MPs will today debate a proposal that could see the use of 'toxic' weedkillers by councils banned.
MP and former Green Party leader Sian Berry has brought The Plant Protection Products (Prohibition on Public Sector Use) Bill to Parliament, with a view to implement a ‘ban on biodiversity-destroying pesticide use in urban areas’, effective from the year 2028.
The Bill was proposed with the aim of prohibiting the use of certain weed destroying chemicals in public spaces, effective from the year 2028.
Ms Berry told The Daily Mail the Green Party aims to ensure that ‘at the very least, local authorities, town and cities don't use the really bleakly effective and quite toxic chemical glyphosate’.
She added: ‘it's going to have a really dramatic effect on the biodiversity of streets and parks and council estates and other areas that local authorities manage’.
Pesticide Action Network UK identifies glyphosate as a widely accessible chemical that can be purchased in supermarkets or garden centres. Despite being categorised as ‘probably carcinogenic’ by the World Health Organization in 2015, the herbicide is still commonly used across agricultural and public sectors, to the detriment of both the environment and local communities.
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