New York City being INUNDATED with toxic glyphosate herbicide, with high intensity spraying of children's playgrounds and parks

Thursday, July 14, 2016 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: glyphosate, New York, public parks

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(NaturalNews) Is your favorite public park a green, weed-free oasis? Chances are if it looks too manicured to be true, it's brimming with chemical herbicides like glyphosate that are putting you, your children and your pets at risk.

Many cities spray these poisons by the thousands of gallons per year on grass and in flowerbeds to keep things looking tidy, but at a huge price: Many of these chemicals are linked to neurological damage, birth defects and cancer.

In New York City alone, local governments apply more than 100,000 pounds of pesticides annually in green spaces, and that amount is constantly increasing. According to a parks report from 2014, NYC parks workers applied pesticides 162,584 times that year, the immense scope of which you can see visually in the following infographic (compliments of parks data compiled by the performance activist group, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir):



As you can see, glyphosate in the form of Monsanto's "Roundup Pro Max" herbicide is being applied everywhere throughout New York City, without the public's consent. Most New Yorkers and those visiting the city aren't aware of this mass chemical poisoning, because it isn't visible to the naked eye, save for the artificial uniformity it creates in the natural landscape.

The average onlooker sees the result of these chemicals as beauty – look, no weeds! – but little does he or she realize what's hiding beneath the surface. As children traipse through all those lush blades, they pick up traces of a chemical that the World Health Organization (WHO) agrees is probably carcinogenic, meaning it causes cancer.

Glyphosate has also been shown in independent studies to damage vital organs – even at very low levels – and environmentally to strip growing plants of nutrients, rendering our food crops nutritionally deficient.

The even worse news is that New York City isn't the only place where glyphosate is used: San Francisco, Seattle, Oakland, Portland, Philadelphia and many other major cities use this popular weedkiller in their public spaces as well.

"It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share our community with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not," says Elli Rivers, founder of a campaign in the UK seeking to stop the spraying of glyphosate in Salisbury city parks.

"This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other's health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this city, of course including our beloved bees."

Chicago and Boulder already glyphosate-free, proving that green spaces can be properly managed without Monsanto

The Toxics Action Center (TAC) advises against the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, advocating instead for integrative lawn management strategies that focus on soil pH, water retention and soil compactness. If a lawn is mowed correctly and the soil in which it's grown is managed properly, weeds and even insects can be avoided.

TAC's full report on how to grow a truly "green" lawn is available here.

Other major cities like Chicago and Boulder are already utilizing some of these green practices – both urban areas have banned the use of glyphosate – but there's still a lot of work to be done elsewhere.

The New York City Parks Department has also indicated its willingness to adopt an alternative management approach that would "reduce the need for these herbicides," an open-minded position that we hope many other cities will adopt as well.

Chlorella, in case you weren't aware, is a powerful detoxifying nutrient that's helped many people overcome health damage caused by pesticide exposure.

Sources for this article include:

PostBulletin.com

EcoWatch.com

EnvironmentalHealthNews.org