Spring is slowly arriving on the Lambourn Downs— and with it the first bumblebees and wild honey bees venturing out to forage. Glyphosate harm bees, disrupting gut bacteria and affecting immunity, reproduction, navigation, learning, and memory—key functions for pollinators that support our food system.
In January, the Oxford Real Farming Conference hosted a packed debate on glyphosate. Don’t miss the full debate — watch now on the Oxford Real Farming Conference YouTube channel (@OxfordRealFarming).
Michael Antoniou from King’s College London warned that we still don’t fully understand the long-term effects of glyphosate, especially the extra chemicals mixed into herbicides. These additives can make the final product far more toxic than glyphosate alone.
Originally marketed by Monsanto as “safe” for mammals—even safe to drink—glyphosate is now linked to serious health issues. Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018, has paid over $10 billion to more than 100,000 people claiming non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from exposure. Tens of thousands of cases remain unresolved.
In the UK, glyphosate use is rising: it’s sprayed multiple times per season, used pre-harvest, and increasingly applied in non-organic “regenerative” farming to avoid ploughing. In 2025, a glyphosate-resistant weed was reported in Kent, highlighting risks for farms relying on herbicides. Unlike organic farming, regenerative agriculture has no legal definition or regulation.
It’s even used in public spaces: a Pesticide Action Network UK study found residues in 8 of 13 English playgrounds. Meanwhile, tests of UK food show nearly half of bread samples contain multiple pesticide residues, raising concerns about long-term “cocktail” exposure.
For years, glyphosate was considered safe because it targets a plant-specific biological pathway. But humans and wildlife depend on complex gut microbiomes, which can be disrupted by these herbicides. Evidence is growing that exposure may have broader impacts on health and ecology.
A public consultation on glyphosate’s reapproval is expected this year.
The UK Government monitors pesticide residues in food, and recent tests show nearly half of bread samples contain multiple residues, raising concerns about long-term “cocktail” effects. Each year, the Pesticide Action Network UK analyses the UK’s official pesticide residue data and publishes its annual “Dirty Dozen” list — well worth subscribing to:
