"Glyphosate* is used worldwide in industrial agriculture. In Portugal the use of glyphosate is massive in viticulture," explains Quercus, adding that the Monsanto product has been linked to cancer.
The growing of grapes in the Douro region and elsewhere in Portugal is dependent on the large scale use of pesticides which can cause cancer.
Eco-organisation Quercus has appealed to the wine producers of the Duroro and Portugal's municipalities to abandon the use of herbicides, especially glyphosate, which is used extensively and has recently been considered as possibly carcinogenic.
"In Portugal the use of glyphosate is massive in the cultivation of vines, especially in the vineyards of the Alto Douro wine region," read today’s statement from the environmental association's northern branch.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organisation have agreed on five pesticides that recently have been classified as "possibly or probably" carcinogenic to humans.
According to IARC, glyphosate has been found in air, water and food, and those that live near targeted areas are of course more prone to side affects, although the observed exposure levels are "generally low."
Faced with this new information, Quercus called on winemakers in Portugal and on local authorities to stop using these herbicides and to use instead non-chemical means to control weeds.
Quercus also has found "troubling practices that are increasingly common in the application of herbicides in urban areas by local authorities" and called for "special attention when using this product in agriculture and in urban municipalities."
In 2014 in collaboration with Plataforma Transgénicos Fora (the Transgenic Out Platform), Quercus launched a campaign against the use of herbicides in public spaces, challenging local authorities to sign the manifesto ‘Authority without Glyphosate.’
So far this manifesto has been signed by the municipalities of Braga, Castelo de Paiva, São Vicente in Madeira and Vila Real, plus eight parish councils.
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* Glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses known to compete with commercial crops grown around the globe. It was discovered to be a herbicide by Monsanto chemist John E. Franz in 1970.
Monsanto brought it to market in the 1970s under the trade name Roundup, and Monsanto's last commercially relevant United States patent expired in 2000.
Glyphosate was quickly adopted by farmers, even more so when Monsanto introduced glyphosate-resistant crops, enabling farmers to kill weeds without killing their crops.
With its heavy use in agriculture, weed resistance to glyphosate is a growing problem. While glyphosate and formulations such as Roundup have been approved by regulatory bodies worldwide and are widely used, concerns about their effects on humans and the environment persist.
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