‘Grave doubts’ over use of council’s weedkiller
A COUNCIL is continuing to use a controversial weedkilling chemical, although “grave concerns” have been expressed about its use.
Glyphosate has been around for some 40 years but questions are now being asked on its safety.
A report by Merthyr Tydfil County Council said that while national agencies across the world have declared glyphosate safe to use, some countries have now decided to ban it or severely curtail its use.
A report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2015 found glyphosate was “a probable human carcinogen”. These concerns were reflected in recent court rulings in the US which have awarded multi-million dollar damages to citizens who have claimed continued use of glyphosate caused them to develop cancer.
New York has introduced legislation to ban glyphosate products from public parks and other properties, and countries such as Italy and Portugal have also imposed bans on the use of glyphosate in public areas, with France and Germany seeking to phase in a ban.
Some UK local authorities have taken the decision to either ban glyphosate-based herbicides totally or at least in specific areas such as schools and parks, but glyphosate is still legal in the UK and is on the EU pesticides database until December 15, 2022.
The council report said the most effective, cost efficient and widely used method of controlling invasive weed Japanese Knotweed is by treating it with a herbicide containing glyphosate.
Merthyr Tydfil currently has around 60 active sites totalling approximately 1,000 square metres of Japanese Knotweed on council land. In the past five years, 58 sites have been eradicated which covered an area of 762 square metres.
The council contracts out its street spraying to Complete Weed Control, which treats all of Merthyr Tydfil’s streets and highways between the months of May and July depending on weather conditions.
Speaking during the council’s neighbourhood services committee on Monday, Councillor Clive Jones said there is clearly a question over glyphosate’s safety and asked what the views of the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) were.
Council officer Robert Barnett said: “There are grave doubts about the use of this chemical; however, it is licensed until December 2022 in this country.
“HSC will say we have to have our own risk assessments and we have to be sure that where we are using the chemical that it’s done as safely as possible.”
The company the council contracts its weed spraying services to uses specialist spraying equipment fitted with chlorophyll detecting sensors which ensures only the weeds are sprayed and not hard surfaces, helping to reduce the amount of chemical sprayed onto the streets.
This method can reduce the amount of chemical required by up to 80%, and Mr Barnett said this is the safest way they can use it.
But he said most local authorities are looking at complete bans, partial bans and other ways to control weeds in the future. Cllr Jones said over the next two years the council has got to decide how to deal with weeds because it won’t be able to use glyphosate any more.
The report said other chemicals are limited and there is currently no suitable substitute.
Most other weed killers have been withdrawn from the market as they are less environmentally friendly.
They are also said to be less effective and more expensive.
Mr Barnett said they are looking at other measures such as brushing, sweeping, hoeing and hand weeding, but they are all far more labour intensive and therefore much more costly.
Newer methods which don’t use chemicals, such as hot water, foam, and steam procedures, are only partially effective as they don’t kill the roots of weeds, just the top growth.
The report said if the council was to ban the use of glyphosate it would require a range of additional equipment such as sweepers, flame guns, hot water or foaming machines and that a manual approach would require additional staff to maintain current levels of control.