The Algarve Intermunicipal Assembly expressed its rejection of the use of herbicides containing glyphosate, with the approval of the motion “For a public space free of the carcinogenic glyphosate”, initiated by the Left Block.
The initiative was presented by municipal deputies Carlos Martins and Marcos Quitério, from BE, at the most recent session of the Algarve Intermunicipal Assembly, and had the favorable votes of all political forces represented in that intermunicipal body, with the exception of 16 deputies from the PSD , who abstained.
Thus, with the approval of this motion, the Intermunicipal Assembly of the Algarve recommends to AMAL's executive body – the Intermunicipal Council – that it “adopts a position of defense of the public space free of glyphosate, which urges the Government to prohibit the use and sale of herbicides containing that substance and that promote dissemination measures that contribute to the adaptation of agriculture to regimes without glyphosate and to regimes of integrated protection».
It was also recommended that, in conjunction with the local authorities, “public spaces without glyphosate and free of herbicides be promoted”, according to a press release from the Left Bloc.
Glyphosate, in the form of herbicide, is widely used in agriculture, but it can also be found in public spaces, with its recurrent use by local authorities in cleaning squares, gardens, sidewalks, roads and cemeteries.
There is a record of having been applied, in 2012, and throughout the national territory, about 1400 tons of this herbicide. Its use is at ground level to clean the field before the seeds, but also in water, as a disinfectant.
Several studies have shown that glyphosate has a systemic presence in our lives. Recently, RTP's “front line” program revealed studies that indicate that the Portuguese have 20 times more levels of glyphosate in their blood than other Europeans.
The World Health Organization, through the International Agency for Research on Cancer, declared, in March 2015, this substance as carcinogenic for human use.
Given the scientific evidence, the Left Block "invokes the principle of precaution and integrated protection, resulting in the protection of the population, which should not be exposed to the herbicide without choice."
Integrated protection is a model defended both by experts and by European legislation for the application of pesticides.
In this sense, the model to be implemented is that of “evaluating the situation and studying non-chemical solutions – mechanical, thermal, manual and other methods”, stresses BE.
This methodology aims to reduce the use of pesticides and, with municipalities and agricultural production methods that do not use glyphosate, «to study and generalize known alternatives».
Recently, the Parliamentary Group of the Left Bloc took two initiatives related to the use of glyphosate in the country.
On the one hand, it questioned all city councils in the country in writing about whether they used herbicides with the aforementioned compound in public space.
Of the 107 municipalities that responded, including four in the district of Faro, 89 admitted using the substance and 18 who have already abandoned it.
Then, on April 15, the Bloc presented a draft resolution to the Assembly of the Republic, recommending the Government to vote “against the renewal of the use of carcinogenic glyphosate in the EU and the ban on its use in the country”, but this initiative was rejected for the votes against by the PSD and the CDS and the abstention of the PS and the CDU.
The Algarve Intermunicipal Assembly is made up of 56 members, elected by each of the municipal assemblies of the 16 municipalities.
Its main competences are: approving the plan and budget options, appraising and voting the accountability documents; elect the intermunicipal executive secretariat and deliberate on all matters aimed at pursuing the interests of the Intermunicipal Community.
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