More research is required. Of course.
And scientists love having a reason to do more research.
Glyphosate is one of the most studied chemicals in the world in an era when the release of any chemical is preceded by spending considerable amounts of money – the estimate is more than $300 million a product – on research and development.
Human health is at the forefront of concerns and the environmental protection authorities and agencies around the world are focused on ensuring protective guidelines to reduce risk to operators.
Nobody wants to be exposed to anything that might lead to health problems and chemical companies do not want to end up in court.
The new research on antibiotic resistance throws up an interesting area to pursue.
However, medical scientists have another theory centering around increased antibiotic use in humans.
A review produced by the Ministries of Health and Primary Industries last year said New Zealand communities have increased their consumption of antimicrobials by as much as 49% between 2006 and 2014.
The review also showed our level of consumption is high in comparison with many European countries. New Zealanders average about 26 defined daily doses in comparison with 21 for the UK, 16 for Germany and 11 for the Netherlands.
Antibiotic resistance in NZ is relatively low but is emerging and spreading.
Research identifies several reasons, the first being inappropriate use of antimicrobials, which includes overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics such as topical antibiotics.
Transmission of resistant organisms in both community and health-care settings is also a factor, as is importation of resistant pathogens from areas where multidrug-resistant organisms are endemic. In various countries, including some in the Asian sub-continent, antibiotic drugs are available without prescription.
Then environmental and genetic factors increase the viability of multidrug-resistant bacteria.
Heinemann has been writing about this possibility for some time, citing use of antibiotics in animals and chemical use in the environment as factors.
NZ has the third lowest use of animal antibiotics in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The MoH and MPI review suggests that reflects the strong regulatory controls on use of antimicrobial agents, which limit prescribing and dispensing to the veterinary profession.
In addition, animal husbandry systems are relatively low in intensity.
A further factor is ongoing Government and industry investment in initiatives to limit anti-microbial resistance.
Chemical use in the environment has certainly increased over recent years – triclosan hand-wash, for instance, and the many surface cleaners guaranteed to kill almost 100% of bacteria.
Glyphosate has also been mentioned specifically.
The increased use globally is linked to the advent of the genetically modified crops NZ does not grow. But it is used as a herbicide in many situations including the no-till practice that is part of reducing soil compaction and erosion, maintaining soil organic matter and soil organisms and reducing fuel costs and hence greenhouse gases.
Alternatives to glyphosate use have been suggested but have been found to be less effective, cost considerably more and have their own dangers.
Bristol City spent a year comparing various ways of controlling weeds.
The council report said “For acetic acid (vinegar) and hand weeding the weeds started re-emerging within a month. On comparison sites treated with glyphosate the weediness scores stayed low for five to six months.”
Researchers calculate it will cost at least three times as much to spray the city monthly with vinegar rather than using glyphosate and concluded the cost would be financially prohibitive.
In primary production, banning glyphosate would reduce food availability.
A report from Germany suggests loss of competitiveness in food production and the potential to affect global food prices would have knock-on effects on the economy.
Money is not a reason to ignore new results.
All chemicals should be handled with care at all times and care means reading the instructions.
Care also means doing the research and making sure new research findings are included in the instructions. The global environmental protection regulators are on the alert for new findings to keep people safe.
Although research is ongoing, the amount that has been done already should not be forgotten.
Dr Jacqueline Rowarth has a doctorate in soil science and has been analysing agri-environment interaction for several decades.
