Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec, Canada

I read with some degree of amusement the opinion piece by Dr. Saroj Jayasinghe and  a colleague, published in news media, where they urge to continue the ban on glyphosate with no mention of the harm to farmers as well as the plantations. This herbicide is a class-II  hazard (but not a heath risk) according to the WHO .

Glyphosate may technically cause cancer if very large amounts are taken according to the WHO.  Dr. Jayasinghe and colleague  do not mention that the WHO and the FAO stated that even an intake of some 60 mg per day by a person of 60 kilos (i.e., 12 tea spoons per day) could be tolerated, even from the point of view of chronic toxicity!  A farmer uses glyphosate only for a few days in each pre-planting season, and absorbs less than a millionth of a tea spoon even if he uses no protective clothing.  Human societies routinely handle far more toxic and environmentally harmful substances like pharmaceuticals, petrol, kerosene, alcohol, tobacco, paint, plastics  quite  safely and do not ban them, even when they are very dangerous class-I toxins.

The most important point forgotten by the two medics is that glyphosate  happens to be a much sought after herbicide of great economic importance.  It is legal in 193 countries. Although it was banned by the Sirisena government as a political favour to the Natha Deviyo-Ven. Ratana  outfit, it is  freely available in the black market. A minister (or ex-minister) actually stated on TV (23rd August 2017, the Derana TV  program) that he buys  Glyphosate in the black market as he does not want to destroy his 30-acre tea estate! When  Ven. Ratana said “this is illegal”, someone asked if it is legal to sell duty-free cars imported by MPs in the black market!

One of the reasons for legalizing a  substance like Glyphosate having a high demand is because such substances CANNOT  be banned successfully. People will  always get  it. However, if it is   marketed LEGALLY, one can enforce the required safety standards as used all over the world in some 193 countries. Glyphosate is not even a class-I toxin like  petrol, diesel, alcohol, red meat or tobacco. Dr. Jayasinghe and friends, if they are consistent, should push even harder to ban these class-I toxins which are a far bigger hazard than glyphosate. In fact, in an email discussion I had with Dr. Jayasinghe I was amazed to find that he could make statements soft-peddling tobacco smoking, wittingly or unwittingly!

Many societies have banned alcohol,  tobacco and even meat, but with little success as  such societies soon became victims of Al Capone-Mafia-KuduRaja types. So, the pressure  by Dr. Jayasinha and others, and he threat by  Ven. Rathana  to “take the fight to the streets”, will further enthrone  the black-marketeer. The agricultural minister’s cabinet paper was the end result of a democratic process involving wide consultations via technical committees. Typical of ideologues, Ven. Ratana, a man who was not voted into parliament,  is deploying strong-arm tactics to short-circuit the democratic process.

Given that Dr. Saraoj and Dr Herath are medics, their arguments for  upholding the ban are amazingly non scientific and non-medical. That France looks to eliminate glyphosate in 2020, and that California proposes warning labels on glyphosate bottles (but not ban it) are well known to be political decisions.  A leading UK doctor from Dr. Jayasinghe’s Alma Mater, and the Royal Society have made their views about glyphosate known. The UK wants an approval of Glyphosate without further political review  for 10 years. The UK thinks it is a waste of time  because the existing periodic review mechanisms are sufficient. Canada, Australia, Japan, China  and most other countries also use non-politicized technical reviews, unlike the EU. Glyphosate is freely available in 193 of the 195 countries of the world. The farmer  should make the decision about what is best for his farm, and the decision should not imposed by bureaucrats or politicians. The Buddha never coerced the kings to ban anything, put preached individual judgment based one one’s own circumstances  (“Ehipassiko”).

France is just ONE of the 195 countries in the world, and Sri Lanka is the ONLY country that has put in a comprehensive ban, and that too  at the beset of the JHU political pressure.  The Sri Lankan Academy of Sciences, US National Academy of Sciences,  the Acadamie Francais, as well as Nobel Laureates have made statements  about it. A press release on 4 July 2016  by  Nobel Laureates in Science and Medicine, published  in the Washington Post supported  glyphosate and genetic engineering. The two doctors ignored the main-stream view in their rush to join the “Ecolos” who want to ban and govern by dictat rather than by consensus.

The statements by Dr. Jayasinghe et al about DDT are equally inaccurate in remaining mired in the Nixonian era when DDT was banned.  They should consult the WHO review in 2006 when  DDT was re-approved for domestic use against mosquitoes. They should study the recent research by the Pasteur Institute in Paris, or at least read the National geographic article
(http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/malaria/finkel-text)
about  the murky business behind DDT that they did not learn in med school.

The call by the two medics to wait till some new experiments “that will resolve the issue” is indeed naive. Questions about complex-systems  never resolve like that. Physics stopped using the concepts of cause and effect already by the 18th century, even for simple systems! As the medics  themselves remark, the  “cause” of diabetes, or cardio-vascular diseases, or even whether butter and coconut oil are good will continue to be debated for ever.  The only certain thing is that science will be ignored even by medics in politicized milieux like Sri Lanka or the EU.

I urge the government to follow the democratic process and follow the recommendations of the technical committee, and remove the ban on glyphosate to prevent catastrophic consequences to Lanka’s agriculture.  I urge the government to set  a tradition of following technical-committee recommendations instead of giving in to political or medical ideologues and street fighters.

Today the precautionary principle is understood as taking control, and NOT naively rushing to ban. We need precautions against toxins being sold in the black market. Legalize the time-tested product freely used in 193 countries and CONTOL  IT so that the black marketeers and  JHU-ideologues do not run this country by (i) false fear-mongering with talks of precautionary principles against a class-II toxin while ignoring class-I toxins,  (b) threats of street fights using people brought to Colombo from Trincomalee  and Haputale by  Venerable Ratana. By giving into threats, we let bullies take the upper hand.