SECTION 8:

HAWKESBURY VALLEY ENVIRONMENTAL

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In this section I address the use of Roundup (or Glyphosate) by the Hawkesbury City Council, as well as other environmental issues of public concern.  I have re-created letters I've sent out, with headings and other incidental features added.

 

	(Graphics: M. Thompson)
	YOUR KIDS RETURNING TO SCHOOL!!
	Someone hacked my poisonedpeople.com website and attempted to take it out!  Gee, I wonder why? A friend of mine suggested that those with things to hide (who want the freedom to poison at will) don't like their 'ratholes' being exposed...

 

 

 

LETTER #1 TO LOCAL GOLF CLUB &

COUNCIL OVER SPRAYING OF

ROUNDUP, & TOXIC EFFECTS

 

Murray Thompson

PO BOX 5761

South Windsor LPO

NSW 2756

Monday, May 23, 2005

 

Note: extra notes in green font have been added to this document since it was mailed to a

variety of organizations in the Windsor, Sydney area.  I also mailed this letter to doctors,

environmental activists, MPs and a High School.  Names of people have been omitted.

 

CC. Ms. Carolyn McDonagh, Safety Officer, Richmond High School

General Manager, Hawkesbury City Council

Mr. Steven Pringle MP, State Member for Hawkesbury

Councilor Leigh Williams, Hawkesbury Council

Drs. Nagwa Morris & Louise Arnold, South Windsor Medical Practice

Lee Rhiannon, MLC, The Greens, Parliament of New South Wales

Sylvia Hale, MLC, The Greens, Parliament of New South Wales

Dr Frances Parker, Senior Lecturer, University of Western Sydney

Diana Buckland, Founder & Global Coordinator, Global Campaign for Recognition of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (http://www.mcs-global.org/)

 

SUBJECT:  CHILD POISONING FROM WEEDICIDES AND PESTICIDES

 

Dear ..., and others:

 

My name is Murray Thompson and I am a resident of Bligh Park.  I have an Applied Science Degree in Environmental Health (UWS Hawkesbury, 1998), Hons I in Social Ecology, and am currently pursuing a PhD in Sociology.  My PhD examines the toxicity of pesticides, herbicides and many other chemical technologies, among a very broad selection of related technological and philosophical issues.

 

 

TOXIC ROUNDUP USED ALONG THE BACK OF FAMILY RESIDENCES!

I have a number of extremely important and related local environmental issues to raise with the Golf Club, Council, and the public education system in general.  They are:

• The extensive use of herbicides along the east perimeter fence of the Golf Club, specifically behind the houses of McQuade Avenue.  My ex wife and my son both live in McQuade Avenue, South Windsor.  We have noticed a strip of dead grass and Bidens Pilosa (“Farmer’s Friend” / “Pitchforks”) between the common back (west facing) fence of the west situated houses on McQuade Av. and the eastern perimeter fence of the Golf Club.  It comprises a gap of approx. 1.2 m and runs for a few hundred metres.

• Please observe the 2 photos below.  They clearly indicate that a herbicide/weedicide, such as Roundup, has been liberally sprayed up against the porous wood paling back fences of McQuade Avenue residences.  [Some of the weeds were at least 1 metre high when sprayed.  Therefore, the nozzle for the weedicide applicator must have been aimed at the back fence palings, thus allowing for weedicide to directly contact and infiltrate into the residents’ backyards.  This means that a toxic weedicide mist, and the accompanying vapours, entered backyard spaces without the knowledge or consent of homeowners or renters.]  This has been done, to my knowledge, without any general health warnings being given.  Weedicides and pesticides are toxic nerve agents, and their use so close to human habitation comprises a significant danger to public health.  The target organ for pesticides is the brain (Donohoe, Dr. M. 2001, pers. comm.).

 Golf Club Spray Along East Perimeter Fence at Back of McQuade Av. Houses

 

Figures 1 (above, looking south-west) & 2 (below, looking north) 

Evidence of Toxic Herbicide Sprayed Along

the East Perimeter Fence of the Golf Club (Source: M. Thompson)

 

 

What Do You Do For Money

If You've Been Poisoned

and You Can't Work a

Regular Job?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 SMOKING NEAR KIDDIES PLAYGROUNDS BANNED, BUT NOT PESTICIDE!

