A few times per year, Bradford Council sprays glyphosate weedkiller around the district. This includes playparks and playing fields, and on all the school grounds maintained by Bradford Council. 

Glyphosate is nasty stuff. The World Health Organisation thinks it causes cancer and more and more evidence is being published to support this. Children are thought to be at higher risk, partly because they are small and partly because they like to roll around on the ground in parks. 

Glyphosate is often in the headlines for the wrong reasons. In January, courts in the USA ruled that glyphosate in Roundup weedkiller had caused a man's lymphoma and ordered a $2million dollar payout. Definitely not what we want anywhere near kids or pets!

Glyphosate is also an environmental catastrophe. There is very good evidence that glyphosate is harmful to aquatic and insect life. We are living through a biodiversity crisis-time to take action for the planet.

Other options exist for weed control, e.g strimming. There is no good justification for using toxic chemicals that damage our environment and could harm our children. Several other councils have already banned glyphosate, either completely or from high risk areas likes schools.

In April this year, Bradford Council met to consider banning glyphosate from parks, cemeteries and schools. This was on the recommendation of their own report. However, no decision was made at that meeting. Glyphosate will be discussed again at the September meeting. It's great that the Council are taking steps in the right direction, but we need them hurry up and get this done!

Please sign this petition if you think Bradford council should hurry up and ban this harmful chemical where our kids and pets play. We really cannot afford to wait.

The photo is of Ilkley Riverside Park play area. I have also seen lots of similar areas around primary school playgrounds in Ilkley.  But this issue is so much bigger than just Ilkley-all local authority schools and parks are affected. 

Please sign and share right across Bradford district