Glyphosate is not the reason for Chronic Kidney Disease: CropLife Sri Lanka

By D.K. Chaminda Perera

CropLife Sri Lanka represents the crop protection industry in Sri Lanka and our membership consists of 28 companies that import and market crop protection products. CropLife Sri Lanka is a full member of CropLife Asia, which is one of the six regional associations of Crop Life international. 

In view of the recent news item with regard to agrochemicals, the essence of which is given below, CropLife Sri Lanka wishes to make a statement to the general public in order to present facts. 

The news items which appeared in several electronic and print media read as follows (essence of the news item): “Even though glyphosate was banned, which was found to be directly linked with Agricultural Chronic Kidney Disease, some companies in Sri Lanka have now imported an agrochemical called glufosinate which is 15 times more toxic than glyphosate.” 

As a responsible industry we wish to respond to same in the following manner (statements A-D).

Statement A: “Glyphosate which was found to be directly linked to Agricultural CKD”

This is absolutely incorrect. At the International Expert Consultation of Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology conducted by the World Health Organization and Presidential Task Force for CKDu Prevention during 27 to 29 April, a local and international expert panel reviewed all available hypotheses. The official report concludes that there is no conclusive evidence of glyphosate being linked with Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown etiology (page 16, httd//www. searo.who.int/srilanka/documents/report_international_exdert consultation_on_ckdu.pdf.)

Glyphosate is used in over 118 counties around the world over a period of 40 years and is one of the safest available herbicides. In Sri Lanka, fanners started using glyphosate in rice fields after year 1998 while CKDu had been reported in the early 1990s. This in itself is sufficient to disprove the theory of glyphosate being the cause of CKDu. Glyphosate is a unique innovation of plant science industry. Glyphosate inhibits a unique process of production of protein, which is available only in plants. It is not active in microorganisms, animals or human as they do not have same process. 

Once exposed to environment it is rapidly broken down by soil microorganisms in to basic compounds such as carbon dioxide, water, ammonia and phosphate. It is degraded by sunlight as well. 

Glyphostate-based herbicides are supported by one of the most extensive worldwide human health and environmental effects databases ever compiled for a pesticide. Safety data are available from 393 different experimental studies which confirm that glyphosate does not cause any adverse environmental issues or any ailments such as kidney diseases or cancer. Further glyphosate does not accumulate in plants of animals over application for a long period. 

Glyphosate exhibits low toxicity to humans and non-plant wildlife over both short-and long-term exposures. 

Despite this strong safely profile, there is a great deal of misinformation about glyphosate; a careful examination of the various claims demonstrates that they are not supported by reproducible scientific evidence.

Statement B: “Agricultural Kidney Disease”

We also note that CKDu is now being referred to as “Agricultural Kidney Disease” by persons who are advocating a total ban of agrochemicals. Once again there is no scientific basis to refer to CKDu as Agricultural Kidney Disease. We are of the opinion that such persons who are redefining the illness are not acting in a responsible manner and we are bold enough to imply that they may be acting contrary to national interests and may have other hidden agendas. We wish to state that there is no scientific basis or empirical evidence to show that CKDu is prevalent among farmers only.

Statement C: Have now imported; this product has been in Sri Lanka for more than 20 years

Glufosinate is not a new product. It has been in the market for over 20 years. It is therefore approved by the Registrar of Pesticides. It was not introduced to the market after the importation of glyphosate was suspended. Pesticides imported into Sri Lanka are strictly controlled by the Government through the Registrar of Pesticides. All chemicals imported into the country by our members are “legal imports”. 

Statement D: Glufosinate is 15 times more toxic 

than glyphosate

This is incorrect and an absolutely ridiculous statement. There are published scientific data which clearly refute this statement and we are prepared to forward same. We are in fact appalled by the lack of responsibility shown by the media as documentary proof should have been called for when certain individuals claimed that glufosinate is 15 times more toxic than glyphosate. The Registrar of Pesticides, the regulatory authority, has also been implicated through these irresponsible statements. 

CKDu is a serious health issue in some areas of Sri Lanka, affecting a large number of individuals, and is a significant political issue. Pressure to take action has been great despite the lack of a clearly-identified cause. At this time, there is no evidence that glyphosate or any other herbicide contributes to chronic kidney failure in Sri Lanka. 

Several media had reported in the past that glyphosate is banned in other countries such as Nicaragua and El-Salvador. However, we confirm that those news reports are incorrect. Sri Lanka remains the first and only country in the world to ban agricultural usage of glyphosate. We believe that banning of agrochemicals is an outcome of misleading, false and unscientific information and advice given to policymakers by few individuals with vested interest of weakening agricultural economy of the country. 

In the absence of glyphosate and other weed killers, major crop sectors such as plantation crops are left out with expensive and less effective modes of weed control such as use of manual labor. Increased cost of production will in turn affect the global market competiveness of tea. Manual weeding on the other hand is not recommended for sloppy lands as it can lead to soil erosion. 

Sri Lanka was able to reach self-sufficiency in com production during past few years; however, we understand that cultivation extents have dropped drastically during Maha season of year 2015 mainly due to non-availability of an effective and economical weed killer. 

If the situation continues, we feel that commercial farmers will be badly affected and might move out from agriculture, risking the food security of Sri Lanka. 

(The writer is Chairman, CropLife Sri Lanka and can be reached via  [email protected].)