Council to test safer weed killers after work stoppage

Striking workers at a NSW council will resume work today after the employer agreed to trial alternative products to the controversial weed killer glyphosate, which has been linked to cancer in a number of international legal cases.

Blacktown City Council agreed to implement the five-month trial in an urgent hearing in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission yesterday, after more than 500 workers downed tools over safety concerns surrounding the continuing use of glyphosate sprays (see related article).

The United Services Union said its members are happy their concerns have finally been addressed, after council’s initial refusal to heed their calls to follow other NSW councils that stopped using glyphosate and are trialling safer products.

“Weed spraying is a common task for outdoor council staff, so it is understandable that workers have been deeply concerned by international legal cases which found a strong link between the use of glyphosate products and developing cancer,” it said.

In the US, manufacturer Monsanto, recently acquired by pharmaceutical giant Bayer, was ordered to pay nearly $3 billion in compensation to people with terminal non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other conditions linked to using glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup.

“We expect today’s decision will spark similar reviews at many other councils, but what is really needed is leadership from the NSW Government to assist the local government sector to phase out this potentially dangerous product and find safe, effective alternatives,” the union said.

Blacktown City Council will be the fifth large council in NSW to phase out glyphosate, after last month’s decisions from Fairfield, Randwick, Georges River and Wollongong councils to trial safer alternatives.

The council said its trial will involve one work crew using the alternative product while others continue to use the glyphosate-based product under strict conditions and in accordance with label instructions.

Progress will be monitored by its work health and safety representative committee, it said.

Blacktown City Mayor Stephen Bali MP said in a statement that “council is continually monitoring the situation and will act according to the recommendations of the regulator and on the findings that result from the trial”.

The council noted that its actions are guided by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), which states that glyphosate is safe for humans when used according to label directions and no regulatory agency in the world considers glyphosate to be a carcinogen.

Originally posted on OHS Alert