Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development (MARD) has announced that Vietnam will ban the importation of glyphosate.

“We are disappointed in Vietnam’s decision to ban glyphosate, a move that will have devastating impacts on global agricultural production,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said. "As I’ve often said, if we’re going to feed 10 billion people by 2050, farmers worldwide need all the tools and technologies at our disposal.

“On numerous occasions, USDA has shared scientific studies with MARD from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other internationally recognized regulatory bodies concluding that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans. This ban flies on the face of that scientific evidence. Furthermore, Vietnam has sidestepped its obligation to notify this regulatory change to the World Trade Organization,” Perdue added.

The secretary noted that Vietnam also needs to look at the potential ramifications for its own farmers. “In addition to the immediate effect of slowing the development of Vietnamese agricultural production, there’s the very real risk that Vietnam’s farmers will turn to unregulated, illegal chemical products in place of glyphosate,” Perdue said.