Website editor’s note: The information below comes from Auckland Weed Management Advisory which has been provides information about weed control. Unfortunately, Auckland Council has chosen to ignore the cancer risks (glyphosate was recently classified as a “probable carcinogen” and spray glyphosate based herbicides on our streets and parks, including around childen’s playgrounds.
Read on to learn about a public meeting on this issue and how to get involved.
Dear Friends,
Glyphosate: It’s ON our streets, but its OFF the record….
A little while back you signed our petition to ban the use of Glyphosate (Round-Up) on Auckland roads and parks. Thank you. Again and again. Your support means everything to this campaign.
Since you added your name to the growing number of people in Auckland (and around the world) that are concerned about the dangers of Glyphosate, some pretty heavy stuff has happened.
The now infamous Black Friday Council Budget Meeting
On Friday, 13 May 2016 members of the public attended the Annual Plan budget debate with full Council. Councillors Wayne Walker and John Watson attempted to put through an amendment that addressed limitation in the budget that imposes Glyphosate instead of non-chemical methods.
Only one week prior, a policy (in a non-published document), was given to Wayne and John that recommends to implement blanket chemical weed and vegetation control across the entire region’s public places.
So we came to debate it. That’s what you can do in a democratic forum, isn’t it?
Member, John Tamihere objected saying it was inappropriate and was being raised too late – even though members of the public had waited seven hours and Mayor Len Brown had chosen to present this amendment at the very end of the day. Chair, Cllr Penny Webster agreed it was out of order and rejected the amendment.
I don’t quite know what is more dangerous – Glyphosate – or a council that refuses to even respect the spirit of democracy that it is their job to uphold.
John Watson and Wayne Walker made impassioned pleas and the people who had waited all day were escorted out by security when they refused to stop chanting their demands to be heard.
Democracy took a direct hit, and in a further act of cowardice the live webcast of the entire amendment proceedings was expunged from the council website within hours.
Non-chemical control is already being demonised, and with contract variations and renewals over the next two years we can expect to see the deliberate targeting of, and effective elimination of, large scale non-chemical contracts that have been in existence for over twenty years. Companies are going to go out of business. With no viable alternatives – there will be no effective choice.
So, now is the time to organise, to stand up, and to fight back!! This Council is not only putting the health of our families, pets and environment in danger, they are now blatantly using their power to undermine our democracy.
What are we doing about it?
You will have already received an invitation to a Campaign Meet-Up, but it is worth asking you again to please come along and find out more:
When: Thursday, 2 June 2016 at 6.30pm
Where: 8 Mt Eden Road, Grafton (the wooden church building opposite the Powerstation).
Experts, refreshments and lively chat will be the order of the night. We have some great ideas, but we need your help to make them happen – to make them go far, make them go wide and make them heard by even the most corrupt of city representatives.
RSVP on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/902001669925604/
OR
Not on Facebook? Then RSVP on our TOKO events page: https://www.toko.org.nz/events/stop-spraying-our-streets-campaign-meet-up
Please share, share, share and we’ll see you there!
Georgina
If you think this information is important, please share this link and/or let your friends know about our new Facebook page which you can visit by clicking HERE. Thank you.
NB: If you are interested in the environment and health, you will no doubt find many of the articles in The NZ Journal of Natural Medicine to be of interest.