Monday’s press conference in Fredericton. Photo: Jeremy Keefe/Global News.
Stop Spraying New Brunswick is calling for a stop to glyphosate spraying of forests due to health and environmental impacts of the herbicide. For example, the New Brunswick deer population has suffered from previous spraying.
Fredericton Chapter member and SSNB Inc. board member Caroline Lubbe-Darcy acted as SSNB Inc.’s spokesperson for a press conference on Monday, while Fredericton Chapter member Louise Melanson provided French comments. Two other representatives of Alliance member groups participated in a press conference held in Fredericton, NB on August 2, 2017.
“We are encouraging citizens to view the herbicide spray maps for this 2017 season,” she says. “Find out which month is planned for the your area, and politely ask the spray crews to leave when they arrive out of concern for plummeting deer numbers and other wildlife as well as potential effects on their family’s health.”
“If you’re not sure that this is safe, why continue?” Lubbe-D’Arcy asks. “That is not exercising the precautionary principle.”
SSNB argues that the land being sprayed is public land, and does not belong to the companies doing the spraying. “It is not land that is free to the companies to do with what they want, and the government is allowing them to cut this land, and then spray it,” says Lubbe-Darcy.
This weekend some SSNB members will camp at Mount Carleton to raise awareness about glyphosate and educate people about the alternatives.
The Fredericton Chapter is one of 12 member group of The Alliance to Stop Spraying NB fighting against glyphosate spraying. In August 2016 another member group, the Kent County chapter supported the “Happy Campers” blockade against glyphosate. The camp was lead by NB environmental group EcoVie, and had about 10 people camp out in a planned spray zone to prevent the spraying from happening.
Read more coverage of Monday’s press conference by Global News, and read more about the risks of glyphosate here.
