Boulder committee votes to allow new herbicides in parks

A Boulder committee has voted to recommend that the city begin allowing the use of two controversial and potentially hazardous herbicides in parks, soccer fields and other property managed by the Parks and Recreation Department.

In a 2-1 vote late Thursday night, the Integrated Pest Management Subcommittee -- made up of representatives of three city boards -- recommended that Boulder add the herbicides "Tenacity" and "Barricade" to the list of allowed turf treatments. Both chemicals are used to prevent broad-leaf weeds in grass and carry warning labels about potential dangers to people and animals.

The decision isn't final until the city manager approves it, but the recommendation has already sparked concern among some city officials and residents.

"This is a very, very serious matter, in my opinion," said Vicky Mandell, a member of the city's Environmental Advisory Board who cast the lone dissenting vote against the herbicides.

Mandell -- an attorney who practices energy law for Western Resource Advocates in Boulder, and who is the mother of a 12-year-old girl -- said she was gravely concerned about the warning labels on both products.

"The information provided about (Tenacity) says that it could affect the development of nervous systems of fetuses and in children," she said.

Reading from the label, she said the product warns that expectant mothers, infants and children "should not come into contact with or have any exposure to Tenacity."

Despite that, a city memo on the chemical concludes that Tenacity has a "very low acute toxicity to humans via ingestion, absorption through the skin or inhalation. It is also practically non-toxic to birds, small mammals and fish."

The memo and the product's label warn that the herbicide is easily transported by water runoff.

Barricade is labeled as a possible cancer-causing agent. The city memo states that Barricade is also potentially hazardous to aquatic environments. It is generally considered to be more toxic to people than Tenacity.

Steven Goldsmith, a spokesman for Syngenta International, the multinational manufacturer of Barricade and Tenacity, said in a written statement Friday that the active ingredients of both Barricade and Tenacity underwent testing by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Prior to their registration, the EPA thoroughly reviewed the chemical, toxicological, environmental, and residue characteristics of both products and determined they meet EPA's stringent criteria for registration," Goldsmith said. "EPA concluded that Barricade and Tenacity do not pose unreasonable risk to man or the environment when used according to labeled instructions."

But Mandell said the risks, however slight, aren't justifiable.

"The uses for those two products are for Parks and Recreation and Public Works for turf," Mandell said. "In other words, all the playing fields that the children use. I believe very strongly that these products should not be used primarily where children play."

She said she would work to have the Environmental Advisory Board send a separate recommendation to the City Council asking it to ban the chemicals.

Patricia Billig, an environmental toxicologist who serves on the subcommittee and the city's Open Space Trustees, voted to support the herbicides.

She said the doses that people would be exposed to are so low that they would have practically no effect on people or animals.

"It's frightening to people," she said. "They think they're going to walk on the grass and have an effect, and that's not how it really works."

She said she's confident in the EPA's decision that found both products to be safe for use in low doses.

"What we're talking about is way down toward the bottom, in terms of a dose," Billig said.

Billig did, however, criticize the city's process for removing items from the list of approved pesticides and herbicides. The city is only allowed to use products approved by the pest management committee, which created the original list in 2003 and last updated it in 2007.

Billig said the process for adding chemicals to the list is relatively easy, but how to remove more toxic chemicals hasn't been well defined -- nor has it ever happened.

Todd Bryan, who also supported the herbicides and serves as chairman of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, said he thinks the process is moving in the right direction.

"I think that the Integrated Pest Management program is on the right track and is trying to be progressive in the choices that it makes regarding the use of chemicals on public lands in the city," he said.

Bryan said he might not be comfortable with other entities using the suggested herbicides, but the city plans to use them as a last resort against invasive weeds.

"I trust the expertise of the staff to use the chemicals in a highly responsible way," he said.

City Councilman Ken Wilson said he was being flooded with e-mails Friday morning from residents concerned about the recommendation.

He said he wants the city to rely on scientific research to make decisions about the use of herbicides or pesticides, but the city has never formed a Science Advisory Committee that the council approved several years ago.

"We need to base our decisions on science, not things that are on the Internet," Wilson said.

He said the active ingredient in Tenacity, mesotrione, is derived from the bottlebrush plant. Because it's based on a plant, he said, he thinks that product "could be alright."

According to Beyond Pesticides, a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C., that advocates for alternatives to chemical pesticides, the ingredient mesotrione is actually a synthetic compound similar to the plant. The group suggests corn gluten meal or agricultural-grade vinegar as alternative treatments.

City Manager Jane Brautigam could not be reached for comment Friday. City spokesman Patrick von Keyserling said Brautigam has not yet received the report from the committee, but she would consider the potential health effects of any product before making her final decision.

Deb Sanders, a Boulder resident who is listed by the state as being especially sensitive to most chemicals, has been fighting the use of synthetic herbicides in her Shanahan Ridge neighborhood.

She said she cried after the committee's vote Thursday night.

"I was heartbroken," she said. "This is a huge step backwards."

Sanders said the use of Tenacity or Barricade would mean she couldn't use those parks that are treated with it without falling ill.

"They have no idea, the magnitude of their decision," she said.

There are no additional public meetings scheduled on the topic, but residents can e-mail City Council members about it at council@bouldercolorado.gov.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Heath Urie at 303-473-1328 or urieh@dailycamera.com.