Title: Glyphosate applications on invasive plants voted down in Clay Township, Michigan USA

[The Voice 09 Aug 2013 by Jeri Packer] — A group of Clay Township (Michigan, USA) residents let their concerns over a broad-spectrum weed killer be known last week, which led to the township board voting down a scheduled aquatic herbicide application. The spray of concern was glyphosate. Glyphosate has been the subject of rigorous debate because of its toxic properties, especially by Clay Township residents along the Colony Drive/Aqua Isles canals and the "bird canals" of Flamingo, Cardinal, Bluebill and Audubon. The municipality provides two advertised public hearings, where citizens get to speak their minds on the subject and then the township board votes. In this case, the objections were so strong, the board voted after the first hearing to cancel any chemical treatment for weeds. "They were overwhelming against it," Clay Township Supervisor Artie Bryson said. "We chose not to proceed with another hearing." Bea Zrepskey, secretary to the Colony Park Association Board, was adamantly opposed to the treatments. "Children swim in these canals," she said. "People water their lawns and gardens with water pumped from the canal. Water can collect in puddles from sprinkling the lawn and pets and other wildlife can drink the treated water." In her extensive research, she said she has found that herbicides are cumulative in the human body. In most cases, she said, it is a long time later before cancer and other diseases occur from the accumulation of chemicals and heavy metals. Even though the special assessment was turned down, she worries about the individual homeowners who freely use the chemical to treat their landscapes. "People are doing the same thing privately with no real knowledge of the danger," she said. "People use Preen, a long-lasting weed preventive herbicide, on their garden beds which then washes into our waterway." According to Zrepskey's research, when herbicides kill aquatic plants, they lie in a "septic mass" at the bottom of the canal, robbing oxygen from the water and causing pollution. Sarah Kilchevskyi lives on Cardinal Street, in the special assessment area. She figured, for her single lot, the estimated amount of her assessment would be about $142 over five years. "It's definitely not about the money," she said. "It's about putting a chemical into the water we swim in, use for gardens and our pets that we do not really need. As far as I understand, we are not battling an invasive species – they're just naturally occurring weeds." Kilchevskyi said when she was young, her dad and neighbors used to pull the plants up with rakes or boat motors, "at no sacrifice to the health of our families or little ones." [Photo: Child swimming in the area proposed to be polluted with herbicides: Harsens Island, MI gallery] Comment

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Article: WeedsNews4579 (permalink)
Categories: :WeedsNews:health, :WeedsNews:pollution, :WeedsNews:herbicides, :WeedsNews:aquatic weeds
Date: 11 August 2013; 7:53:43 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time

Author Name: Zheljana Peric
Author ID: zper12