In the aftermath of theย European Parliamentโs 355-204 vote opposing the renewal of the popular herbicide glyphosate in 2018 for households and after 2022 for agriculture, farmers, policymakers and activists have begun the search for viable alternatives to the agricultural chemical. And they arenโt finding much.
Although the vote is not a direct ban (instead, it showed no MEP support for a renewal), it was cast in opposition to the European Commissionโs proposal to extend glyphosateโs license for 10 years, and provided political gravitas to Green party and other anti-pesticide members of both the European and member nation parliaments, who have advocated against the chemicalโs use for years. In the US, glyphosate is popular because it is used with genetically modified crops (โRoundup-readyโ) that can grow despite applications of the herbicide. In Europe, where such GMO crops have never been approved, opposing groups have tried to link glyphosate to health issues instead of directly agricultural ones.
Most of the health claims have arisen from a monograph from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organizationโs cancer research arm, which stated that glyphosate could โprobablyโ cause cancer. As has been written before, IARCโs methodology of evaluating hazards and not risks, its selective inclusion of scientific papers, and โ most recently โ allegations of result cherry picking and conflicts among its lead consultants and researchers all have increased skepticism of IARCโs conclusion. However, among environmental groups and certain MEPs, health concerns prevail.
And other concerns have moved from the dubious to the downright bizarre. Alison Van Eenennaam, an animal geneticist at the University of California, Davis,ย observed thatย these claims now include:
Decreasing dopamine and serotonin leading to tiredness and anger; shutting down the cytochrome P450 detox pathway, leading to the accumulation of โtoxins;โ glyphosate crossing the blood-brain barrier for some reason; and especially in conjunction with lead and mercury, that glyphosate is an endocrine disrupting chemical which is more dangerous at lower doses than at higher doses. They also claimed that it kills beneficial bacteria, but not the bad nasty bacteria, and this supposedly leads to a long list of disorders, including poor sex drive and infertility. They went on to claim that it stops mitochondria from making energy and this creates brain fog and is linked to birth defects and destruction of endocrine systems, and also non-alcoholic fatty acid disease. Then there was the assertion that the extracellular matrix which communicates information body-wide gets โcrushedโ by glyphosate, and finally that glyphosate is a highly toxic and long-lasting organophosphate.
Organophosphate, of course, is a completely differentโand non-transformableโchemical.
Nonetheless, according to the MEPs voting against glyphosate, there exist โbiological alternatives (i.e. โintegrated pest management systemsโ) (that) work well for weed control.โ
Ask farmers and scientists, however, and youโll hear a different story.
For years now, European farmers have been using IPM, in addition to having glyphosate around. Under European Commission Directive 2009/128/EC,ย member statesย were since 2012 required to promote IPM techniques, which include prohibitions on aerial spraying, limitations on pesticide use โin sensitive areas,โ inspection of application equipment, and training.
Some groups, like theย Natural History Museumย of Cleveland, reviewed other IPM chemicals for theirย herbicidalย properties and found shortcomings among all of them:
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- Acetic acidโaka vinegar, will burn the leaves of weeds. It will also burn the leaves of crop plants.
- Fatty acidsโusually part of pesticide soaps, these chemicals also will burn the leaves of weeds (and crop plants), and donโt last very long, opening the window to weed re-infestation.
- Essential oilsโclove, peppermint, pine, and citronella also act to burn plant leaves, and many do not work well because they evaporate or are chemically inactivated before they contact a plant.
- Corn glutenโcan prevent fledgling weeds from arising, but only works on a small (think garden) plot and doesnโt work at all against established, mature weeds.
Meanwhile, the President of the French Grain Producersโ Organizationย wrote Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner responsible for glyphosate issues, in October, claiming that:
I will suffer significant damage, including a significant increase in my production costs (use of larger amounts with other herbicides and increase in the frequency of herbicide treatments), dirtying of my plots with many weed species, including perennials. My working methods should evolve with a return to plowing, the removal of new simplified farming techniques, based on plant cover. I could not practice agroecology anymore.
Other commercial herbicides exist to replace glyphosate, of course. But, like Syngentaโs Reglone and Bayerโs 
Basta S, they are muchย more expensiveย than glyphosate. Also, Reglone is a cropย desiccant, quickly burning leaves upon contact, while glyphosate is a more systemic herbicide.ย Basta Sย does not translocate between plants and requires 100 spray coverage to be effective, while glyphosate does not require these applications.
Another pesticide, atrazine, is available and popular in the United States but has beenย banned byย the European Union for at least 10 years. The EU banned its use not because of health issues, but because of its persistence in aqueous environments. In the US, groups like theย Natural Resources Defense Councilย claimed that it is an endocrine disruptor, and linked it to cancer, developmental issues and other medical problems.
Many European farmers will continue to use combinations of several agricultural chemicals and IPM methods to control weeds. โWhere glyphosate is commonly used in the EU is in no-till conservation agriculture and complex multiple cover cropping,โ said David Zaruk, risk communications specialist, EU politics observer and author of the โRisk Mongerโ blog. โAlternatives are not clear or have harsher effects on the soil.โ
Urban gardenersย will also be forced to settle for less effective alternatives. As the University of Florida Extension pointed out, because organic (and even conventional) chemical alternatives donโt share glyphosateโs systemic properties, they will only work on contact and wonโt be as effective on larger weeds. Hence, more applications, more money, more environmental impact.
Andrew Porterfield is a writer and editor, and has worked with numerous academic institutions, companies and non-profits in the life sciences.ย BIO. Follow him on Twitterย @AMPorterfield.
Editor’s note: This article originally ran at the Genetic Literacy Project asย European farmers: Finding replacement for glyphosate is no easy taskย onย November 14, 2017.