• The extensive use of herbicides throughout the Council’s sphere of influence.  I especially draw your attention to the contradictory use of extremely toxic herbicides around the perimeters of children’s playgrounds, where strangely, only smoking near the play equipment is banned.  I do thank the Council for (apparently) responding to one previous letter sent by myself wherein spraying was exchanged for mowing in the laneway between my unit in Sirius Road and the Leagues Club in Bligh Park, though I am disappointed that the Council did not reply to my letter of Sunday August 5th, 2001 which stated that the Leagues Club had allowed a young boy to soak his jeans and joggers in weedicide while spraying the main entrance to the Club.  His jeans were in all likelihood washed in the family washing machine, thus cross contaminating his entire family (a Pestkill technician agreed with this assessment).  And, this would also be a general problem with children transporting herbicide residue home.  Note the following photos:

 

 

Figures 3 (above) & 4  (below) Toxic Herbicide Sprayed at the Bradley Road Childrens’

Playground in Sth Windsor (Source: M. Thompson)

 

[Earn from home!]

 

 

 

Note:  The padded base technology around playgrounds is inadequate if the only

way that weeds can be controlled at the edge is by applying chemicals that create a contaminated site.

 

 

Figures 5 (above) Toxic Herbicide Sprayed at the Childrens’ Playground in

Sth Windsor, & 6  (below)  Signage to Protect Children From Smoking Only

(Source: M. Thompson)

 

 

What a ludicrous statement and contradiction: “TO SAFEGUARD OUR CHILDREN’S HEALTH”.  Chemicals which are extremely persistent and toxic are permitted, while cigarette smoke, which is transient by nature outdoors, is banned!  In effect, the Council is providing a range of permanently contaminated sites for children and families to frequent!  No “safeguarding” here.

 

UNTHINKABLE RISK - WHO'S MINDING YOUR KIDS?

What we are witnessing here is a failure of perception.  It is a failure to grasp the significance of the toxic technologies we are employing throughout our everyday lives.  But once we realize that pesticides, weedicides and herbicides are TOXIC NERVE AGENTS and that our children are 6 TIMES MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO POISONING THAN ADULTS, we then progress to a failure of will.  What we see worldwide is a failure to confront those who manufacture, advertize and distribute these toxins.  WE ARE GIVING OUR CHILDREN TO THE MONSANTO'S OF THE WORLD WHO WANT TO SELL POISON AND MAKE MONEY, AT THE EXPENSE OF THE NEXT GENERATION AND THE FUTURE OF THIS ENTIRE PLANET!

 

I have enclosed with this letter the NCAP report entitled, Unthinkable Risk: How Children are Exposed and Harmed When Pesticides are Used at School (NCAP 2000), in order to provide all parties concerned with some pertinent information on the nature of chemical poisoning in children.

 

 

 

VIEW THE HAWKESBURY COUNCIL'S REPLY TO THIS LETTER AS A PDF FILE

View My Reply To The Above Council Letter as a PDF File

To view and save this letter as an Adobe PDF file, click HERE.

 

 

TOXICOLOGICAL DATA

The following toxicological data are relevant to the use of both herbicides and pesticides near homes, in school grounds and around children’s play areas.

 

In reviewing environmental health literature from the US on herbicides in general, and the herbicide Roundup (or glyphosate) more specifically, I note voluminous references to considerable levels of toxicity, and many instances of student and teacher injury (and even student deaths in relation to pesticides commonly used by schools – see the NCAP booklet for those details).

 

 

In point form (re herbicides commonly used on school grounds):

• There are many reasons why herbicide use poses unacceptable risks to human health, especially in these settings.  For example, looking at six commonly used landscape herbicides¹, two cause cancer in laboratory tests², two cause fetal death in laboratory tests3,4 one is associated with an increased rate of miscarriages and premature births in farm families5 and the sixth is associated with an increased risk of cancer (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) in lawn care applicators6 (NCAP 1999:3).

• Oryzalin (active ingredient of Surflan) is persistent and carcinogenic (NCAP 2000:2, referencing US EPA 1994).

• Dichlobenil (active ingredient of Casoron) is persistent, causes cancer in animals and is classified by EPA as a possible human carcinogen (NCAP 2000:2, referencing US EPA 1999:1)

• Glyphosate has been described as “extremely persistent” (NCAP 2000:2, referencing US EPA 1993-2), even though it has been promoted as an environmentally friendly herbicide that rapidly breaks down.  However, tests show that glyphosate may persist for 3 years (NCAP 2000:2, referencing Torstensson et al. 1989), while its metabolite, AMPA, may persist even longer (Buffin & Jewell 2001).  Glyphosate has been shown to cause genetic mutations in human, animal and plant cell tests (NCAP 2000:2, referencing Vigfusson 1980; Kale et al. 1995; Rank et al. 1993).

