Nestor Jimenez and Arturo Sanchez Jimenez
Newspaper La Jornada
Friday December 2, 2022, p. 13
After the debate on the regulation of glyphosate paused in the Senate, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador argued that we do not want it to be banned and there is no option, an alternative
to replace this chemical.
He explained that those who defend the use of the herbicide assure In the world, as I am saying, there is still nothing to replace it, certainly not harmful. So, an analysis is being done
.
When asked at his daily press conference about the definition that his government will take on the substance used in the agri-food industry to eliminate weeds in crops, he insisted that there is no way to replace it, although he acknowledged that It is known, and what you maintain is true, that it is harmful to health
.
If the damage to health is great and we do not find options, alternatives, then it is prohibited. But we are working on it, we are looking for options from herbicides, let’s say not chemicals, to the use of machetes and tarpalas to clean grass instead of disappearing it with sprinkler bombs. We are working on it, we are going to give an answer
he added.
He stressed that in addition to the decree he issued to limit the volume used, which, he said, is being complied with, the purpose is that each year it is further limited, while the National Council of Science and Technology issues an opinion on some non-harmful chemical that can be used, or other practices to clean the growing areas.
On the last day of 2020, the federal government published a decree instructing federal agencies to gradually replace the use, acquisition, distribution, promotion, and importation of glyphosate.