GREEN Party councillor Seán Hartigan has called on Limerick City and County Council to introduce a total ban on the use of glyphosate and other toxic chemical pesticides by its staff and contractors, except in exceptional circumstances, such as control of alien invasive species.
Speaking on his motion at last week’s Climate Action, Biodiversity, and Environment Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) meeting, Cllr Hartigan told members that glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, a non-selective weed killer.
“According to the World Health Organisation, glyphosate is ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’,” he said.
“It has been the subject of two recent high profile court cases in the US. In 2020, its manufacturer Bayer agreed to settle a wave of lawsuits over the potential carcinogenic effects of the herbicide.
“The courts found that years of use of the popular weedkiller had caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma with settlements agreed for more than 100,000 people.
“The European Commission is re-evaluating glyphosate, primarily because of human health concerns, with results due later this year. It has been or will soon be banned in at least 10 countries, and at least 15 others have restricted its use. Farmers in Germany must stop using it completely from 2024.
“It is highly unlikely that glyphosate will be available to the amenity sector to the extent it has been for much longer. Irrespective of how the EU licence renewal develops, the fact remains that the public have a reduced tolerance for its use.”
In reply to his question on glyphosate usage at last month’s Metropolitan meeting, Cllr Hartigan was told that weed spraying is not carried out in the Council’s various parks throughout the city and county.
However, he told the Limerick Post that the reports he is getting from the public contradict this.
“I was also told the Cleansing Section manage a weed spraying contract which covers public roads and adjacent footpaths in Limerick City that has increased glyphosate usage year on year to the point where we are using 600 litres per year of undiluted (360g/l Super Concentrated Weedkiller) spray per year.
“Under EU regulations, pesticides should not be used in areas used by the general public without documented evidence to state why an alternative would not work, this is not being done. There are alternatives but we are just not using them.”
Cllr Hartigan urged members of the Strategic Policy Committee to support his motion and ask Limerick City and County Council to follow the lead of other local authorities to ban all use of glyphosate except in exceptional circumstances. No seconder was forthcoming in the Dooradoyle chamber.
According to the Council, the contractor employed by the local authority uses specialised equipment consisting of a compact tractor mounted sprayer which uses photosynthetic detectors.
“The use of these photosynthetic detectors ensures that the pesticide is only applied where plant life is present to ensure the usage of pesticide usage is minimised and to avoid blanket spraying of surfaces,” said Senior Engineer Aidan Finn.
“Metropolitan District Roads Operations use 65 litres per year approximately for localised weed problems. We hope to reduce this usage by expanding the programme of works currently contracted out by the Council to minimise use.”