• Glyphosate has been associated with a number of health and ecological problems (Cox 1993:4)… the surfactants added to glyphosate are acutely toxic to humans and aquatic animals, can cause damage to the digestive system and lungs, and may be the cause of death in exposed humans (Cox 1993:4, referencing Sawada, et al. 1988; and Talbot 1991).

• Glyphosate ingestion has affected the pituitary gland and kidneys, and caused abnormal bone development and decreased birth weights in laboratory animals (Cox 1993:4, referencing US EPA 1986).

• And, though the US EPA classified glyphosate as Group E, Evidence of Noncarcinogenicity in Humans, Monsanto’s own data submitted to EPA in support of this classification showed otherwise, note:

  • increase in pancreatic tumors at 2 doses in female rats;

  • significant increase in liver tumors with increasing dose;

  • significant increase in thyroid tumors with increased dose in female rats (Cox 1993:4, referencing Dykstra & Ghali 1991).

• A significant problem exists with regard to herbicide and pesticide poisoning:

  • pesticide poisoning is extremely problematic because mild to moderate pesticide poisoning symptoms can be easily misdiagnosed as stomach-flu, bronchitis or asthma (Reeves, Schafer, Hallward & Katten 1999:17)

 

What Do You Do For Money

If You've Been Poisoned

and You Can't Work a

Regular Job?

 

 

 

COMMON ILLNESSES CAN BE LINKED TO CHEMICALS

My concern here is that some outbreaks of ‘flu’ and other symptoms in the community and at local schools can be directly attributed to the spraying or baiting of chemicals, and are not simply issues of the regular childhood contagions we expect to see every year.  Blood and urine tests can confirm liver damage, and the presence or absence of some toxins.  Increased ALT (Alanine aminotransferase) in the blood can confirm liver damage due to pesticide activity, and for the first time in Australia a urine test is now available at Flinders University to detect the presence of Bifenthrin, the active ingredient in some synthetic pyrethroid termiticides.  These tests are a valuable medical avenue through which a poisoning issue can be clarified.  Note:

Even severe pesticide poisoning in infants has been misdiagnosed as aneurysm, head trauma, diabetic acidosis, severe bacterial gastroenteritis, pneumonia and whooping cough (Reeves, Schafer, Hallward & Katten 1999:17, referencing Solomon & Mott 1998; Zweinerd & Ginsburg 1988).

 

VIEW THE HAWKESBURY COUNCIL'S REPLY TO THIS LETTER AS A PDF FILE

View My Reply To The Above Council Letter as a PDF File

To view and save this letter as an Adobe PDF file, click HERE.

 

We must then ask if the extensive herbicide spraying being performed by Council throughout this region is not responsible for many hundreds of poisonings assumed, in error, to be common infections or gastric upsets.  This information should set precedents of alarm and caution within relevant authorities charged with prosecuting a Duty of Care with regard to their many responsibilities.  Advertising and blood tests, or an extensive epidemiological study, could ferret out true cause and effect in terms of the difficult tracking of exposure to chemicals and subsequent illness.

 

 

KIDDIES' SUSCEPTIBILITY TO POISONING

Children (and this particularly applies to the families along McQuade Av. and the kiddies that frequent the Council’s playgrounds) are much more susceptible to poisoning than adults for a number of reasons:

• They inhale a greater volume of air in relation to their body weight than adults, and so receive a larger dose (NCAP 2000:12, referencing NRC 1993).

• They have a greater skin surface area proportional to body mass.  This means that equivalent exposures in an adult and child results in a greater dose for the child (NCAP 2000:13, referencing NRC 1993). 

• They play nearest the sites of application (NCAP 2000:12) and, in fact, crawl, wrestle and mouth the ground, grass and playground equipment that has become contaminated.

• Many actual incidents show that children can inhale toxic doses of insecticides or herbicides from applications made at or near schools…  Nine students and seven staff members at an Ohio school experienced dizziness and difficulty breathing and were treated at local hospitals after breathing fumes of an herbicide that seeped into the building following application to the grounds outside (See Appendix A, Other States incident #5)  (NCAP 2000:12).

[EARN FROM HOME!]

