IIsrael is accused of spraying a cancer-linked herbicide on farms in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon has accused Israel of spraying a cancer-linked herbicide on farmland in the south of the country, calling it an "environmental and health crime" that threatens food security and farmers' livelihoods.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the act as a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty and promised that the country would take legal and diplomatic measures to confront what he called an aggression.
The accusations deepen into claims that light military aircraft sprayed the substance from the air and that there is video footage of this activity, reports theguardian.
UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping mission, said it was warned to cover up during the operation. Laboratory tests found that the substance sprayed contained glyphosate, a widely used herbicide that in 2015 was classified by the World Health Organization as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
Lebanese authorities said some samples showed glyphosate concentrations were "20 to 30 times higher than normal use," raising serious concerns about damage to crops, soil fertility and the overall ecosystem.
Lebanon's agriculture and environment ministries said that the spraying of these chemicals by military aircraft over Lebanese territory constitutes a grave act of aggression that threatens food security, damages natural resources and undermines farmers' livelihoods, in addition to potential health and environmental risks to water, soil and the food chain. /Telegraph/
