The town is once again spraying glyphosate (Roundup) in Salmon Brook Park and throughout the Town Hall complex. Glyphosate is a known carcinogen and in August 2017 the Board of Selectmen placed a moratorium on the use of glyphosate until a committee was established to investigate the herbicide and make a recommendation on its use.
In April 2018 the Herbicide Committee concluded that the town should ban its use by the town. The BOS never voted on the recommendation made by the Herbicide Committee. We now discover the town has been spraying glyphosate in Salmon Brook Park and around the Town Hall complex without notifying the public that the moratorium was lifted.
When glyphosate is sprayed, the particle and vapor drift can extend two miles. Everyone working in town hall, the library, senior center and Board of Ed building is subject to exposure. Library patrons, adults and children, seniors visiting the senior center and any member of the public making use of services in this area are all subject to exposure, as is anyone making use of the facilities at Salmon Brook Park. The public was not notified ahead of time that the spraying would commence. The long-term effects on the DPW employee administering the chemical have been ignored.
Granby had the opportunity to become one of the first towns in the state to ban the use of this toxic chemical by the town, but now we’re lagging far behind as many other Connecticut towns have adopted their own bans.
The First Selectman has refused to call a vote on the Herbicide Committee’s recommendation to ban the town’s use of glyphosate. If the “preservation of …health and safety of the town and its inhabitants” (as stated in the Town Charter) is not his number one priority, he should relinquish that post.