Europe votes to withdraw approval of carcinogenic glyphosate in public places and to remove it from public sale

Media Release 15 April 2015: Weed Management Advisory group demands that Auckland Council finally takes notice and implements an immediate reversal of its decision to expand the use of glyphosate, and instead ban it for all private use and in all public places.

Dr Meriel Watts, of the WMA said that yesterday’s decision by the European Parliament to dramatically cut the renewal authorisation of the carcinogenic herbicide glyphosate to seven years to allow further review of its toxic properties was unprecedented.

“The EU concerns about the carcinogenicity, liver and kidney effects, and endocrine disrupting properties of glyphosate, and their recommendations to remove it from the public arena, are clear and unambiguous”, she said.

The European decision also noted the high long-term risk to invertebrates, mammals and birds, and because glyphosate is nonselective it also kills algae, bacteria and fungi, resulting in unacceptable impacts on biodiversity and the ecosystem.

“The MEPs particularly noted that glyphosate should not be approved for any use in or close to public areas such as parks, and that it not be approved for any agricultural use where integrated pest management systems are sufficient for necessary weed control,” said Dr Watts”.

Dr Watts noted that this strongly indicates Auckland Council’s own Weed Management Policy, which is based on an integrated approach and international best practice, requires the withdrawal of glyphosate from its toolkit, at least in public places. This includes Auckland Transport’s use for vegetation control on the roads, where there are effective alternatives already in use in some areas.

The WMA says there can be no misinterpretation by Mayor Len Brown and Council now that the world has put human health before all other considerations.

This recognition of public health primacy comes hard on the heels of the launch of New Zealand’s enhanced health and safety laws, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2016 (HSWA).

The WMA says Council and Auckland Transport should not need reminding of their duty of care under this Act, because they are responsible for not only the health and safety of their employees, but everyone who might be harmed by their actions or inactions.

And Council needed to take this seriously said WMA’s Hana Blackmore, because they can no longer ignore the fact that they know glyphosate is a hazard to human health as defined in the HSWA, and they need to take action immediately.

“WorkSafe New Zealand CEO, Gordon MacDonald, noted last week … people should be taking proactive action. Identify your risks, identify who could be harmed, how badly and then devise sensible measures to mitigate those risks. This means Auckland Council and Auckland Transport”, said Ms Blackmore, reiterating that they now have a legal obligation and duty to act to prevent harm from use of glyphosate.

The WMA is demanding that urgent priority is given in this year’s Annual budget to fully fund the immediate replacement of glyphosate in all public places with non-chemical alternatives, noting that the HSWA also states categorically that cost and should only be considered afterassessing risk to health and safety and “sensible” mitigation measures.

European Parliament Press release
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdfs/news/expert/infopress/20160407IPR21781/20160407IPR21781_en.pdf
European Parliament adopted text – resolution on the Renewal of the approval of the active substance glyphosate.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+TA+P8-TA-2016-0119+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN

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