Brighton scientists slam council's plans to reintroduce glyphosate

Brighton and Hove City Council announced on Monday that it was considering bringing back glyphosate to tackle overgrown streets.

Use of the weed killer was banned by the then Labour council in 2019 due to concerns it could cause cancer and damage the environment.

The council says with current methods it has been unable to clear weeds 'in a timely manner' (Image: The Argus)

Dave Goulson, a professor of biology at the University of Sussex, told The Argus: “The use of glyphosate remains controversial. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared it a probable carcinogen about ten years ago.

“Ever since then, Monsanto, who are the manufacturers, have been trying to counter that with their own evidence that it isn’t harmful.

“Any sensible interpretation is it is likely a carcinogen and a lot of independent scientists have come to this conclusion.

“That is good enough for me to say we shouldn’t be spraying it in our streets and our parks.

“I strongly suspect that in the long run it will be banned.

• READ MORE: Glyphosate weed killer could return to Brighton despite cancer fears

“There is plenty of evidence that it is harmful to other creatures and damages the soil.

“It seems a real backward step having been amongst the first places to ban it in the UK.”

In France it is illegal to use glyphosate in urban areas.

“The whole of Paris is managed without glyphosate,” said Prof Goulson.

“If Paris can manage without, surely Brighton can.”

In it's manifesto at the 2023 local elections, Labour pledged not to return to using glyphosate (Image: The Argus)

Glyphosate – which is also known by the brand name Roundup – had been sprayed in parks and on playing fields as well as on roads, pavements and housing land in Brighton prior to the 2019 ban.

The council pledged to halt all use by 2022, except to tackle invasive species like Japanese knotweed, and since then it has used manual methods to remove weeds in the streets.

It said despite new machinery it has not been possible to remove most of the weeds from pavements “in a timely manner”.

Roundup is the commercial name of glyphosate weed killer (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

This, it said, has led to concerns about the look of the city, accessibility for those with mobility issues and increased highway maintenance because of damage caused by weeds.

Steve Geliot, who co-founded the Save Our Starlings campaign, said the proposed U-turn is “baffling”.

“Councillors must not be naïve about the risks of this chemical,” Mr Geliot told The Argus.

“The report on the proposed reintroduction of glyphosate relies on evidence which says it is safe – but the scientific community is not agreed about this.”

The council said in its report there is conflicting evidence on the public health implications.

“The council has used the phrase ‘wage war on weeds’ but we need to make peace with nature,” Mr Geliot said.

“This will not just wage war on weeds but on nature too.

“It has been five years since glyphosate was banned and we are just starting to see a fragile recovery in the city’s starling numbers.

“We don’t need policies that whizz this way and that way to extremes. We need considered and constructive plans based on scientific fact.”

The council’s report into the plans cites a report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - part of the WHO - which classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in a group known as 2A.

Some paths became overgrown in the summer months (Image: The Argus)

Group 2A is when there is “limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans” and sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. It means a positive association has been observed between exposure to glyphosate and cancer but that other explanations for the observations such as chance could not be ruled out.

The council report said: “This evidence was based on mostly agricultural exposures in the US. The report goes on to say ‘the general population is exposed primarily through residence near sprayed areas, home use and diet, and the level that has been observed is generally low’.”

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “The current approach of relying on manual weed removal hasn’t been effective and we need to consider a new approach. The committee report includes research and evidence to set out the situation for the committee to make an informed decision about how to manage weeds.”

Asked whether it could definitively say that glyphosate is not carcinogenic, the council said: “Glyphosate is considered safe to use across the world and the EU just reapproved it for use for another ten years in December 2023. This approach continues to be used by most local authorities across the country.”

The council said glyphosate will only be used by trained contractors wearing the correct PPE, using the correct equipment and following the UK Health and Safety Executive's advice when using it.

A stock image of a man spraying weeds. The council said staff using glyphosate would use PPE and follow HSE guidelines (Image: Leicester City Council)

It did not respond when asked why staff would need to wear PPE if glyphosate is not carcinogenic.

Residents have also raised concerns about the impact on pets following street treatments as cats and dogs walk on streets and sniff or eat weeds which would be treated with glyphosate.

The council spokesman said: “The council will continue the current policy to not use glyphosate in the city’s parks and open spaces because they are far more significant for biodiversity.

“The newer technique of a controlled-droplet application involves mixing the glyphosate with an oil that helps it stick to the weeds. This is a more targeted approach that limits the drift of a traditional ‘mist’ and uses less glyphosate, reducing the risk that it harms plants or wildlife that it is not intended to come into contact with.”

Graphs showing the use of glyphosate and starling decline mirror one another, and while correlation is not causation, Mr Geliot has observed an increase in starling numbers in the city since the ban of the weed killer.

He and Lou McCurdy launched the city’s largest petition to date with 118,000 signatories and celebrated a victory in December 2022 when it achieved its goal to ban the use of chemical fertilisers in the city.

The number of starlings in the Brighton Palace Pier murmuration has increased since glyphosate was banned (Image: Rose Jones)

“Two years ago we were at 8,000 starlings at the Palace Pier murmuration," Mr Geliot said. "Then, the murmuration could have been gone by 2026 [because numbers would be so small]. Last year we saw an increase to 13,000 and I think it is at around 15,000 this year.

“It is such a fragile recovery. In the cost-of-living crisis, natural wonders like this are more important than ever and give such joy to people.”

The plans will be discussed at the city environment, South Downs and the sea committee on Tuesday.