 

In terms of external chemical application and osmosis, the concentration of chemical vapour inside a residence can, over a short period of time, actually exceed the concentration of the chemical vapour outside.

• Children display hand-to-mouth behavior (NCAP 2000:14, referencing Nishioka, 1996).

• Children’s nervous systems are more susceptible to the impact of nerve poisons.  Further, human case studies show that exposure to nerve poisons during infancy can lead to severe impairment of motor and mental development.  Other studies show that even low dose exposures to some pesticides can affect neurodevelopment and growth in developing animals.  According to the National Research Council, “the data strongly suggest that exposure to neurotoxic [i.e., nerve poisoning] compounds at levels believed to be safe for adults could result in permanent loss of brain function if it occurred during the prenatal or early childhood period of development” (NCAP 2000:3-4, referencing NRC 1993; Watanabe 1990; Ecobichon, 1990; Eskenazi, 1999).

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to ask if the Golf Club will consider this information in the future should it still retain the unilateral freedom to impose chemical substances on the residences of families with babies and young children.

• Children cannot effectively detoxify certain chemicals (compared to adults) and so are much more vulnerable to poisoning (NCAP 2000:4, referencing NRC 1993).

• The dividing cells in children’s bodies are more susceptible to the impact of cancer-causing chemicals (NCAP 2000:4, referencing NRC 1993).

• Their immune systems, being underdeveloped, are more prone to damage from exposure to foreign compounds (NCAP 2000:4, referencing Repetto & Baliga 1996; NRC 1993).

The above information demonstrates clearly that Roundup or glyphosate herbicide, and pesticides are extremely toxic, and with consequences that cannot be measured in terms of social impact and future trauma.  This well researched and catalogued American data alone warrants a careful review of all pesticides and herbicides used in Australian schools, and anywhere near residential areas, such as along McQuade Avenue, at children’s playgrounds, and at the Pugh’s Lagoon B-B-Q area in Richmond.

 

  Figures 7 & 8  Sprayed Posts & Shelter at Pugh’s Lagoon, Richmond

(Source: M. Thompson)

 

 

MY SON & I INJURED BY CHEMICALS

My son and I were seriously poisoned at my Dept. of Housing Bligh Park residence in December 2000 when a termiticide treatment was forced upon us, even when it was known well beforehand that I was chemical sensitive.  He and I are both now considerably injured and physically impaired as a result of this negligence.

 

I am now taking assertive legal action against my landlord and a pest eradication company.  This may escalate into a class action when details of my case become better known once my matter goes to trial.  My case may set precedents in terms of more clearly defining Duty of Care for the Dept. of Housing, and other governmental agencies and business concerns, declaring the essential need for medical/health protocols to be standardized and situated explicitly for the benefit of authorities and contractors (eg pest technicians) and their equitable (not dominating or abusive) relationship with home owners and renters (setting forth the rights of residents in terms of chemical trespass), and appropriately addressing this burgeoning problem as a public health issue of monumental proportions.

 

VIEW THE HAWKESBURY COUNCIL'S REPLY TO THIS LETTER AS A PDF FILE

View My Reply To The Above Council Letter as a PDF File

To view and save this letter as an Adobe PDF file, click HERE.

 

I consider it my duty to advise all parties who bear a substantial responsibility in terms of, especially, child safety/health, that an open dialogue on this matter is essential, even long overdue.  If this does not take place, then I would be exceedingly remiss in not making this information generally available to the public.  I recognize that there may be concerns over potential litigation, however the time has come to stop the sacrifice of young lives in favour of maintaining a deadly silence that benefits pesticide sales and the easy status quo of simplistic but deadly chemical fixes.  Should future poisonings occur that can be linked to pesticides (which term includes all weedicides), or should past poisonings be rationalized in the light of the disclosure of this and other information; and should this enlightenment occur in the shadow of corporate or bureaucratic silence, the consequences could indeed be frightening.

 

CHEMICAL CAUSE & EFFECT, AND LITIGATION

Once the above information is circulated via my case and media exposure, many hundreds of families will become aware of the toxicity of these commonly used chemicals.  Families bordering the Golf Club, and residents within the Council’s domain, eg near the Railway Station where herbicide spraying occurs regularly, may then suddenly recognize cause and effect, and the pathway of exposure that has generated the symptoms they may have experienced.  Therefore, a great deal of future injury and potential litigation could be avoided if alternative and safer methods of weed and pest management were immediately put into effect.  I say immediately because the cessation of all overt spraying now would go a long way toward minimizing obvious injury (that can be verified through neurological and liver/blood/urine tests) that may become apparent at the time of my trial.  A synergy of overt chemical injury and broad media exposure would be calculated to bring about the most outrage and litigation.

