Walking along the Brunswick River through the sculpture park in town, it was a windy day today and as I walked the gusts of wind picked up dirt and some grass debris into tiny whirlwinds around me.
I was walking where I had seen the Council contract workers spraying deadly Roundup and glyphosate in large amounts only weeks before. I cringed and tried to avoid breathing it in, as this stuff doesn’t just break down and go away.
This evening I am prompted to put this down into words as I can tell that I have been again affected by this poisonous stuff being charged into the air today. I have that telltale feeling of a dry raspy throat and that every so subtle burnt sensation on my lips and on the skin around my face and nose. Like you’re sunburnt without being in the sun. A common feeling if you have been exposed to herbicide chemicals even in very small amounts.
After some billion dollar lawsuits recently in the US, and the indisputable findings of research now surfaced, into the devastating effects exposure to this stuff does to the human body, even in micro doses, has prompted total abolishment of any further use of these dangerous poisons.
New legislation has followed the release of information that states, ‘Any use of such now deemed, deadly chemicals is dangerous, no matter how monitored and even when in small amounts’.
Totally abolished from use in many parts of the world including the US, Roundup and herbicides that contain the notorious active ingredient of glyphosate have been proven to cause the most horrendous of illnesses and diseases.
Found to also cause learning difficulties in small children, and can be associated in many gut and autoimmune disorders, respiratory conditions and hypersensitive reactions as well. With all this knowledge out there now, and the fact that findings have been so clear and damning that many countries have entirely abolished its use in agriculture, domestic and all forms of land management, why are we still using the stuff in the Byron Shire? What is Council thinking?
My property in Mullum backs onto the river and there is a stretch of Crown land before the river bank. Over the years I have walked down there and on a number of occasions I have found the entire place blanket stained with that menacing green dye that is added to the ‘mix’ to show where Round Up has been sprayed.
My family and my neighbours have been totally horrified and traumatised over the years to think that this deadly chemical is in use only metres from our house and metres from where tiny children play daily and there is nothing seemingly we can do about it.
In the past I have written to the Council and telephoned them to let them know how it is affecting my health.
Attempting to make a change to this insane practice even if only near where we live, but they readily pass the buck and claim, ‘We hire outside contractors to do this work, so we don’t know what it is they use’. I mean what a good excuse and way to wash their hands of it. I knew someone a decade back who told me the Council hired him to spray Roundup at night – at night because they didn’t want everyone to know about it’.
The young guys I saw spraying most recently were in a group of around seven or eight, they were once again poisoning the river bank along Riverside Drive. They weren’t wearing gloves, they didn’t have masks, and their shoes and clothing were bright green from the chemical splashing on them as they worked.
In conclusion to all this, this poison was a product of the 1950s I believe. It came from the same laboratories that created Agent Orange*.
This is a chronically outdated farming and land management method. One that should have been left in the dark past along with things like thalidomide and other such horrific, archaic, destructive chemical compounds.
There are very good alternatives to its use and to clarify and inform those who are still of the ‘old school’ way of thinking, Roundup is dangerous even in small amounts. It not only affects humans but it deviates our important and intricate underground mycelium networks, it leaches into our waterways killing delicate systems like our diatoms and natural moss and algae.
When this stuff is introduced into our beautiful and delicate bush land and water, it causes utter havoc, throwing out balance and destroying systems that are thousands of years old.
Far better alternative systems are readily available. Simply steam technology can manage the same organic growth without risking so much in the process.
Join me in petitioning the Byron Shire Council to lead the way to an organic Australia. Ask that they stop poisoning us for one and for all!
Sally Law, Mullumbimby
*Roundup and Agent Orange are chemically different and developed decades apart. They did not come from the same laboratories but both were manufactured by Monsanto: Wikipedia. – Ed
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