The Department of Environment and Natural Resources will hold a meeting to discuss the Glyphosate Monitoring Study on Thursday, January 12th 2017 at 5:30pm at Wesley Methodist Church Hall, 41 Church Street, Hamilton
The Glyphosate Monitoring Study was initiated to address the exposure risk from road-side spraying of the herbicide glyphosate to the public and to the employee of the Government road-side weed control programme.
What is Glyphosate?
Glyphosate is a herbicide. The largest use worldwide is in agriculture. The agricultural use of glyphosate has increased sharply since the development of crops that have been Genetically Modified (GM) to make them resistant to glyphosate. It can also be applied to non-GM crops just before harvest to aid as a desiccant. Glyphosate is applied directly on these crops. Glyphosate is also used in forestry, urban, and home applications.
Bio-concentration of glyphosate in aquatic organisms is low and glyphosate is not suspected of being an endocrine-disrupting chemical. Although glyphosate is readily soluble in water it undergoes rapid ionization causing it to be strongly adsorbed to sediments and soils. Glyphosate degrades to natural products such as carbon dioxide and phosphate ions predominantly via microbial processes. It is rapidly removed from water to sorption sites on sediments and suspended particulate matter.