MORE than 200 people in Torfaen have signed a petition calling on the county borough council to use a “safe alternative” to a controversial weedkiller.

The petition, which has now been presented to council, calls on it to “end the use of glyphosate-based herbicides in Torfaen’s publicly owned spaces maintained by the council or their contractors and use a safe alternative such as Foamstream”.

It will now be considered by the relevant cabinet member, and a response provided in the coming months.

Torfaen is one of 13 councils in Wales which uses a glyphosate-based product to treat pavements and Japanese knotweed.

Earlier this year it carried out a review of the weedkiller and concluded it is safe to use if it is applied in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

READ MORE:

The petition was presented to the council by Cllr Elizabeth Haynes. Cllrs Dave Thomas, Alan Slade, Jason O’Connell and Louise Shepphard have also backed the petition.

Glyphosate has already been banned in Holland, Denmark, Sweden and France and in the UK, B&Q are ceasing the sale of Roundup - a glyphosate-based product - following links to cancer in the USA.

Glyphosate-based products are legal within the UK and have been approved for continued use on the EU Pesticides Database until December 2022.

But the product has been linked to causing cancer in a court ruling in the USA, prompting several councils in the UK to stop using it.