In New York City, our parks are undeniable, timeless community magnets. Our parks provide recreation, relaxation, and a place to connect with others. They are where we take our children to play, our pets to exercise, and give us the chance to escape the city and enjoy nature. It is incumbent upon us to make our parks in NYC as safe as possible.

Unfortunately, the New York City Parks Department has long used a chemical poison tied to causing cancer to control weeds. The toxic weed killer,
glyphosate, widely used under its trade name, RoundUp, contains a chemical that is linked to irreversible neurological and endocrine-disrupting effects, severe kidney damage, asthma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and birth defects, amongst other grave and life altering conditions. Following an extremely deliberative process in early 2015, the lead cancer research organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, concluded that this chemical was a probable carcinogen; making it even more terrifying that nearly 1000 gallons of this toxin were sprayed in NYC parks just the year before.

And for what? City officials claim they need to kill harmless weeds like dandelion and clover to keep our parks attractive, but they end up poisoning our children, the elderly, immune-compromised people, everyone else and even the environment. Minorities make up the majority of the population in NYC, yet they are disproportionately impacted by greater pesticide exposure in parks, as well as in agriculture, historically. More affluent communities are better protected from exposure to these pesticides in parks and public spaces. The Parks Department should not be allowed to put the health of New Yorkers at risk for superficial, cosmetic purposes. There are safe and healthy methods of reducing weeds without the use of toxic chemicals that threaten our children, pets, and our city’s most vulnerable.

Sign and share the petition today telling the Parks Department and New York City Council to stop poisoning our parks. We can and must do better because New Yorkers deserve poison free parks!

For more information email Krista at kcarter@theblackinstitute.org or visit:

http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/iarcnews/pdf/MonographVolume112.pdf

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/130/6/e1757.full.pdf

http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/09/mon...