Canterbury has one of the highest rates of Crohn's disease ever recorded anywhere on earth.
Not one of the highest in the South Pacific.
Not one of the highest in the Southern Hemisphere.
One of the highest anywhere on earth.
One in every 150 Canterbury residents now lives with inflammatory bowel disease. Cases have nearly tripled since 2006. Nationally, ~20,000 New Zealanders have IBD, projected to exceed 40,000 by 2045. New Zealanders with IBD die at a rate 69% higher than the general population.
Gastroenterologists say they're "surprised" by the trajectory. Genetics can't explain a rise this fast.
We're not claiming glyphosate causes IBD — the evidence doesn't support that. But a 2026 study found glyphosate at the regulatory "safe" level worsened colitis in mice by disrupting gut bacteria and activating an inflammatory pathway already targeted by IBD drugs. That's a real, biologically plausible mechanism.
New Zealand is one of the heaviest glyphosate users in the developed world. Our residue limits were built to catch acute toxicity — not chronic effects on the gut microbiome.
So we're asking a simple question: is anyone actually investigating this?
@SimeonBrownMP — as Minister of Health, is IBD's rise in NZ, and its possible environmental drivers, on your radar?
@TeWhatuOra — you hold the diagnostic data on IBD across the country. Has anyone cross-referenced it against agricultural chemical exposure?
@MPI_NZ @toddmcclaymp — does MRL-setting for glyphosate account for gut microbiome effects at all? Will you commission research into agricultural chemical exposure as a factor in NZ's IBD epidemic?
The data infrastructure already exists to answer this.
What's missing is the will to ask the question.
Full investigation ⬇️