We welcome the debate on the use of pesticides on the island, in particular glyphosate, and are supportive of both the expertise in HSE and the alternatives used by States Works.
Health issues
Some people have suggested Guernsey follows the example of the USA. It’s clear that the USA has a liberal attitude to all sorts of things, from gun ownership to pesticide use. While its environmental protection authority does approve glyphosate, there are thousands of court cases in the USA where previous users have established a link with the use of Roundup and cancer and have been awarded $millions in damages. Perhaps a better example is the EU which says glyphosate is a “probable carcinogen” and is reviewing its future use. Its general use has been banned or dropped in many places around the world including France, Belgium, much of Canada, Bath, Bristol, Brighton, Cambridge, Guildford, and Reading to name but a few.
Safety tests
You might ask hasn’t glyphosate been tested before being sold? And the answer is similar to the situation with DDT and all other pesticides- it was tested in the lab, and for its overall toxicity, but not in every situation in which it’s used. It takes time for all the effects of any pesticide to be uncovered, and that is certainly true of glyphosate. Aside from the public health issues, it has been directly shown to harm many of our vital pollinating insects. These “sub-lethal” effects have very recently been shown again in bumblebees, where exposure to glyphosate affects the ability of the bees to manage temperatures in the nest. The evidence around these effects continues to build and the volume of beneficial insects in Europe and UK declines. And remember, if we lose our pollinators, we lose our wild flowers, and much of our food, never mind our gardens.
Alternatives
There are plenty of alternatives, from the mechanical means (hoes, strimming, pulling, cutting, mowing), to leaving the plants flower and appreciating their beauty, to organic chemicals. It is possible to be pesticide-free and still keep our formal areas formal, but take a natural approach and support wildflowers wherever they grow.
What about other pesticides?
Supporting nature is definitely the Guernsey way, so perhaps the question we should be asking is “should we allow glyphosate or any other pesticides to be used at all?” The answer in France is no, they have banned pesticides for cosmetic purposes, for domestic use and in sensitive areas including public parks, gardens, and playgrounds. We are in Guernsey, in many ways even more vulnerable to contamination by pesticides, as our drinking water comes from rainfall and the recent ban by HSE seeks to address this.