Wildlife biologist Rod Cumberland is continuing to speak out about the impact of the herbicide glyphosate on New Brunswick forests, even after his dismissal from his college which he claims was due to being outspoken on the subject..“If your glyphosate is so good, and you have such solid research, let everybody sit at the table, discuss the science, and let’s look at whether it actually is or not,” Cumberland said..Cumberland, who was formerly the chief deer biologist for.New Brunswick, claims the heavy use of glyphosate in forestry has devastated the province’s white-tailed deer population, which has plummeted by over 70% since the mid-1980s..Cumberland was fired from the Maritime College of Forest Technology on June 20, 2019. According to court documents filed by his former employer, Cumberland was let go from the college for harassing his students and colleagues, making sexist and discriminatory comments, and undermining his colleagues’ authority..But Cumberland claims he was fired for expressing his views on the forest industry’s use of the herbicide glyphosate, which is why on Nov.18, 2019, he filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the college..“I ask hard questions I don’t beat around the bush, but I’ve always been professional. There is a narrative they’re trying to get across that I was being something that I wasn’t,” he said..Cumberland said the college never spoke to him about the issues they cited in his dismissal letter, and called their reasons, “laughably ridiculous.” Gerald Redmond, the college’s former executive director who retired in 2017, said Cumberland’s outspokenness against glyphosate was likely the “real reason” why he was fired..Glyphosate is sprayed on an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 hectares of Crown land each year to eliminate hardwood tree species and encourage the growth of softwood that is used for pulp..Glyphosate is also one of the most widely used herbicides in North America..“The question is: is removing 32,000 tons of deer food every single year detrimental to deer? My contention has always been that it is,” said Cumberland, who added counterarguments that hardwood trees would bounce back on their own, “assumes that your audience is naive and doesn’t understand trees, which I do.”.Cumberland said he is also concerned with the impacts glyphosate has on the health of humans and animals. While the herbicide has been linked to cancers, liver disease, endocrine disruption, fertility issues and neurotoxicity in humans, Health Canada maintains that the levels of glyphosate found in food would “not be a health risk to Canadians.”.“There’s a whole body of research on the health effects that [glyphosate] has on amphibians and aquatic systems, and that’s even in the Health Canada review itself. But they just dismiss them,” Cumberland said. “It’s.really shocking that they call that science, because they basically say there are problems but it’s still safe to use. I just think it’s so bizarre.”.Cumberland is seeking $115,442.73 in damages from his former university, which is equivalent to 14 months of reasonable notice of his dismissal. He also wants a declaration that his Charter Rights were violated and to be reinstated as a professor at the college..Cumberland said he will continue speaking up on glyphosate because “the truth matters a lot to me and I don’t take to intimidation.”.“I’ve always said that in the long run, the truth will get out. You can’t hide from all the independent research coming out now on glyphosate. You just can’t ignore it any longer.”.Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard.mhorwood@westernstandard.news.Twitter.com/@Matt_HorwoodWS
