Tucked in the hills west of San José, beekeepers producing organic honey in San Ramón, Alajuela are petitioning the local government to ban herbicide use in the region to avoid contaminating their products, according to a report in the digital daily elmundo.cr.

Association of Organic Beekeepers for the Conservation of the Environment (Asocapico, its initials in Spanish) made a request to the San Ramón Municipal Council this week to declare the county free of glyphosate use by banning its use in public areas and municipal lands.

Glyphosate is an herbicide popular for controlling weeds and brush along roadsides and in abandoned lots.

A movement to create herbicide-free counties in Costa Rica is spearheaded by a bloc of environmental organizations including Asocapico, the Union of Scientists Committed to Society and Nature of Latin America (Uccsnal), the Biodiversity Coordination Network, Costa Rica Conservation Federation (Fecon), among others.

The municipalities that have signed on to the ban so far are: Sarapiquí, Desamparados, Aserrí, Pérez Zeledón, Belén, Tibás, Santo Domingo, and Montes de Oca. The State Distance Learning University (UNED) has also agreed to not use the herbicide.

According to data from the National Institute for Toxic Substances Studies of the National University (IRET-UNA), the country imported 4,156 tons of active agro-chemical substances in 2015 – the most recent year for available data – most of which was glyphosate.

“Trade names for products containing glyphosate include Roundup, Rodeo, and Pondmaster. It may be used in formulations with other herbicides.

“Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum, non-selective systemic herbicide It is useful on essentially all annual and perennial plants including grasses, sedges, broad-leaved weeds and woody plants. It can be used on non-cropland and among a great variety of crops.

“Glyphosate is a moderately toxic herbicide and carries the signal word WARNING on the label,” according to information on Cornell University’s Extension Toxicology Network website.