People power called for in Derry & Donegal to fully ban weedkiller in public spaces
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Glyphosate is the world’s most widely used weedkiller and is often used in non-council owned parks, playgrounds, schools and pavements.
Jacquie Loughrey, Education and Prevention Officer at Hive Cancer Support in Derry (formerly Pink Ladies Cancer Support Group) is lobbying for a ban on the herbicide, which has been linked to cases of cancer.
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Hide AdIn 2019, Sinn Féin Councillor Patricia Logue proposed a motion to ban the use of Glyphosate on land owned by the Council. However, the ban was not fully extended to other bodies, meaning glyphosate is still being used in some public spaces.


Jacquie said: “While we are very proud that Derry City and Strabane District Council is the only council in Ireland to have stopped using glyphosate, we feel that this does not go far enough. We hope for ongoing public support to prevent the reintroduction of glyphosate, and to see the full plan that was agreed in 2019 being implemented.”
Hive Cancer Support is hosting the screening of a landmark documentary on the dangers of glyphosate as part of this year’s Féile festival.
‘Into the Weeds’ will be shown at 7pm on Monday, August 12 in the Nerve Centre, Magazine Street, Derry. Tickets are available on Eventbrite and entry is free.
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Hide AdIn 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans".
“With Glyphosate being commonly used by statutory agencies across Ireland, concerns about its impact on health and the environment are growing,” said Jacquie. “We would encourage people to come and see this film and make up their own mind.”
A spokesperson for the Inishowen Rivers Trust agreed, and explains that the issue is also difficult to resolve in farming.
“Training on the use of pesticides is very important. Farmers and other professional users applying weedkiller must calibrate the quantity of the weedkiller accurately and dispose of any excess appropriately.
“PCBs, which are contained in transformers and capacitors but also in pesticides, are persistent pollutants that can enter water supplies and persist in the tissue of humans and orcas causing cancer and severely disrupting the immune system.
“The best approach is nature-based solutions – allowing the ecosystem to recover and providing habitats such as healthy hedgerows in which the predators of the pests can thrive and provide natural pest control. There is currently a significant amount of funding available to farmers through EU funding to plant and restore native hedgerows.”
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