Make Good Your Promise to Stop Spraying Glyphosates in Bristol's Streets and Parks.

The people of Bristol do not want our city doused in glyphosate, a toxic weed killer linked to cancer and many other worrying outcomes for human, animal and soil health. Last year, thousands of us asked Bristol City Council to ditch glyphosate in favour of safer weed control for streets, housing and parks.

The Council tried to fob us off with a half-hearted trial in Cotham, using vinegar, of all things... On the other hand, Marvin Rees, Labour’s candidate for Mayor, seemed to listen and understand.

Labour promised to “stop using harmful pesticides” in its election manifesto. In a statement to the Pesticide Safe Bristol Alliance, Rees promised to review the Council’s existing spray contracts – which see glyphosate applied across the city’s housing estates and streets – and to implement either a “city-wide trial” or an “immediate ban” on glyphosate.

Marvin Rees is now Mayor of Bristol, but has not made these promises come true. The Council refuses to trial genuine alternatives to glyphosate, has failed to review its spray contracts and continues to make flimsy excuses as to why Bristol cannot join other European cities in simply banning the spraying of these harmful chemicals in public spaces.

As for Cotham’s sham ‘glyphosate-free’ trial? The weeds are having a wild time, proving what we’ve said all along – that you need to throw more than vinegar at the problem.

Bristol’s people, pets and wildlife deserve better. A survey has received reports of glyphosate being sprayed with no warning near to children, and of cats and dogs poisoned by licking treated weeds. Two healthy bee colonies in North Bristol died after glyphosate was sprayed nearby.

The Council’s process is broken. It needs to set a target date for phasing out glyphosate, and plan to achieve this. There is plenty of experience we can lean on – from other pesticide-free cities, and from Bristol’s own community of growers and gardeners – who are already managing public spaces without glyphosate.

So come on Marvin, before you make any new resolutions for 2017, please make good your existing promise to the residents of this city. How many more growing seasons of glyphosate do we have to endure?

You can read Marvin's pesticide promise in full here: http://www.pesticidesafebristol.org/news/press-releases/toxics-tolerant-or-chemical-crusader-mayoral-candidates-compared-on-glyphosate/

You can help by signing this petition, and by signing your own garden up as a Pesticide Free Zone to show that Bristol means business when it comes to toxic-free green spaces: http://www.pesticidesafebristol.org/pesticide-free-pledge/

Report your own opinions of glyphosate with this survey: http://bit.ly/2hxHPir

Check out this piece from The Bristol Cable which summarises the story so far: https://thebristolcable.org/2017/01/forget-the-vinegar-the-real-reek-is-inaction-on-glyphosates/