Councils should stop using potentially dangerous weedkiller - Harkin

Council are ‘considering alternatives’ to Roundup herbicide weedkiller


Edwin McGreal

Local authorities like Mayo County Council should immediately stop using a weedkiller which contains a herbicide described by the World Health Organisation as ‘probably carcinogenic’.
That was the view of Midlands North West MEP Marian Harkin who was speaking to Irish journalists on the issue at the European Parliament in Strasbourg recently.
Mayo County Council currently use Roundup weedkiller on public footpaths and  it admits they are reviewing their use of  it.
It contains a herbicide called glyphosate, which the WHO’s cancer agency described in 2015 as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’.
France has already agreed to completely ban the use of Roundup regardless of the European Union decision on the matter. The Parliament voted to give the product seven years continued use during which time scientific studies would ‘assess the possibility or probability that it is carcinogenic and to assess it and see its impact’, Ms Harkin said.

Debate
While Ms Harkin said there was a big debate over whether or not farmers ought to be allowed to use it on their lands, she was emphatic that local authorities should not.
“There are ways and means that we can reduce its usage and public authorities should, I think, under the precautionary principal, use some other mechanism,” Ms Harkin told The Mayo News.
“Local authorities should find other substances to use because they are in public places and because it is not the same as somebody’s livelihood and you can understand people wanting to protect their livelihood,” she added.
Ms Harkin said she had received considerable lobbying from both the farming community seeking to allow continued use of Roundup and from citizens concerned about it being cancer causing.
Mayo News columnist Liamy MacNally recently wrote about the use of Roundup by Mayo County Council, saying it was not good enough that a produce with such concerns about its safety, was being sprayed on public streets.
“In essence, poison was being sprayed on our streets, whether we liked it or not,” he wrote.

Review
Mayo County Council Parks Superintendent Peter Gill said the council are ‘reviewing’ their use of Roundup and are ‘researching other techniques’.
One of these is a process known as ‘foam technology’, which is a herbicide free weed control but Mr Gill said there could be ‘greater costs’. However the council are planning to ‘pilot’ the use of foam technology in Ballina and Westport in 2017. Mr Gill said the ‘vast majority’ of the council’s spraying had been completed for 2016.
“We are concerned about the overuse of herbicides. It looks like the law on the use of herbicides is changing again and we need to be ready. Roundup is the go-to product for weedkiller, it is the brand leader and the most effective but we are currently carrying out a review and researching other techniques,” Mr Gill said.