AGRICULTURE —
GRAIN — GLYPHOSATE RESIDUE
1271. Hon JIM CHOWN to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:
In an interview with ABC Country
Hour on Friday, 25 October, the minister stated in regard to glyphosate
usage that ''we are seeing many jurisdictions expressing concern and
many consumers expressing concern.''
(1) Which specific jurisdictions was
the minister referring to in the above statement?
(2) How did the
minister become aware of those concerns, and what concerns were being
expressed?
(3) Could the minister please table
any correspondence she has received about those concerns?
(4) Has there
ever been an incident of glyphosate residue detected in Western Australian–exported
grain?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
(1) Increasing
concerns about the safety of glyphosate have been expressed by consumers and
advocacy groups, as well as by many of our exporting partners—that
comment was made at the federal agriculture ministers meeting. The federal
government indicates that increasingly people are raising this issue in their
dialogue. Vietnam has banned the use and import of glyphosate products, with
full effect from early 2020. Thailand's government agreed to ban the
use of glyphosate on 22 October 2019. France and Germany are planning to phase
out glyphosate, with limited exceptions. In July 2017, California added
glyphosate to the state's proposition 65 list of chemicals.
(2) How do I know
about this? It is through general reading, discussions and meetings with market
people.
(3) Not applicable.
(4) Although we
have never had a shipment rejected because it exceeded the minimum residue level,
we note that there are concerns because there are countries that do not specify
a minimum residue level. Indeed, because of the concern that Co-operative Bulk
Handling Ltd had about the fact that there was clearly grain coming in with
glyphosate residues, it could not take the risk of going into the Chinese
market with barley, so it made the decision in 2018 to segregate the barley
cropping for that reason.