Pesticide Action Network (PAN) UK protested against Brighton and Hove City Council’s proposal to reinstate the use of glyphosate on Tuesday outside Hove Town Hall.
Glyphosate is a herbicide that controls weeds, but PAN’s website states that it’s linked to illnesses such as cancer, kidney and liver disease, and diabetes.
The council proposed this plan primarily due to residents’ complaints about weeds, which, according to a council document, totalled 56 complaints to their Customer Service Team since 2019.
Josie Cohen, PAN Head of Policy and Campaigns, said: “I don’t think local people are just going to let it go. I think if we lose on Tuesday, we will have lost the battle, but we won’t have lost the war.
“Urban pesticide use is on its way out globally, so the council are on the wrong side of history on this one.”
The council plans to apply glyphosate to visible weeds on roads and pavements, but parks and open spaces will remain pesticide-free.
PAN’s website also states that glyphosate can harm pets, wildlife, and aquatic life.
Tim Rowkins, Brighton and Hove lead councillor for the environment, said: “Our current approach of relying on manual weed removal hasn’t been effective. So we need to consider a new approach.
“Glyphosate is considered safe to use across the world, and the EU re-approved it for use for another 10 years in December 2023. This approach continues to be used by most local authorities across the country.
“We are proposing to go one step further in mitigating any risk by using a controlled droplet application method. This involves mixing a reduced concentration of glyphosate with an oil that sticks to the target weeds.
“This approach greatly reduces drift and run-off, thereby reducing the risk that it harms plants or wildlife that it’s not intended to come into contact with.”
However, contrary to these claims, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) website states: ‘In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the gold standard in identifying carcinogens, concluded that glyphosate “probably causes cancer in humans”’.
HEAL’s website also states, ‘Just this fall, preliminary findings from a multi-institutional study, which included involvement from the Ramazzini Institute and others, show the potential of glyphosate-based formulations to cause leukaemia at an early life stage already, at doses previously considered safe by regulators.’
This protest occurred an hour before the City Environment, South Downs and The Sea Committee meeting, which discussed this issue and potential solutions.
To find out more, visit https://www.pan-uk.org/.
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