The UK should copy Paris and ban pesticides in urban areas, campaigners and local councils have said.
Drawing attention to how the capital city of France still looked pristine while hosting the Olympics, the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) has said the same can be true of UK towns and cities.
Pavements, parks and playgrounds should all be free of toxic chemicals, campaigners argue, in order to protect both wildlife and human health.
More than 150 councillors have joined 15,000 members of the public in a drive by PAN to call for urban areas to be pesticide-free.
Amy Heley from the Pesticide Collaboration said: “Most people don’t know that harmful chemicals are sprayed in the areas where they and their kids and pets live, work and play. Some claim that, without pesticides, UK towns and cities will be overrun by weeds in some Day of the Triffids-style urban takeover.
“But Paris has been pesticide-free for seven years, as have all the towns and cities in France, Denmark and Luxembourg. Watching the Olympics, and now the Paralympics, we have all seen how amazingly beautiful the streets and green spaces of Paris look … and the city hasn’t used a drop of pesticides to get there.”
Paris started reducing its pesticide use in the 1990s, and since 2017 pesticides have been banned in all French towns and cities, with a ban in private gardens in 2019.
Though there is no government-wide ban in the UK, 100 councils have ended or significantly reduced heir use of pesticides, and 50 are now pesticide-free.
Heley added: “Our new government should commit to a phase-out of urban pesticides across the UK, including support for local councils to go pesticide-free. Ministers have promised to improve people’s health, clean up our rivers and restore nature. A ban on urban pesticide use would be a quick and relatively easy way of helping to achieve these aims. And it would be a massive win for the health of our kids, pets and wildlife.
“There are plenty of non-chemical alternatives to pesticides available. Paris and hundreds of other towns and cities across the world are proving every day that going pesticide-free is entirely possible. It’s a total no-brainer.”
