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Here's What LB Parks/Rec And LBUSD Are Doing Re Using "Roundup" Weed Killer As Sac'to Prepares To List (And Monsanto Will Appeal) Adding Glyphosate To Prop 65 Chemicals "Known To State To Cause Cancer"


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(June 28, 2017) -- So...if you sit down on the grass with your family at a Long Beach park, perhaps to attend a Municipal Band concert in the coming weeks, will you be in a spot where LB's Dept. of Parks and Recreation currently sprays "Roundup," the Monsanto herbicide (weed killer) whose active ingredient, glyphosate, will in the coming days be listed among Prop 65 substances "known to the state to cause cancer"?

Below is a statement provided to LBREPORT.com on June 27 when we inquired about the City of Long Beach's current practices regarding the use of Roundup after the CA Office of Environmental Health Assessment (OEHHA) announced on June 26 that effective July 7, it will list glyphosate among chemicals "known to the state to cause cancer" for purposes of Proposition 65. Roundup's manufacturer, Monsanto, has called OEHHA's action unwarranted based on science and the law and vows to continue its legal challenge to the state agency action; the company's stance on glyphosate is on its website at this link.

City of Long Beach Public Affairs Officer Kerry Gerot (in the City Manager's office) tells LBREPORT.com:

At this point, the Parks Recreation and Marine Department is monitoring and tracking any direction issued by the State Agency regarding the use of Roundup to see how it will be further regulated and any new requirements going forward. The department currently follows all State and Federal standards and legal requirements necessary for the use of this product and does not use Roundup in any picnic, food serving, sports field or playground areas with the majority of the use in areas such as tree wells, fence lines and road/curb edges where it is not practical or efficient to use mechanical methods.
Meanwhile, the Long Beach Unified School District -- which halted its use of Roundup in November 2016 -- indicates through spokesman Chris Eftychiou that it will be applying the herbicide during the summer break but only at schools where there are no other planned activities (in other words, LBUSD won't be using it at locations with summer school.)
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Thus far, all practices and policies on city property and school property have been handled at the level of non-elected management and staff. To date, LB's elected City Council members and LB School Board members haven't agendized the issue of "Roundup" and other synethetic pesticides for public discussion or policy-setting votes.

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OEHHA publicly proposed adding glyphosate to its list of Prop 65 chemicals in 2015. In 2016, the City of Irvine began stopped using Roundup and other synthetic herbicides and began using organic weed and pest control products (and in some places old fashioned weed-whacking, details below). In May 2017, the Huntington Beach City Council voted to test organic pesticides in part of Huntington Beach's Central Park.

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In Long Beach, a grassroots Facebook group -- the "LB Coalition for Non-Toxic Parks and Schools" at this link -- has urged the LB City Council to agendize the issue for discussion and action without success. To date, no LB City Councilmember has done so.

[Amnesia file: Long Beach residents previously had the right to agendize items for Council action, but in the mid-1990s [during the O'Neill administration and prior to LBREPORT.com], the City Attorney's office agendized an item listed simply as changing the order of Council business...that erased the previous period allocated to items agendized by the public. A Council majority could restore that right but thus far hasn't done so.]

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Among those advocating an end to using Roundup in LB parks and urging the Council to agendize the issue has been former 5th district Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, currently mulling a write-in run against her successor, Councilwoman Stacy Mungo.

During the May 23 LB Council meeting, Councilwoman Mungo effectively signaled her view on the use of Roundup (without explicitly taking a position) when a 5th district resident said two other residents wanted to tell the Council (but couldn't remain through the lengthy Council meeting) that Huntington Beach and Irvine had banned Roundup and Long Beach should use those cities as a benchmark for weed killing. He was partially right; the Irvine City Council did vote in 2016 to stop using Roundup and went beyond (details below) while in May 2017, the Huntington Beach City Council stopped short of a ban but voted to conduct a three month test of organic pesticides in a portion of Huntington Beach's Central Park. (During the Huntington Beach Council meeting, several residents urged their City to use Irvine as a model.)

Councilwoman Mungo didn't mention Irvine, chided the speaker for misstating a factoid regarding Huntington Beach and recited what amounts to LB city management's current stance:

Councilwoman Mungo: ...Huntington Beach does not ban Roundup. They have the same policy we do, that we don't use it in playgrounds. We don't use it play areas. We don't use it in rental spaces. We don't use it on fields. We use it in certain areas that we haven't found another solution for and we are, in certain areas of the park, in El Dorado Park specifically, trying alternatives.

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To our knowledge, Councilwoman Mungo's comment is the only public statement by any LB Councilmember on the matter to date.

In Irvine, a grassroots group ("Non-Toxic Irvine") first persuaded management/staff at the Irvine Unified School District to stop using Roundup and 2,4 D (another pesticide) and then insisted that the Irvine City Council eliminate the use of all toxic pesticides citywide.

Unlike Long Beach, one of Irvine's five Council members agendized the item for discussion. Roughly 100 people showed up to support of a "non-toxic Irvine." The Irvine City Council has adopted an organic, integrated pest-management program which eliminates synthetic pesticides (like Roundup) and uses manual methods (including weed whacking) and/or organic pesticides to deal with weeds.

So...if the City of Long Beach continues to use of Roundup in parts of its parks, might it have to post signs in its parks a little over a year from now to the effect that areas of the park contain "chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer?" The California Dept. of Justice has a detailed Frequently Asked Questions page at this link. It indicates that all federal, state and local government agencies, as well as entities operating public water systems, are exempt from Prop 65 requirements...and thus we presume the answer is "no."



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