Kochi: Pesticide watch NGOs, Pesticide Action Network India and PAN Asia Pacific in its latest report on ‘State of Glyphosate Use in India’, on Saturday stated that the use of this herbicide is rampant and its ramifications on the environment and human health are not being discussed.

Despite attempts by some states to control its use, the herbicide is being used widely, right from gardens to huge plantations. This herbicide is used as weedicide. Though Kerala had temporarily banned its use, it has not been effective. A field study of Andhra Pradesh Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal was collected through a questionnaire survey from a total of 300 respondents.

While glyphosate-based herbicides are registered and approved in India for weed control in tea gardens and their non-crop areas, the study reports glyphosate use for weed control in more than 20 crop fields (16 of them are food crops) as well as noncrop areas.