Analysis of official government data – launched by PAN UK – reveals the amount of glyphosate being applied to UK crops has risen from 200 metric tonnes per year in 1990 to more than 2,200 tonnes in 2024.

Glyphosate – often known by its most common brand name, Roundup – has been the cause of controversy for many years due to the ever-growing body of evidence that it has the potential to cause irreversible harms to both human health and the environment. In the US, it has been the subject of a spate of court cases which has seen the manufacturer pay out $11 billion to cancer-sufferers who claim that the herbicide caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma or related cancers.

The chemical has also been shown to have wide-ranging negative environmental impacts, from contaminating water to directly and indirectly harming a range of wildlife including amphibians, bees, and other pollinators.

In 2023, the EU banned the use of glyphosate in pre-harvest desiccation, a practice which involves dousing a crop in chemicals just before harvest to dry it out. However, the UK continues to allow glyphosate to be used in this way, despite it often leading to high residue levels in food.

Read more on the ways in which glyphosate use has increased, as well as the upcoming glyphosate license renewal due in December, by clicking here.

From 22-29 April, we'll be running a fundraiser through Big Give's Earth Raise match fund to raise money to run a campaign to ban glyphosate for amateur and urban use. Find out more here.