North Yorkshire Council will continue to use the weed-killer glyphosate after a motion to have it banned in the county was rejected by councillors.
A motion to force the council to stop buying any products containing glyphosate or neonicotinoids was first tabled this time last year but sent to scrutiny committee for investigation.
Some studies that have suggested glyphosate is carcinogenic but other studies have rejected the claim.
The scrutiny committee reported back to the full council recommending that the proposed ban be rejected.
The council's executive member for Transport - Councillor Keane Duncan - says bans elsewhere in the country haven't gone well.
A world health organisation study in 2015 classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans” but Councillor Andrew Lee, who chairs the councils Scrutiny of Health committee, says there is no universally accepted conclusion on whether glyphosate is harmful to people.
Green Party councillor Andy Brown put the motion to council calling for the authority to stop using the chemical completely. That motion was rejected. Councillor Brown says that there are ways to cut back on it's usage and says some parts of North Yorkshire are better at using alternatives. He says the Scarborough area sees a particularly high usage of the weed killer.
Councillor Lee says the council is taking steps to reduce the usage of glyphosates where possible but doesn't think an outright ban is practical..
A report prepared for the Scrutiny of Health committee concluded:
“Limited trials at using alternatives to glyphosate have been conducted by North Yorkshire Highways, which found that on cost, effectiveness and carbon dioxide emissions, glyphosate remained the best choice.
“Research conducted by the service concluded that a move away from glyphosate-based treatments would cost an estimated four to ten times the cost of glyphosate.”
The chemical is approved in the US and EU, although some European nations and US states have banned or restricted its use.
The chemical is licensed for use in the UK, although again some authorities have attempted to stop or reduce its use.
Brighton and Hove City Council stopped using glyphosate altogether in 2020 in favour of a “manual weed management approach”.
But they found that this was an ineffective and returned to using glyphosate 2924 in order to tackle the backlog of uncontrolled weeds.
City of York Council has also looked at alternatives to using glyphosate, but found it remained the only large scale and affordable option.
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