08/05/2026
Glyphosate is the world’s most widely used herbicide. Most people know it as Roundup, but few realise it is increasingly sprayed on food crops in the UK just before harvest, not principally to kill weeds, but to dry crops artificially and make harvesting quicker and more predictable.
Spraying crops with glyphosate-based herbicides days before harvest means residues can end up in the food we eat from oats and barley in breakfast cereals, to chickpeas, lentils and soybeans on dinner plates, the maize fed to livestock, and the wheat used in bread and beer.
Ten years ago, glyphosate was classified as “probably carcinogenic” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Hardly reassuring when exposure through everyday food is regular and cumulative, and when so many people remain unaware that traces of herbicides can still be present in the foods we eat every day.
Research and environmental groups have also raised growing concerns around biodiversity loss, soil health, polluted waterways and impacts on wildlife, including pollinators. Despite this, glyphosate use in the UK has risen significantly since the 1990s.
I’ve seen flowering plants grown for pollinators struggle after nearby spraying, and after concerns about exposure near agricultural land, I had honey tested from one of my hives, where glyphosate residues were detected.
Whether intentional or not, these chemicals do not always stay where they’re sprayed.
Pollinators, waterways, soil life and our food systems are all connected.
Farmers do not use these chemicals without reason. Glyphosate is effective, affordable and widely relied upon within industrial farming systems. But many people now believe the environmental and potential long-term health costs can no longer be ignored.
We’re asking the UK to ban glyphosate as a pre-harvest desiccant a practice many European countries have already restricted.
At the very least, consumers deserve transparency and informed choice about what ends up in our food, our environment and our bodies.
Head over to the to sign the petition.