 

At this point I am going to demand that the Golf Club immediately desist from spraying the east perimeter of its property where chemical trespass occurs outside the Club’s wire fence and crosses into the backyards of the adjacent properties of South Windsor families.  Children play at their back fences precisely where the weedicide has been sprayed.  Should my request not be met, I will have no alternative but to also sue the Club for further endangering my son’s health.

 

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When could the Council reasonably expect to be able to address the issue of herbicide and pesticide spraying at our schools and around playgrounds?  I ask “when”, precisely because my previous letter to Council on this matter was ignored (it was not answered).  I suggest an expert panel be created to advise Council on strategies that minimize chemical spraying.

 

Please note point 6 on page 25 of the NCAP document, Unthinkable Risk… [get this document here: http://www.pesticide.org/UnthinkableRisk.html or as a pdf file here: www.pesticide.org/Title&Contents.pdf].  I request herein that my child’s school notify me in advance of any spraying or baiting.  I will keep my child home during, and for at least 2 weeks after, such application (http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/children/03/02/school.grass.wmd/index.html).

 

[This, the High School has graciously done.  They have answered my letters/queries and told me when carpet cleaning was being done at the school, and suggested (rightly) that I keep my child home on the Monday following the weekend treatment.  I am very pleased with the school's responsible response.  The Principal also notified me that he was passing my letter and other Internet printouts included with the letter I sent him to the Dept. of Education's Occupational Health & Safety officials.]

 

I would also require a map of the spray locations so that I can warn my son to avoid them.  Obviously I cannot take a risk with my son’s health given his chemical injuries, and I would be a negligent parent if I did so in consideration of the research available.  I would also strongly encourage that the school immediately investigate alternative means of weed and other pest control (http://www.toolsforhealthyschools.org/).

 

Imagine what benefits would be gained by teaching this new generation that there are plant species that maintain natural insect-repellant properties (http://www.cdli.ca/sciencefairs/cwsf2001/summary4.html; http://altnature.com/library/repelling_insects.htm), and that they can safeguard their children against the devastating impact of synthetic pyrethroid termiticide compounds by using safer, alternative products to protect their homes (http://www.thebestcontrol.com/).

 

 

IMAGINE HOW MUCH SMARTER...

Imagine how much smarter our kids would be if we stopped exposing them to pesticides?  Note:

Four to five year olds that were exposed to “registered” pesticide poisons:

- could not remember what they were told 30 minutes later,

- had less stamina,

- had decreased fine eye/hand coordination,

- could not draw a stick figure, they could only scribble

- had many disruptive behavior problems, particularly aggression (Tvedten 1999, 2002:2).

 

VIEW THE HAWKESBURY COUNCIL'S REPLY TO THIS LETTER AS A PDF FILE

View My Reply To The Above Council Letter as a PDF File

To view and save this letter as an Adobe PDF file, click HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR IN TEENS!

Chemical pollution (including: industrial and urban air pollution, herbicide/pesticide use, narcotic abuse, and prescription/non-prescription drug abuse) is a major contributing factor to aggressive behaviour in developed nations (http://www.vegsource.com/parent/whats_with_kids.htm, -- this article entitled, Are Today’s Teens More Toxic, by Dr. J. Robert Hatherill, can be purchased from the Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/).  One should also consider the now firm links between pesticides and aggressive behaviour in schools leading to shootings (http://www.cnn.com/NATURE/9908/09/pesticides.enn/index.html; http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/print.aspx?pkey=328).  Simply put, “pesticides decrease mental ability and increase aggressiveness…  Rather than directing all our attention to bitter debates on gun control and the violence in the entertainment industry, let's also consider the pressing need for a cleaner environment and more nutritious food” (Hatherill 1999:19).

 

 

 

THE BEST PEST CONTROL

At the very least, a substantial reduction in chemical usage should be considered an emergency priority, and worthy of the precious cargo the school carries Monday to Friday (http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/04/05/08.php).  If, indeed, “all students can maximize their potential… in a safe, stable educational environment” (Hawkesbury Independent 2005:3), then pesticides and weedicides will be quickly eliminated, and Aeroguard will not be used to clean classroom whiteboards.  The book, The Best Control II (Tvedten 1998, 2002), can be easily purchased (either as hardcopy or CD – comprising 1700 pages and 36 years worth of professional pest control research and experience) from: http://www.safesolutionsinc.com/resources.htm.

