"Nobody told us it could be dangerous"
Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that has tried to totally ban glyphosate. A decision taken back in 2015, just after a major health crisis hit the country.
Envoyé spécial went over there to meet local farmers and better understand the ban on this weed-killer.
Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that has tried to totally ban glyphosate. A decision taken back in 2015, just after a major health crisis hit the country.
Envoyé spécial went over there to meet local farmers and better understand the ban on this weed-killer.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00It is the only country in the world that has tried the total ban on glyphosate,
00:04well before all the Western countries that have invented and generalized this product.
00:10In Sri Lanka, there were 25,000 deaths from a renal disease epidemic,
00:32probably due to glyphosate, because in fact there were glyphosate sprays in the rice fields
00:37and people drank the water from the rice fields.
00:39When I was thirsty, I drank the water from here, like this.
01:08And it was full of glyphosate?
01:10Nobody told us that it could be dangerous.
01:13When the disease appeared, people were inflated and then they died.
01:18It was only later that we learned that it was kidney disease.
01:38There were several producers who bypassed the prohibition,
01:53who made traffic and who said,
01:55we in tea plantations, for example,
01:57we don't spray glyphosate on tea plants like that,
02:01we spray it right on the feet to remove the grass.
02:04So please give us back this authorization.
02:07Here, can you see the weeds?
02:09There?
02:10Here, here, all these weeds.
02:23And how do you do without glyphosate?
02:26We use glyphosate.
02:28Huh?
02:29We use glyphosate.
02:31You still use glyphosate?
02:32Yeah.
02:33How is that possible?
02:34They brought the glyphosate illegally into the country.
02:41On the black market.
02:43And you buy it?
02:44Yeah.
02:47I don't know if it's glyphosate or something worse.
02:51I don't know.
02:52If you don't use glyphosate, you can abandon the plantation.
02:55Okay?
02:57That's it.
03:05There have been disputes that have just been pronounced,
03:08which are disputes for the culture of tea and for the culture of rubber.
03:12The ban on glyphosate in this country has at least allowed
03:15that in the rice fields there is no more pulverized glyphosate.
03:19So that's very, very important at the health level.
03:22Given the Renault problem epidemic and its 25,000 deaths,
03:26it is crucial that this ban takes place.
03:29So it's a real effort to salute,
03:31even if there are disputes.