Ban Glyphosate and Other Pesticide Use in St Helens Public Spaces

It would seem that St Helens Council is using glyphosate to kill weeds on public land. Land where children play and dogs are walked.

Glyphosate contaminates land, water and air and is a deadly poison. It disrupts the endocrine system, and in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) labelled glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic" (1) but the range of available evidence is sufficient to classify it as definitely carcinogenic (2). Genotoxicity and endocrine disruption from pesticides lead to chronic health and developmental effects; some studies have found that glyphosate appears to actually accumulate in human cells. Even at low concentrations it damages liver, kidney and skin cells, and long-term effects include cancer, infertility, pregnancy problems, birth defects and respiratory diseases (3) - especially alarming that the council would spray something that is known to affect the respiratory system during a time when the Covid 19 virus is harming thousands by way of infecting their upper respiratory system . Babies and young children are particularly susceptible to glyphosate poisoning through crawling on the ground and exploring with their hands. There are currently at least 5,000 live cases of people attempting to sue glyphosate manufacturer Monsanto in court for chronic and terminal illnesses linked to its use.

The dire human health effects are in addition to disastrous consequences for wild animals and their habitats and food chains, and companion animals such as dogs walked in local parks will be being affected too. Glyphosate also goes into the water table.

We're asking St Helens Council to stop using glyphosate and other pesticides, and use environmentally friendly, non-toxic ways of tackling weeds.

Photo credit: Flikr, All Creative Commons, Global Justice Now

(1) https://www.iarc.fr/featured-news/media-centre-iarc-news-glyphosate/

(2) https://www.i-sis.org.uk/Glyphosate_is_Carcinogenic.php

(3) https://www.pan-uk.org/glyphosate/

Sign Petition
Sign Petition
You have JavaScript disabled. Without it, our site might not function properly.

Privacy Policy

By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.

Having problems signing this? Let us know.