 

The Foreword from the book reads:

Synthetic pesticides are the single largest class of toxic chemicals to which the total population worldwide is exposed.  While their predominant use is in large-scale industrialized agriculture, other major applications include urban spraying, uses in offices, schools, golf courses, and the home lawn and garden.  Such uses result in pervasive environmental contamination of air, water, and food, high-level exposure of agricultural workers, and direct domestic exposures.

There is overwhelming scientific documentation on the adverse public health impact of such exposures. These include carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and endocrine disruptive or hormonal effects.  Yet the public remains largely uninformed of these largely unregulated toxic exposures, tantamount to chemical warfare.  This reckless, if not criminal, conduct of the pesticide industry is trivialized by its PR assurances of safety, besides by those of industry scientists, and indentured academics.   These assurances are coupled with the insistence that large scale uses of synthetic pesticides is essential to maintain food production, and avoid insect-induced disease.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Over recent decades, non-pesticide and non-toxic methods of pest control, known as integrated pest management (IPM), have been developed and are now in increasing use.  However, such information has not yet reached the general public.  Recognizing this critical information gap, Stephen Tvedten has compiled a virtual encyclopedia of IPM entitled, “The Best Control II.” This provides reader friendly, practical information on IPM, and how it can be readily used for any and every form of insect control, at both the domestic and community level.  This information includes a comprehensive description of all major classes of insects and pests, including lice, birds and even rattlesnakes.

 

Tvedten has unparalleled practical experience in IPM methods of pest control, in which he is the leading international expert.   “The Best Control II,” is a unique and invaluable contribution which should be in the hands of every concerned pest control expert, educator, physician, citizen, homeowner and parent. Tvedten has made an invaluable contribution to public health.

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.
Professor Emeritus Environmental & Occupational Medicine
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health,
Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition [http://www.preventcancer.com/index.htm]

It is in everyone’s interests to take action on this broad issue of inappropriate and excessive pesticide use.  It does not necessarily need to be assertively or negatively publicized.  A quiet dialogue within the general school framework, the Golf Club, and the Hawkesbury Council, and the consequent implementation of robust alternative weed and insect management strategies would certainly now save multiple accidental poisonings in the near future.

 

 

 

AUTHORITIES ONLY HAVE A MANDATE TO PROTECT, NOT POISON

However, should authorities willfully fail their Duty of Care and, by commission or omission, contribute to poisoning families and the next generation (http://peoplepoisoned.250free.com); if, as caretakers, authorities fail to take care, then people “must be empowered, to feel that they have control over their own learning” (Parker 2000:170).

 

Given that the above-listed meagre sampling of toxicological data are becoming much more widely known, one acute incident of explicit poisoning would be sufficient to generate large scale visitations of community upheaval and upset through the court system.  A 60 Minutes expose and public furor do not need to be the crucible through which beneficial change is ultimately embraced.

 

Thank you

 

Murray Thompson

 

REPLIES

As noted in the above letter, the High School Principal kindly replied to the letter.  The Hawkesbury Council also replied and said they would be suspending all spraying of Roundup around kiddies playgrounds.  Only a few weeks later in November/December 2005, the Council again sprayed around the softfall perimeter of the kiddies playground at McLeod Park, in South Windsor, and also along my back fence!  See below.

 

 

Figure 9  McLeod Park's kiddies playground sprayed in November/December 2005

with toxic weedicide yet again (Source: M. Thompson)

 

 

VIEW THE HAWKESBURY COUNCIL'S REPLY TO THIS LETTER AS A PDF FILE

View My Small Reply To The Above Council Letter as a PDF File

To view and save this letter as an Adobe PDF file, click HERE.

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES

 1.  Ref. #1, p. 19. The most commonly used home/garden and industrial/commercial/government herbicides are 2,4-D, glyphosate, dicamba, MCPP (mecoprop), diuron, and dacthal.

2.  U.S. EPA. 1999. Office of Pesticide Programs list of chemicals evaluated for carcinogenic potential. Washington, D.C., Aug. 25. (dacthal and diuron).

3.  U.S. EPA. 1990. IRIS substance file: 2-(2-Methyl-4-chlorophenoxy) propionic acid (MCPP). www.epa.gov/iris/subst/oo67.htm.