Forestry sprays - Reckless to ignore warnings

The admission from Coillte, the State forestry body, that it sprays over a tonne of the weedkiller glyphosate — Roundup — each year on forests and recreational areas must be a cause for concern and immediate action. The questionable chemical is also widely used by farmers.

Just last Monday, a California judge rejected the maker Monsanto’s appeal to overturn a landmark jury verdict which found that its popular herbicide may cause cancer.

A $289m award made some months ago to a school groundsman who had, it was claimed, contacted a cancer because of his exposure to the chemical, was reduced to $39m.

Attempts at EU level to ban the chemical have not succeeded and it will be at least another four years before another attempt to put the chemical off limits can be made. French and Italian ministers have said that it must be banned immediately.

These seem the niceties of the issue; a warning flag has been flown by a Californian court so it seems reckless to ignore it. Coillte grows commercial forestry, hardly a justification for introducing a suspected carcinogen to the environment. That concern deepens with the possibility that, in time, the State agency is the subject of a successful court action by someone exposed to Roundup because of its policy. Farmers who say glyphosate makes winter cereals viable face a similar dilemma. It would be reckless to ignore these warnings.