Bay Area Parks Departments are Still Using Potentially Cancer-Causing Herbicide in Public Spaces

When Daniel and Rhoda Sicotte pulled up to Watson Dog
Park in early October they saw something they had never seen before: an orange
residue covering the ground and sidewalks of the enclosures. They say there
were no notices about what the substance was, and some visitors’ pets were
covered up to their necks.

NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit looked into the incident and found out San Jose’s Parks Department uses several herbicides – including Roundup – to maintain its dog parks and public spaces. And public records show that many cities in the Bay Area continue to use the chemical despite California labeling it as potentially carcinogenic.

“Our daughter is 12 now but she’s been coming here with
us to this dog park, this same dog park, since shew as a toddler,” said Daniel
Sicotte. “So she has been running around in this chemical, as well as our
dogs.”

While the orange residue on the grass was not Roundup, a
glyphosate-based herbicide, city officials acknowledged that it was used on the
perimeter of the enclosures and along the walkways – a practice they say has
since stopped since NBC Bay Area began its investigation. An official with the
department says the new policy bans the use of the chemical within 100 feet of
dog parks and children’s areas.

Like many cities around the country, San Jose has been
using glyphosate-based herbicides such as Roundup since the 1980s, and public
records show that over the last two years contractors working for San Jose’s
Parks Department have applied more than 380 gallons of Roundup across its 3,000
acres of parks.

The department is far from an outlier. Records show that
85 percent of cities in Santa Clara County continue to use the chemical for
weed abatement in public parks, despite the county banning it’s use earlier
this year on the land it has jurisdiction over.

Why does this matter?

Luoping Zhang, an adjunct professor of Toxicology at UC
Berkeley’s School of Public Health says that research indicates exposure to
glyphosate-based herbicides like Roundup increase the risk of getting
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the lymphatic system.

“Our data actually really suggested and really showed
there’s a link,” said Zhang. “And we did see an increased cancer risk in
humans.”

California’s Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization agree, labeling the chemical as a probable carcinogen, or chemical that causes cancer.

In the last 16 months, three Bay Area juries have ruled
against Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, awarding tens of millions of dollars to
people who allege the weed-killer has caused their cancer. Monsanto has
appealed the cases and maintains their product is safe, citing the United
States’ Environmental Protection Agency’s position
that it is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”

Monsanto did not respond to NBC Bay Area’s requests for
comment.

John Ciricelli, director of San Jose’s department of
Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, says that their use of
glyphosate-based herbicides is highly regulated by the EPA and state, but his
department is aware of the confusion and concern from the public.

“We definitely hear the message from the community that
there is concern, regardless of what the EPA or anybody else says,” he said, adding
that the department is working on finding alternatives to its use of Roundup
and plans to phase the herbicide out at some point in the near future.

But for the Sicottes, that’s too long of a wait. They
think the city should immediately discontinue the practice.

“Our daughter has been exposed to this, we’ve been
exposed to this, our dogs have been and countless, countless other families
have been exposed to it,” said Daniel.

Source: NBC Bay Area