South Glos Green party have confirmation from South Gloucestershire Council that they will begin the spraying of Glyphosate in April. We would like to ensure that possibly cancer causing chemical are not sprayed in our streets, our parks and our children’s’ playgrounds.
Jenny Vernon, Coordinator of South Glos Green Party points out, “When supermarkets and retail giants pull products containing Glyphosate and organisations from Town Councils to entire countries ban its use, it’s time to take notice. I would urge the Council to consider other cost effective animal and human-friendly methods of weed control. We’re encouraging all residents to contact their local councillors to ask them to stop the use of Glyphosate in weed control – in order to protect their health, the health of the young, elderly and vulnerable in their communities – and of course, their pets. There are other environmentally-friendly cost-effective alternatives that could be used as has been demonstrated down the road in Glastonbury.”
Iain Hamilton stood in the 2015 election for Thornbury and Yate and says “Glyphosate is used liberally in the streets and parks of some towns and cities to control grass and weeds. On 15th March, The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) threw the precautionary principle to the wind in deciding that the limited available scientific evidence did not meet the criteria to classify Glyphosate as a carcinogen.” The controversy over its health and environmental effects though, looks set to rumble on.
A classification that Glyphosate causes serious eye damage and is toxic to aquatic life will remain in place and the new ECHA opinion now faces an internal check before it is submitted to the European Commission which will restart EU discussions so that a final decision can be reached by the end of the year.
The ECHA team responsible for the study was itself accused of conflicts of interest by Greenpeace, as several of its members had either undertaken consultancy work for chemical firms or worked for institutes that had [1]. Iain continues, “Based on this classification, it’s clear that South Glos council should stop using Glyphosate with immediate effect. Why risk the health of South Glos residents when alternatives are out there to be used?”
The Green Party in South Gloucestershire will continue campaigning against Glyphosate until the local council agreed to discontinue its use and encourage residents to join over 1200 people in signing the petition online: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-spraying-glyphosate-chemicals-on-south-gloucestershire-streets-and-parks. [1] http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/Publications/2017/ECHA-response-heightens-concerns/