GLYPHOSATE ACCOUNTED FOR almost a third of pesticides placed on the Irish market in the decade to 2021, according to an internal Department of Agriculture memo.

The herbicide – which has been associated with adverse effects on biodiversity and on human health – was also detected in 3% of 1,176 samples of food and animal feed tested by the Department of Agriculture between January 2018 and September 2023.

Glyphosate was predominantly found in cereals, but at levels that did not pose a risk to health, officials briefed Minister Charlie McConalogue and the Department’s secretary general.

Ireland voted in favour of renewing glyphosate’s EU licence for 10 years in October, and again at an appeals committee vote in November.

Records released under Freedom of Information reveal that in July, before the 10-year proposal was finalised, the Department of Agriculture was prepared to support a 15-year renewal. 

In briefing notes circulated ahead of the October vote, officials discussed the herbicide’s “wide” use in Ireland. Uses listed included spraying glyphosate when reseeding grassland and applying the herbicide in “minimum tillage” systems aimed at reducing soil erosion and maximising carbon stored in the ground.

Officials also noted glyphosate’s use in Irish forestry, horticulture, amenity areas, maintenance of hard-surfaces and railway tracks, and control of Japanese knotweed.

“Glyphosate is widely used and accounts for approximately 30% of the total pesticide active substances placed on the market in Ireland between 2012 and 2021,” the briefing stated.

• Our investigative platform Noteworthy previously reported widespread use of pesticides by councils as well as thousands of litres being used on Irish roads and forests. Read their findings >>

In the absence of a qualified majority of EU states in favour of or against the proposed renewal at either meeting, the European Commission has renewed the herbicide’s EU licence for 10 years starting this month. Three member states opposed the renewal at the second vote and seven abstained.

The Department has said it supported the renewal based on “exceptionally detailed scientific assessments” by two EU scientific agencies “which did not identify any critical areas of concern”. Environmental groups have noted data gaps in the scientific assessment.

Glyphosate’s ubiquity in the environment has been highlighted in studies examining its presence in human urine. While research by a US federal agency, published last year, found traces of the herbicide in 80% of samples, in Ireland the detection rate in a much smaller study was only 25%.

Departmental notes addressed this research, with officials briefing the minister and secretary general that these studies were “reliable” but “in all cases the levels detected were far below the level that would be required to have a harmful impact on human health”.

Elsewhere, briefing notes stated that residues of glyphosate at levels exceeding the legally permitted levels were found in two samples of imported cannellini beans between 2018 and 2023, but a subsequent risk assessment found there was “no risk to consumer health”.

Department officials said its findings that glyphosate residues were not present in food at levels that would pose a risk to health were consistent with the European Commission’s position that overall exposure of humans to residues of glyphosate through the diet is not at unsafe levels.

Parkinson’s disease

Ahead of the vote, government ministers and the Department of Agriculture were contacted by many members of the public calling for Ireland to vote against renewal because of glyphosate’s impact on biodiversity and the risk it posed to human health.

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Some of this correspondence came from relatives of people with Parkinson’s disease.

There is some evidence of a link between glyphosate exposure and risk for Parkinson’s disease, as summarised in an article in The Lancet Planetary Health journal last month. Scientists at University College Cork are also investigating this possible link.

One member of the public wrote to Environment Minister Eamon Ryan, saying: “My dad is a farmer and developed Parkinson’s Disease five years ago.”

“I read recently that there is growing evidence that glyphosate is a possible cause of Parkinson’s,” the person wrote.

They added that they believed it was “quite likely that the use of sprays contributed to him developing this terrible disease”.

The Parkinson’s Association of Ireland called for glyphosate to be banned ahead of the appeals committee vote.

The World Health Organization deemed glyphosate a “probable” carcinogen in 2015, leading to widespread concern globally at its use. Environmentalists have also noted evidence of negative impacts on aquatic life and on pollinators.