“These chemicals can be a danger to our environment and our health” 

Triax, a volunteer community group, and Pink Ladies, a cancer support group, have launched the Green Mile Project as part of their wider Pesticide Free Derry campaign which aims to see the removal of dangerous chemicals such as glyphosate from our environment.  

Jacquie Loughrey, the education officer at Pink Ladies, said: “I focus on chemicals that harm human health and can have links to cancer.  

“One of the main ones is pesticide overuse. So, one of the main concerns is a particular active ingredient in weed killer, which is glyphosate. 

"There is a lot of debate around this chemical which is used by almost every council, education authority and so on as it is a cheap weedkiller.  

“These chemicals can be a danger to our environment and our health. 

“It can damage thyroid, neurotransmitters. It was up for being banned by the EU but they wanted to re-register it for five years rather than 15 years to do more research.  

“There are several actions in the US with workers being awarded damages due to development of Hodskins lymphoma. It has been removed from the shelves for commercial use in the US. 

“It also damages biodiversity and is polluting our rivers and environment.  

“We took a motion to council in 2019 to reduce or eradicate the use of the chemical which passed unanimously, they have reduced it but have not encouraged other statutory bodies to reduce their use which was also in the motion. 

“We are now campaigning for this within the Education Authorities, Housing Executive and the Department of Infrastructure. 

“We teamed up with Donna and the team at Triax to combat this from a health and environmental stance. 

Donna McLoskey, Manager at Triax, said: “We are also trying to educate people that there is a very simple solution and we can rescue places that are being sprayed, replacing them with bulbs and flowers.  

“We are campaigning and lobbying so we can have a practical solution and that is where the Green Mile Project came from. 

“We have one in the Bogside and Brandywell area and then we are establishing one in Creggan which will be finished in the new year. 

“We find ourselves trying to do these campaigns but the environmental issues are so wide, everyone is taking a campaign and running with it and working in conjunction with each other.  

“When other countries around the world are banning it there is no reason to not take action against it."

Jacquie added: “Environmental Gathering group have been supporting us in this as have other environmental groups such as Zero Waste North West, alongside the other campaigns that they do.  

“We have support from many councillors and Sinn Féin’s Padraig Delargy is one of the councillors supporting us."

Local government and local council are the group's focus in lobbying, as well as education authorities. They have an environmental toolkit that is being rolled out in primary schools to educate children around these issues. 

Jacquie added: “We want to offer practical alternatives and solutions without scaremongering. 

“It does not have to be this way, there are viable alternatives to using this weed killer. Look at the environmental and health impact that these chemicals are having.” 

In support of the campaign, Sinn Féin MLA, Padraig Delargy, said: “This is a fantastic initiative by the Pink Ladies. 

“Removing pesticides has enormous health and environmental benefits for our community. 

“I was delighted to be part of creating the Green Mile in the Bogside with Pink Ladies in recent weeks.”