Toxin sprayed near school

MANY people saw on the news on August 11 that a Court in California has ruled that a US school groundsman’s cancer (non-Hodgkins lymphoma) was caused by using Roundup glyphosate weed-killer, which is the most commonly used herbicide in the world – and is widely used on GM crops.

This news makes it even more of a concern for me, because when I was walking along Southbourne Gardens in Eastcote in 2015, several workers were spraying the pavements with a green/blue liquid.

Other people were also walking past as they sprayed. The sprayers wore backpacks but no safety facemasks.

The spray can be breathed-in or get on the skin, especially in summer when women often wear opensandals.

On another occasion, at 8.30 in the morning two years ago, a relative was walking near Glebe Primary School, Ickenham, when she saw men spraying weed-killer chemicals on pavements. Why do this this at the time when young children and parents are walking past on their way to school?

The droplets could be seen in the air. The council confirmed this chemical was glyphosate, which was named as a “probable carcinogen” (cancer-causer) by the World Health Organisation.

The sprayers would have inhaled it as they wore no safety masks and seemed to have no idea of possible risks.

Officials may claim this is safe – but many chemicals which were said to be harmless had to be withdrawn because they caused serious illness and damaged human genes.

I hope the new court ruling will cause a re-think of chemical spraying locally.

Name and address witheld