A Life Derailed by Glyphosate—And It’s Not Just Happening Overseas
In France, a man named Ludovic Maugé spent 30 years working as a landscaper. Today, he is seriously ill. His body trembles, his memory fails, and even walking is difficult. He believes glyphosate played a role—and his doctor agrees.
His story is not an isolated one. Nor is it just a European problem.
Here in New Zealand, we still use glyphosate-based herbicides widely—in landscaping, road maintenance, parks, orchards, vineyards, and farms. Many workers, like Ludovic, handle these chemicals routinely. But if their health begins to decline, where can they turn?
That’s a question no one seems willing to answer. And it’s not just a headline—it’s a lived reality.
Before we go any further, watch this.
This short documentary shares the story of Ludovic Maugé—a French landscaper whose life was slowly unravelled by long-term glyphosate exposure. His account puts a human face to the debate. It’s not graphic. It’s just honest. (The video is in French, with English subtitles.)
His experience might feel far away. But the questions it raises—about risk, responsibility, and regulatory neglect—are just as relevant here in New Zealand.
Let’s talk about what’s happening at home.
When Exposure Is Routine, Not Rare
If someone accidentally drinks a glyphosate-based product, they’re rushed to hospital. Their stomach is pumped. The exposure is taken seriously.
If someone gets sprayed on the job, they’re told to take a shower and get back to work.
But what happens after five, ten, or twenty years of that?
We’re not talking about isolated incidents—we’re talking about repeated, low-level exposure: sprayed onto roadsides, absorbed through skin, inhaled during application, tracked into vehicles, and brought home on work clothes.
Yet New Zealand has no system to track these exposures. No medical monitoring. No long-term studies. No regular testing. Not even clear guidance on what a “safe” level of occupational exposure actually looks like.
Want to Know Your Glyphosate Levels? Good Luck With That
After extensive inquiries, we found there is no local lab offering glyphosate testing for humans in New Zealand.
Even the Ministry of Health couldn’t tell us where to go—until they referred us to House of Health, a private clinic that sends urine samples overseas for analysis.
Yes, you read that correctly: the New Zealand Ministry of Health referred us to an independent health clinic—because there’s no public testing system in place.
The process is expensive, time-consuming, and largely inaccessible to those who need it most.
If glyphosate is so widely used, why is it so hard to find out if it’s in your body?
If we can’t measure it, how can we manage it?
The Regulatory Blind Spot
In 2015, the World Health Organization’s IARC classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen.” This triggered international debate, yet regulators like New Zealand’s EPA have stood by their view that glyphosate poses “no significant risk” when used correctly.
But most of the safety testing was conducted on pure glyphosate—not on commercial weedkillers like Roundup®, which contain additional ingredients like surfactants and solvents. Some of these so-called “inert” ingredients may be even more toxic, yet they’re rarely tested, barely regulated, and often kept secret under commercial confidentiality.
Even today, New Zealand’s EPA has not conducted a comprehensive public health review of long-term occupational exposure. Unlike the EU, which recently banned pre-harvest desiccant use, New Zealand has no such restrictions and no national biomonitoring programme.
Landscapers, Contractors, Orchardists—All at Risk
The forgotten victims of glyphosate in New Zealand aren’t just farmers.
They’re roadside sprayers. Groundskeepers. Council contractors. School caretakers. Vineyard workers. They often work without proper safety gear—just a spray pack and gloves, if that. And their health concerns are routinely dismissed.
ACC doesn’t cover chronic exposure unless it results from a clear, isolated accident. GPs don’t typically screen for glyphosate. And most of our public agencies aren’t looking for it, either.
If you work with glyphosate-based weedkillers regularly, you’re on your own.
Final Thought
A person who drinks Roundup gets treated.
A person who sprays it for decades gets ignored.
That’s not science—that’s a system built on denial.
If we can’t protect the people who use these chemicals every day, maybe we shouldn’t be using them at all.
Resources & References:
If you’re wondering how widespread this issue really is—or why it’s so difficult to find straight answers about glyphosate exposure—you’re not alone. The following resources provide critical background: from personal stories and scientific assessments to regulatory documents and testing gaps in New Zealand. They reveal a pattern of silence, delay, and discomfort around one of the world’s most heavily used herbicides.
Yahoo News UK (2025): “Pesticides: a life ruined by glyphosate” — A deeply personal case study of Ludovic Maugé, a French landscaper whose health plummeted after decades of glyphosate exposure.
URL: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/pesticides-life-ruined-glyphosate-130045351.html
House of Health NZ – Glyphosate Urine Testing: A private clinic that processes NZ-collected samples overseas due to the lack of domestic testing facilities. Highlights the accessibility and cost barriers.
URL: https://www.houseofhealth.co.nz/product/oats-mycotoxins-glyphosate-epp-test/
ESR (2014): Health Risk Assessment: Glyphosate — Government-funded evaluation focusing on acute exposure risks from household glyphosate products; finds low risk in domestic use but excludes long-term occupational exposure.
URL: https://www.esr.cri.nz/media/mfpgzxwb/esr-health-risk-assessment-glyphosate.pdf esr.cri.nz
European Commission (Nov 2023): Renewal of the approval of glyphosate — Confirms glyphosate’s re-approval in the EU, introduces bans on pre-harvest desiccation and mandates buffer zones to reduce drift.
URL: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_23_5793 fwi.co.uk+5ec.europa.eu+5glyphosate.eu+5
OrganicNZ (2019): Is it time to round up Roundup®? — Critiques NZ EPA’s glyphosate approval methods, emphasizing reliance on industry data and lack of independent scrutiny. Suggests systemic gaps in formulation toxicity evaluation.
URL: https://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/1-Glyphosate-science.pdf
RNZ (July 2019): Nationwide groundwater testing results overdue — Reports delays in national water testing that includes glyphosate, implying insufficient monitoring of environmental residues.
URL: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/394890/nationwide-groundwater-testing-results-overdue
No More Glyphosate.nz – “Glyphosate survivor testimony”
A deeply personal account from a New Zealand individual who believes their health was permanently affected by glyphosate exposure—putting the issue into local context.
URL: https://nomoreglyphosate.nz/glyphosate-survivor-testimony/
No More Glyphosate.nz – “The Baby Who Changed a Borough”
The story of a Christchurch mother’s fight to protect her child from roadside spraying—demonstrating how community action led to a local ban.
URL: https://nomoreglyphosate.nz/the-baby-who-changed-a-borough/
These sources don’t tell a single, clean story—because the reality isn’t clean. What they do show is this: people are getting exposed, testing is hard to access, and regulators often defer rather than act. If nothing else, they confirm what many New Zealanders already feel in their gut: that we’re being asked to accept risk without the tools to measure it—and without a system to support those who bear the brunt.
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