The Federal Opposition has called for a Senate inquiry into Australia’s chemical regulator.
(ABC News: Neale Maude)

The Federal Opposition has moved for a Senate inquiry into the independence of Australia’s agricultural chemical regulator after Four Corners raised questions over how it is funded.

Key points:

The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in 2015
In August, a US court awarded hundreds of millions of dollars to a Californian man who successfully claimed the weedkiller was a contributing factor causing his terminal cancer
Australia’s chemical regulator did a scientific evaluation of the IARC report and decided there was no reason to formally review glyphosate

But the Federal Government said the call was purely political and stands by the independence of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).

On Monday night, Four Corners investigated the corporate tactics of chemical company Monsanto, which produces the world’s most commonly used herbicide, glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup.

The Shadow Minister for Agriculture Joel Fitzgibbon said the program raised issues around the APVMA, which is primarily funded by the chemical companies it regulates.

“We need to make sure it has the resources, the money to do its job, and of course the independence to do its job for all the right reasons, and maintain community confidence in the products it approves,” he said.

“The question has been raised — can the authority do its work independently when it’s entirely dependent on the industry through its application fees for its resourcing?”

But he admitted if the regulator was not funded through the fees of chemical companies it would have to come from the budget bottom line.

“We would of course prefer that we work on a cost recovery basis that the industry pays for the work our public servants do in approving those products, so it’s a difficult question,” he said.

THE MONSANTO PAPERS VIDEO

Government, NFF confident in chemical

The Federal Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud said the inquiry, which would also consider the decision by former Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce to move APVMA’s headquarters from Canberra to Armadale, was political in nature.

“I think people need to be calm,” he said.

“We have a competent and independent regulator through the APVMA.”

“I’m confident in their actions in being able to make assessments.”

Four Corners raised questions over whether Monsanto interfered or attempted to interfere with the regulator in the United States, the Environmental Protection Authority

The program also reported on internal documents that came out in court which show that Monsanto had prepared a PR campaign to counter what it was expecting would be a negative decision from the International Agency for Research on Cancer on glyphosate.

National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson said she was not concerned by those allegations.

“Well despite the very spooky title ‘The Monsanto Papers’, I think really the question is whether Monsanto is just doing what any other big company would do to defend itself,” she said.

Mr Littleproud said he was not concerned by Monsanto’s corporate tactics.

“Well the APVMA’s role is to cut through corporate tactics, I couldn’t give a rats what Monsanto do and we’ll call them out if they do the wrong thing,” he said.

“But the reality is, if you’ve got a strong independent regulator … they’ll cut through all the corporate jargon and they’ll use science not corporate spin.”

Farmers defend glyphosate use

Farmer Geoff Rethus said he’s confident glyphosate is safe to use.
(Lucy Barbour: ABC Rural)

Even before the Four Corners program had aired, farmers were taking to social media, defending the use of glyphosate, with many saying they were unmoved by the program.

Western Victorian farmer Geoff Rethus said he was confident glyphosate was a safe product and said the campaign against glyphosate was driven by people in the city.

“It’s very easy to scare people who are not really in touch with what the reality is,” he said.

“It’s a very difficult thing to compete against, but maybe we do need a positive campaign, a levy even, to support a campaign to demonstrate what would happen without it and the fact that glyphosate is safe.”

Victorian Farmers Federation Grains Group president Ross Johns said the weight of evidence in favour of glyphosate was overwhelming.

“I haven’t seen any science-based evidence that says that it’s not [safe], and until we see any science to the contrary we should go on the current science,” he said.

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