LA County, Miami, Sonoma City halt use of popular weed killer on civic properties
By vast
Published: April 6, 2019
Category: Glyphosate/Pesticides, The Organic & Non-GMO Report Newsletter
Two large metropolitan areas and a California city have banned glyphosate-containing weed killers on public properties, due to potentially harmful environmental and health impacts.
Kathryn Barger of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors said, “I am asking county departments to stop the use of this herbicide until public health and environmental professionals can determine if it’s safe for further use in L.A. County and explore alternative methods for vegetation management.”
Monsanto’s (now Bayer’s) herbicide Roundup is the most popular vehicle for glyphosate application. Although the World Health Organization in 2015 classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officially negated this conclusion in 2017, prompting backlash from California, which tried to force Monsanto to put a warming label on Roundup.
In Miami, a resolution co-sponsored by Mayor Francis Suarez passed unanimously, banning glyphosate use on city properties. The herbicide has been implicated in algae blooms recently surfacing in Florida’s lakes—the resulting pollution destroys plant ecosystems and also coral reefs.
The Sonoma City, California Council recently voted unanimously to ban the use of glyphosate on city property.
Sources: NBC Los Angeles, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Sonoma News
To view full articles, visit:
https://uspirg.org/news/usp/miami-bans-glyphosate-main-active-ingredient-monsantos-roundup
https://www.sonomanews.com/news/9457709-181/sonoma-officials-ban-roundup?sba=AAS
