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6.1 billion kg of Roundup has been applied globally during the last decade alone.
The great Roundup debacle keeps on with the pro and con lobbies arguing for or against continued use of the herbicide.
Roundup has been sold for at least 40 years, and 6.1 billion kg of the chemical has been applied globally during the last decade alone.
In 2016, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organisation, re-classified glyphosate (the active ingredient) as a possible human carcinogen. This created a furore and demands for its banning.
By contrast, international regulatory authorities have given the product the ‘green light’ for continued supply; these include the EU’s Chemical Agency Committee for Risk assessment, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Locally, the New Zealand Environmental Protection Agency responded to a call by Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage to have the product listed as a dangerous substance: it pointed her to a study by toxicologist Dr Wayne Temple who said “the product is unlikely to be harmful to humans or genotoxic, i.e. damaging to genetic material or DNA”.
And recently, a San Francisco jury has re-kindled the debate with a judgement ordering Monsanto to pay US$289 million to former groundsman Dewayne Johnson, who claimed that prolonged exposure to the product had caused his incurable non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Monsanto is trying to get this judgement overturned on the basis that scientific studies that helped the finding didn’t prove Roundup caused the cancer. The company claims the findings of the jury are at odds with over “40 years of real-world use of glyphosate-based herbicides”.
Business analysts in the US say the size of the award – US$39 million to Johnson to compensate for the cancer he contracted at the age of 42 and a UD$250 million punitive hit on Monsanto – was “so excessive that it shocks the conscience”.
Research lending to the production of dairy products that benefit the elderly and improves the overall wellbeing of all people is a key focus of Fonterra's Research and Development centre, based in Palmerston North.
The Government wants to make sure that rural communities get a level of service that people who live in cities often complacently expect.
Over 1,000 Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers in the Hawke’s Bay have now been immunised against measles.
Hato Hone St John is urging Kiwis to have a safe summer this year.
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) says Pharmac needs to reconsider its decision to fund only one brand of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) patches used by women going through perimenopause and menopause.
Newly elected Federated Farmers meat and wool group chair Richard Dawkins says he will continue the great work done his predecessor Toby Williams.
Hosted by ginger dynamo Te Radar, the Fieldays Innovation Award Winners Event put the spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas.
According to DairyNZ's latest Econ Tracker update, there has been a rise in the forecast breakeven milk price for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the rain and a liberal coating of mud, engines roared, and the 50th Fieldays Tractor Pull Competition drew crowds of spectators across the four days of the annual event.
Nationwide rural wellbeing programme, Farmstrong recently celebrated its tenth birthday at Fieldays with an event attended by ambassador Sam Whitelock, Farmers Mutual Group (FMG), Farmstrong partners, and government Ministers.
Six industry organisations, including DairyNZ and the Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ) have signed an agreement with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to prepare the country for a potential foot and mouth outbreak.
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