2022, a study found that pesticide use had doubled since 1990, while populations of field birds and butterflies dropped by 30%. Today, one in ten bee species in Europe face extinction, with sources linking the drop to increased use of harmful herbicides.
And with more research showing plants are becoming more resistant to Glyphosate, it’s a short-term solution with deadly consequences. At a time when we need to be helping to restore nature, not kill it.
What you can do
While the impacts are scary, there is still time to have your voice heard. Penzance Council are set to discuss this issue on Monday (13th April), where they’ll decide whether to opt out of the scheme.
While we know they’ve been put in an almost impossible position; by footing the bill to meet standards they don’t have the money or capacity to reach in the first year, evidence suggests the long-term impacts are still worse.
Can we really face future generations and say that we chose to go back to lethal chemicals in our community, killing off vital species, because it looked a bit weedy in places and cost a bit more money to adopt alternative methods?
Here, we’ve pulled together a letter template that you can copy and send to all Penzance Councillors and your local Cornwall Councillor, to make them aware of the lethal impacts chemical spraying could have on our environment, and members of the community. People, animals and wildlife included.
Find PZ Councillors here, and get in touch before Monday’s meeting.
You can find your Cornwall Councillor here.
You can also sign this petition and join the growing list of voices calling to remain a pesticide free town.
In the meantime, help us spread the word: share the letter and petition on social media or with your network, and don’t forget to tag your local representatives!
