On Tuesday, the City Council voted to instruct all city districts and organizations, especially schools and hospitals, to replace the use of poisonous glyphosate on their premises with other public area maintenance technologies by 2020. Photo credit: @BrnoDaily
Brno, Jul 13 (BD) – The chemical glyphosate is commonly used in herbicides and is currently being used to maintain public areas such as walkways and roads. The goal is to reduce the use of glyphosate to zero within two years.
“The use of glyphosate in public places is a health risk for people in Brno. Therefore, Public Greenery and the Cemetery Administration in Brno are no longer using it, and weeds are being disposed of mechanically or by using hot steam,” explained Deputy Mayor for the Environment Martin Ander in an official press release.
A resolution to ban glyphosate by 2022 was passed last year by the European Parliament and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, WHO Expert Component) classified it as “probably carcinogenic for humans” in a 2015 report. On the other hand, Business Insider points out that: “IARC didn’t say what amount of glyphosate is enough to pose a risk, but did say the amount the general population is exposed to is ‘generally low’.”
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