DAVAO CITY – A group of organic farming advocates wanted the local government to withdraw glyphosate products from stores in the city.
In a statement on Wednesday, Go Organic Davao City (GODC) cited the findings of World Health Organization (WHO) saying that the chemical, which is commonly used by farmers to destroy weeds, is carcinogenic.
“The World Health Organization’s assessment of the health risks of using glyphosate as a herbicide validates what health advocates and organic farming practitioners have long been saying: this chemical is a danger to both health and environment.”, said GODC member and Interface Development Interventions executive director, Ann Fuertes.
Fuertes said the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the WHO, created a Working Group of 17 experts from 11 countries which assessed the carcinogenicity of five insecticides, including glyphosate.
In its evaluation report released last March 20, 2015, it classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
“This means that the group discovered that there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals,” Fuertes said saying this should cause an alarm as glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide in the country.
Glyphosate is sold locally under some of the following names: Monsanto Roundup, Sting, Rodeo, Muster, Tumbleweed, Spasor, Sonic, Glifonox, Glialka, Glycel ,Rondo and Wipeout.
The Philippine Fertilizers and Pesticide Authority (FPA) lists some 70 glyphosate products in its registration inventory, most of which carry the global Monsanto corporation brand.
