Call for mayor to stop use of chemical sprays

Today’s Auckland Council Regional Strategy & Policy Committee saw a heated exchange between the mayor and some councillors over the council’s increasing use of chemical sprays across Auckland. This followed the presentation of a public petition calling on the mayor to ban the use of the vegetation control chemical Glyphosate (aka Roundup) on Auckland’s roads and parks.

Georgina Blackmore of the group Spray Free Streets had launched this petition of 3700 signatories after the World Health Organisation’s, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen and in response to the Auckland Council’s increased use of this chemical.

Two Auckland councillors at the meeting say the Auckland Council is dramatically increasing the use of glyphosate across the region.

“This mayoralty has overseen the biggest roll out of chemicals in the history of Auckland,” says Cr John Watson from the Albany Ward.

“Under Mayor Brown’s watch we now have wholesale chemical spraying of most parks, playgrounds and streets across Auckland. Where once we had non-chemical methods we now have the spraying of glyphosate.”

Cr Wayne Walker, chair of the council’s Environment Committee says, “The irony is council has a policy that is meant to minimise use of chemical sprays. That’s why the Mayor now wants to change it. We don't need to change the policy. We do need to change the practice.”

"The comments that the Mayor makes on glyphosate attempt to make it look safe, when we know it's now a probable carcinogen and cities and countries elsewhere are phasing it out for health and environmental reasons," says Walker.

“It makes a mockery of the mayor’s claim to being the world’s most liveable city – quite the opposite, Auckland’s fast becoming one of the world’s most chemical ones,” says John Watson.

ENDS

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