A New Map Reveals Carcinogenic Glyphosate in San Francisco Parks and Playgrounds
In collaboration with the activist group Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, the San Francisco Forest Alliance has published an online interactive map to show San Francisco citizens how carcinogenic glyphosate (commonly sold as RoundUp) is used in parks and playgrounds. It shows where glyphosate has been sprayed in our parks in 2014 and 2015.
Glyphosate Spraying in San Francisco Parks (Click to go to interactive version)
Monsanto’s RoundUp and its key ingredient glyphosate, are major weapons in the San Francisco Parks Department’s arsenal of herbicides. Meanwhile, scientific evidence that glyphosate is toxic is approaching the level of scientific consensus.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization said (March 2015) says glyphosate is a probable carcinogen to humans. Scientific studies have found glyphosate to cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers, birth defects, and celiac disease, allergies, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome. Glyphosate is persistent in body tissue, blood and breast milk in humans. The non-profit organization, Moms Across America, claims exposure to RoundUp has cause pregnancy problems, including stillbirths.
We are asking the SF Dept. of Environment to remove Tier I and Tier II herbicides (especially Roundup/ Aquamaster and Garlon 4 Ultra) from the 2016 Reduced Risk Pesticide List, without exceptions.
ABOUT THE MAP
The map data is based on information for 2014 and 2015 that we obtained from San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (SFRPD) under the Sunshine Ordinance. It covers all lands managed by the SFRPD, including parks, playgrounds, and Natural Areas. (It excludes Harding Golf Course, which does use glyphosate regularly, because it’s managed under contract by the PGA Tour and is required to maintain tournament-readiness at all times.) The locations are as accurate as we could make them based on the data SFRPD provides; they identify the parks but may not indicate the precise spot where the pesticide was applied.
ABOUT REV. BILLY AND THE STOP SHOPPING CHOIR
We collaborated in the making of the map with Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, an organization of satirical activist performers protesting the evils of consumerism. They first created a glyphosate use map for New York. This map of San Francisco is their second, and they plan to extend it to other Bay area counties.
Rev. Billy will be in San Francisco in April 2016, doing a reading from his new book, The Earth Wants YOU! on April 20, 2016 at 7pm – 9pm at the City Lights bookstore, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133.
From their press release:
“During the week of April 18th, Reverend Billy, who resided in the Bay area for more than twenty years, will levitate the DeYoung Museum, one of the sites of where the San Francisco Parks Department applies deadly glyphosate. He will exorcise the world-renowned bastion of high culture and give it a good spiritual scrubbing with local activists.
“Reverend Billy’s new book, The Earth Wants YOU!, will be published by City Lights Publishers on Earth Day, April 22, 2016. He will read from his new book at eight independent bookstores in Northern California and at UC Santa Cruz in April. More information about the book and tour HERE. “
Their media contact: Marnie Glickman, 415-259-7121, marnie.glickman@gmail.com
San Francisco Forest Alliance 
Wonderful work. Thank you very much.
If a comment could be sent through these excellent posting to Parks and Rec each time you send one of these out, I am sure people would respond.
We would like to see this change.
CO2 is a federally regulated greenhouse gas under the Federal Clean Air Act according to the Federal Government and even validated by the Supreme Court last year. This means that UC would have to mitigate this under the conditions of the EIS / EIR. The cost would be very high, reducing the viability of the project.
For your information, UC and all US Medical Schools are under orders from the AMA which control those schools to immediately increase the number of seats for students by 20%. This is to accommodate the new and many patients that are using the med system under Obamacare. The expansion is desperately needed for the system to survive. No one knows how to do it. So it is being done with eyes closed. Community should support goal and offer alternative land that is still in SF backyard. They may get something positive from the University out of this. You should not make Napolitano an enemy. Quite ruthless.
[SFForest: We have a lot of respect for UCSF as a medical school (and the UC system as universities). Many of our supporters were educated there, or have worked there; others among us have used their services. We disagree with them on the single point of land-management not of their campuses, but the wild-lands they manage: Sutro Forest, and the wild lands above the campus. We hope we can be opponents on this point without being enemies. As to the CO2, we agree. We fear that the problem is being assumed away, even though these actions will result in a lot of CO2 being emitted.]