Lebanon has accused Israel of spraying a herbicide linked to cancer on farmland in the south of the country as a “health crime” that would threaten food security and farmers’ livelihoods.
The country’s president, Joseph Aoun, condemned what he called “an environmental and health crime” and a violation of Lebanese sovereignty, and he vowed to take “all necessary legal and diplomatic measures to confront this aggression”.
Israel’s government did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment, but the alleged spraying bolsters accusations that its military is carrying out a campaign of ecocide with the aim of making southern Lebanon uninhabitable, similar to its activities in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank.
The latest incident is alleged to have taken place on Sunday morning. UN peacekeepers have said they were warned by the Israeli military to remain under cover while it carried out an aerial operation to drop what they said was a non-toxic chemical substance. Videos captured light aircraft spraying extensively over agricultural areas.
Lebanese authorities said that laboratory analysis identified that the spray contained glyphosate, a potent herbicide that was in 2015 classified by the World Health Organization as “probably carcinogenic to humans”.
One of the world’s most widely used herbicides, glyphosate is also sprayed on many crops just before harvest to dry them out. But studies have found glyphosate-based herbicides can interfere with various organs and biochemical pathways in mammals.
In a joint statement, Lebanon’s ministries of agriculture and the environment said some samples showed glyphosate concentrations “20 and 30 times higher than normal [use]”. Its use would, they said, “damage vegetation in the targeted areas, with direct repercussions on agricultural production, soil fertility and ecological balance.
Palestinian factions demanding complete Israel withdrawal from Gaza
