Council is negligent not stopping its use immediately, but it is making progress.
It is beyond my comprehension how the council continues to prevaricate on the use of the carcinogen glyphosate on our streets and berms, when international pronouncements by eminent WHO scientists have declared glyphosate a ‘probable human carcinogen’, and courts around the world are making millions of dollar judgements against the owners of Roundup and Bayer, who bought Monsanto company for 62 billion dollars cash.
Bayer has already set aside nearly 10 billion dollars to pay complainants, while not accepting that glyphosate is a dangerous product.
As I have written before, many of the cancers that glyphosate produces don’t manifest until many years after ingestion, so as our berms outside schools are sprayed with glyphosate, there could well be a terrible cancer outbreak in twenty, thirty, or even forty years time.
The very last thing our council should do is listen to the Environmental Protection Authority of NZ, who gets its shonky advice from the highly controversial and politicized, US EPA.
Let’s be honest. Potentially killing people because glyphosate is cheaper than weed-killing alternatives, is tantamount to murder.
However, the council environment committee last week rejected unanimously a bureaucratic proposal to roll out glyphosate across our streets.
Richard Hills, the chairman, set the scene by categorically stating, “I do not want glyphosate on our streets.” What a lead!
Two other stalwarts, John Watson, and Wayne Walker, skilfully and calmly continued their well-known opposition to glyphosate.
A revelation at the meeting was the admission that at least one thermal treatment price was lower than the council’s posted budget.
I know some councillors accept the dangers of roundup with glyphosate and want it banned. Other councillors are happy to call for more reports, seek further advice, compare costs, kill time, hope the problem goes away. Anything but make a conscience-based decision, based on some sort of integrity.
As Hana Blackmore of the Weed Advisory Committee said, “It’s not over yet, but the council took a forward step.”
This is not a left-right issue. It is not a cost-based issue. It is a major health issue. If we can’t rely on our council to keep us safe, who can we turn to.
Sure, former Waitemata Local Board chair, and now councillor, Pippa Coom, has long been in favour of “phasing out the use of glyphosate”. The question, Pippa, to you and your colleagues, is how much longer must we wait, and how much longer can we wait to ensure our kids are safe from a preventable cancer?
Bureaucratic and political obfuscations can often be expected to interfere with sound council decisions, but they can not be accepted when our citizen’s health is so potentially compromised.
As Jacinda said during our worst Covid weeks, “I will not sacrifice our nations health on the altar of GDP.”
Brilliant, now over to you, Auckland Councillors. Good work so far. Now - ban glyphosate completely in Auckland before you seriously regret it.
Remember, or research, DDT, 2,4,5,T, and 2,4,D all of which took years to ban and killed far too many people before they were outlawed.
So many products on sale are detrimental to our health, and it is up to all of us not to buy them of use them. But with roundup, containing glyphosate sprayed around our neighbourhood whether we like it of not, our health and our children’s health is being compromised every day, and our elected representatives talk and talk, but do nothing.
Like many Aucklanders, I’m sick of it. (John Elliott)